I noticed that the local dealership had a couple new HR Zs, so I just had to stop in and drive one. They had to silver coupes, and a white roadster. I wanted to drive one of the silver ones but they were both automatic, so I decided to drive the roadster.
As far as sound goes, from other reviews, I thought there was going to be no similarity between old and new. But I thought It still sounded very Zlike, but I do have a Pro1 exhaust on my car, so Its been awhile since Ive heard a stock Z.
I got to take a pretty good test drive that included onramps, so I got a good feel for the acceleration differences. I told the salesman I wouldnt go nuts on it since its new, but he said "why not, thats what its made for", so I obliged. I immediately noticed that when you start off or shift gears it does a better job of throwing you back in the seat. You can deffinately feel the wieght being transfered to the rear, and sense that the rear suspention has more "squat". Once that intial torquey feeling is done (after a gear change) and you are climbing in rpms Its harder to tell much difference, but Im sure there is one. The raised redline Is all I dreamed it would be. Its much nicer to be able to stretch out another 1000 rpms, It really feels like a significant amount. One thing I noticed is that, when reving or rev matching, my car revs faster. But this is due to my popcharger, and possibly exhaust. I remember when I put on my popcharger there was a very noticeable difference (not tilton fast, but fast).
I was worried that my car would feel like crap after driving it, but Its not thaaaat bad. Would I rather have the new one... yes. Would I rather Have FI on mine... Heck yes. I cant wait to see what the aftermarket FI systems have in store for this new stronger engine!

 

That's interesting, from the dyno charts I saw, I thought you would notice it more on the upper end of the RPM range instead of the lower end.

 

Not sure if the OP has a coupe or roadster but keep in mind that the roadsters are a bit heavier than the coupes.

 

ya I took that into account, the salesman is going to call me when they get a manual coupe in.

 

Im sure there is a good bit of difference, but its just harder to notice than the initial torque.

 

i noticed that the 07 seems to rev slower too but its probably due to our mods.

 

i noticed that when i drove an 06. most definitly is the mods.

the flywheel is the biggest cause of that though. i cant wait to get an 07 in my area so i can drive it. i think my mom wants one lol.

 

i had a 05 Z before my 06. 06(6mt) mine has a rev-up motor compared to my last 05'... i dont feel much difference really, so i dont expect this 07's to feel any different even though that SAY it is from the numbers. what i mean is, unless there's a Big difference in hp or whatever, ur not really gona feel it... u think you feel the difference cuz they say its different. just my 2cent.

 

^+1

 

Disconnect your neg. battery cable. Test drive your car "new" again. For some reason, mine felt better when I did that.