raceboy

Just wanted to share with you guys the open letter I wrote to Nissan USA. The more I thought about it, and the more I talked to others about it, the more I realized I had to write this:

"This message is for the marketing, engineering, and legal departments.

My name is Steve Kaufman and I waited 7 months from ordering my Z in January to receiving it in late August. I was one of the first people to have the new Z in the United States, my car was the 944th car off the line. My Z was a black Track model that I bought to replace my stellar handling, but underpowered, Toyota MR2 Spyder. I am 31 years old and have dreamed of Z ownership since the Z32 came out in 89. At that time I was too young to afford one. I have since owned 5 other Nissans culminating in my new Z purchase and an Infiniti I35 for my wife. I also have an extensive racing background including 15 years of karting, formula cars, production based cars, and working as a performance driving instructor, so I feel I am qualified to comment on the Z's handling.

Shortly after I received my Z, I ran into a transmission problem. The entire transmission was replaced and that problem was fixed. A bit disappointing, but I realize that can happen with new models. My real complaint is about the car's handling. In a word, it's horrible. The car is the most unenjoyable car I have ever driven spiritedly or on a track. For the engineers, the car just understeers resolutely with nothing the driver does making any difference. The car pushed on corner entry, pushed on corner exit, pushed when you opened the trottle, pushed when you closed it. It had a mind of it's own. This was all with the VDC sytem turned off, so these handling traits were all inherent in the suspension design. This is simply unacceptable in a $35,000 car touted as a "Track" model. Calling the car a "Track" model and showing the car in advertising on a racetrack borders on false advertising. This is what happens when lawyers are allowed to design cars and not engineers. Nissan needs to look no further than Mazda's Miata, Toyota's MR2 Spyder, and Honda's S2000, to realize that an excellent handling car can be allowed to come fully to market. Do you think the Miata would still be around if not for it's handling? The Z made me long for the MR2 Spyder I had sold.

I now faced a dilemma, sell my long awaited Z and take the loss, or try to fix the handling. Ultimately the loss of selling the car would simply be too high, so I took a risk and imported Nissan's very own NISMO S-Tune suspension kit from Japan. It cost me over $2000 to get this kit. I bolted on the kit, aligned the car, and took it to the track. Thank God, the kit transformed the car into what it should have been all along. An excellent proper handler, with virtually no loss in ride comfort. How could Nissan cut it's own throat like this and miss out on the great publicity it could have had? Why wasn't this kit offered as standard at least on the so called "Track" model? It just makes no sense. Hell, make it an option at least.

So yes, I am now happy with the car, but I don't know if I will ever purchase another Nissan, and that is coming from a long time Nissan loyalist. Obviously, proven by Nissan's own S-Tune kit, Nissan has the engineering ability to do the car justice, they just chose not to do it. It makes me very disappointed as well as many others. I belong to the largest 350Z message board on the Internet; my350z.com. I am a charter member and have been there since the beginning as well. This topic has been discussed so many times I have lost count. Go to my350z.com and take a look around.

I will also openly post this letter at my350z.com in the "General" section. Hopefully Nissan takes these comments to heart and doesn't shoot itself in the foot on it's flagship car. Even though I may be out the $2000, other future Z buyers won't have to.

Thank you for your time;

Steve Kaufman"

ezchief

Steve,

I know we all know which car is the flagship but you need to go to the dealer and look at the sales sticker on the new Maxima.

Are you ready.......

"Nissan's Flagship"

This may answer alot of our handling problems if you get my "drift" (bad pun)

350Now

Very well put Steve. Hopefully someone at Nissan will listen.

jmark

iTrader: (1)

Excellent Steve!

fdao

Job well done Steve.

jackwhale

Thanks for taking the time to write this letter.

Zzyzx

Concise and excellently written! Please keep us posted with any response Nissan send your way!

Intrepid

Very few 350Z owners take their Z to the track or frequently drive their Z to the limit. However, I agree with you 100% in that the "Track" model should have the NISMO S-Tune suspension as a standard feature.

rodH

iTrader: (2)

I am going to guess that as soon as the adjustable konis come out (or adj KYBs) they will be in high demand, since they are a great option and an affordable price

raceboy

Shocks will only help initial understeer and sharpen turn in. They will do nothing for the Z's main problem which is terminal steady state understeer.

kaelepulu

let me get this right, the car which road and track tested in their feb or march 03 issue against the bmw m3, porsche targa, and corvette z06; the car that beat the lap times of the bmw and porsche at the big track at willow springs, both of which have more horsepower; the car which the writers praised for being able to drive at speed quickly and easily; ......is a pushing pig? what am i missing?

NissaNZ

Wasn't your mr2's suspension updated also?

raceboy

You need to read the article a little closer. Big Willow was the track they used, it's is the fastest track west of the Mississippi. The 1:39 second lap they ran equated to a 90mph average speed!!! There are no turns on the track that are slower than about 50mph. This layout really suits the Z's pushing characteristic.

I don't have the article in front of me, but I think it said something like "the Z was the easiest car to be comfortable in and drive fast right away." I have done quite a few laps at that track (even managed to win a Barber Series Race there once). That is exactly the type of comment I would expect from a pushing car on a fast track. The Z's understeer is not severe on faster corners, but it's always slightly present. It helps you grow "artificial *****." It just feels very stable. Trouble is that the more steering you dial in (as on tighter tracks) the more pronounced the oversteer becomes.

Had they used the tighter Streets of Willow track, that article would have come out totally different, so the test was biased since Big Willow is a unique track with no variety to it's corners. In fact, it's the worse track of any that I can think of to really judge the handling of a car. Just like any oval track racer can tell you (ovals are real similar to Big Willow) you set up the car for slight oversteer for your qualifying (fastest way around the track for a lap) and then you dial in just a hint of push for the long haul of the race.

I hope that makes sense.


As far as my MR2's suspension; yes it was modified with the TRD Sportivo kit. But the MR2 was a stellar handler stock. The Sportivo did not change the fundamental handling dynamics of the Spyder, it only enhanced it and geared it more towards track use. It was much stiffer than the stock suspension and much harsher on a long trip. The S-Tune on the other hand makes you feel like you are driving a different car. In fact, if I couldn't tell what kind of car I was actually in, I would probably think that an S-Tuned Z and a stock suspended Z were two totally different vehicles.

Jason

Interesting. Although I haven't had my Track Z for long now, I feel like it gives nice smooth throttle oversteer in comparison to my MR2 Spyder.

Anyways, I can't disagree that the Track models should come with a Nismo suspension. The price difference at the factory would be purely trivial.

I'll be going to the Nismo suspension as well, but I'm waiting for them to come to the states.

TCL

Someone mentioned a spring change that occurred in models produced sometime in December. I wonder how much difference, if any, this made in the handling characteristics of the vehicles produced before and after the change.

In any case, I agree that the Track model should have a better handling suspension than the other models in order to live up to its marketing tag line.

Steve, does the big track at Button Willow have any sharply decreasing radius turns? It doesn't sound like it from your description.

SunsetZ

I have read about an R-tune suspension for racing also coming out. What advantage do you think that will have over the S-tune suspension?

ethan84ae

For drivers that don't have such an impressive driving resume as Steve (which is to say about 95% of people on this board), the stock neutral setup is probably preferred for safety reasons. While the handling might be a bit boring for really experienced drivers, it's idiot proof for beginners and intermediates. I'm a novice driver and I found that no matter how hard I pushed my Z at Limerock Park, I couldn't really unsettle the car. It was extremely easy for me to control and very confidence inspiring. I had a blast! Perhaps there are other novice drivers here who experienced the same thing?

I don't think the "Track" designation - or any of the model designations for that matter were supposed to be taken so literally. Its a bit like saying Ford is fasely advertising the "Explorer" because it doesn't come standard with an 8000 lb front bumper wench. If Nissan was really building a car specifically for the track, it wouldn't even be street legal (Take the new Viper Competition Coupe or the Lotus Elise Sport 190 as two examples...)

Oh- and just a side note- I think Nissan is more likely to take you seriously if you re-write your letter with a positive, constructive tone. You came off as being very confrontational and threatening.

-Ethan

k2we

Steve, Please keep us up to date on what you hear from Nissan. With such a straight forward, right to the point letter. you should a reply very soon..

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY 6295 miles since Sept 17th...

fairladyZ in Japan

To echo everybody's comments.. excellent letter, Steve.

Like you and a lot of people... the "bounce" is the first thing I noticed after taking delivery of my Z.

That is why I can't wait until April -- when I get my S-tune suspension and stabilizer bars installed !!

Thunderbolt

This is really sad but my short bed F150 w/5.4L handles slower (under 50mph) tight turns as well as my Z. On 360 degree on ramps at 45/50 mph my truck is starting to get loose wereas the Z is pushing. For the $10k diff I could have made my truck faster and beter handling than the Z and still had money left over. But then it would still be a truck. One thing, if I had drove this car first instead of pre ordering it I would have looked at the Miata one more time.