Well first I had to wait for the specs, then I had to wait for the reviews, and I have been waiting to actually see the car with my own eyes. Well today (thanks to a tip I got on this board) I got to see the 350Z in Silver spring MD, I also met Blueshift and we were discussing stereo upgrades.

It was a blue base with side/head bags, no other options. I love the blue color, I'm still waiting to lay eyes on a Silverstone, but the car will look nice in any color.

I'm 6'3" 202lbs fit about as well as I do in my passat that is prety well. I had more headroom than the corvette and more leg/shoulder room than the S2000. The view out was acceptable.

The shifter was not as small as in the S2000, more like the Boxster S. It was not as smooth as the S2000 (my favorite gearbox so far), in that you could feel a notch when going fron 1-2 or 3-4 etc, no big deal overall I would put it up there with my Z3's 5-speed. Also I noticed there is a place to rest my right arm on, not padded, and the left armrest isnot that wide, but it's better than nothing.

the nav cover is a lost cause. I wish for us non-nav people they had just left a blank non movable panel. But I won't be putting anything in there.

The power plug is my biggest complaint. I can not think of another car with a worse location.

The seats were comfortable and the fabric was nice. I wish the bottom cushin was a little longer, but I say that about every car I ever sit in. The dead petal was a little wierd because it was not as long as I would like. My foot just barely fit (size 12), but if you have larger feet you will notice this.

I don't know if this means anything but I did a bounce test meaning I pressed down hard on the rear of the car and it barely moved, I mean like less than a centimeter. I went out in the parking lot and pushed down on my passat the same force and it went down like 2-3 inches.

The overall interior is what I would like to address, not counting the nav cover. I would score it like this:

Lexus LS430 = 10
S class = 10
Boxster S = 8
Passat = 8
S2000= 7.5
350Z=7.5
Z3=7
corvette=6
WRX = 5.5

Most cars are in the 6-8 range, your domestic cars like neon are in the lower range 4-6.

I own a passat and it's a great car, but the material is not that much better than other cars (at least to the eye/touch). I think a lot of people see warm colors and two tone interior and think it is far better than plain old black and grey.


The hatch release could be better if it would pop up a little further.

Overall I see a lot of positives but a few negatives. I would rate it a 9 (out of 10). Not perfect, but damn close (for the money). I admit I am quite biased, but having owned a fare number of new cars, I would say this car could sell at a higher price. And that's the biggest compliment I can give any car.

 

just a hieght question..i am 5'11"..am i gonna have problems seeing out of it or anything like that?

 

You should be fine. I think the ideal hieght to be is like 5-10 to 6-1.

 

I have finally seen the Silverstone...You are going to love it

 

i had been meaning to ask about the dead petal, wasen't sure if there was one. thanks for answering this. I'll just have to squeeze my size 13s in there.

 

I'm 5'11" and we are a perferct fit, Aldous!! I sat in a blue base last month.

 

I don't know why it is like that, but I sat in it twice and noticed it. The other three petals are fine not too close together for us boat footed people.

 

Yes, there is one. It looks great.

 

thanks throb...i was kinda worried because it seems only people 6'2" and taller have sat in it...i thought there might have been some height requirement that i wasnt informed of

 

Rai-

Did the car you sat in have the aluminum pedals, or was it a base model-? I wonder if it makes a difference in terms of space for the dead pedal...my thinking here is that perhaps the aluminum pedals (or covers as they might be) take up more space, and can possibly be removed (although it wouldn't look as cool) to free up some space in the footwell...I wear size 11.5 and am hopeful that I won't have a problem (I didn't notice a problem when I sat in the car back in April...).

Ethan

 

no it was the base so plane old rubber pedals. I was kind of hoping the aluminum ones may be better, I didn't look down to see what my foot was rubbing against, but with your shoe size you may not have a problem. Again it was not a BIG deal, just one small detail that our asian brothers with smaller feet may not even think about. It's better than having a headroom issue, or hip room issue though.

 

Thanks for your impressions rai. Very nice!

 

Thanks for the info. I noticed you mentioned how nice the blue looked in person - I ordered a Daytona Blue back on 1/15, and I remember lots of people initially bashing the blue as a "chick" color, but it appears that I made the right decision, and that more and more converts are becoming Daytona blue fans.

ariZona