Aint that the truth

 

I think people can take this article with grain of salt. As Z owners we happen to be a bit more informed than C&D seeing as how we drive it ever day. That aside, the other cars are beautiful in their own ways, but the Z still got a bad wrap. For instance, they mentioned plenty of upgrade on the other cars but still remarked the Z interior as having a "cheap" feeling. Even the RX-8 had a nav system. Additionally, they tested the "$35,000 sports coupe" range, when the Z they tested was almost ten grand under the other cars being tested.

Giving points for "Gotta Have It" and "Fun to Drive" categories are completely subjective and vary on the person. Also the Z lost 10 pts for not having a rear seat at all, and only got 1 pt for the trunk room. Simply put, it's a coupe, duh. The Z and Shelby GT did the best on the track and got the lowest ratings overall. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't driving a "sports car" mean giving up some of the creature features for raw performance?

 

C&D also mentioned in their review that from inside the Z while in motion, the engine sounds like a coffee grinder!

 

LMFAO....unicycle FTW...

In case you guys missed it

Unicycle > RSX > Everything else

 

man everybody is bent outta shape on this one...

 

who gives a crap about engine noise in a sports coupe? Isn't that part of the fun? Don't they always critique lexus on how quiet and withdrawn their cars are, but the Z is too noisy. HAHA! THE RX8 is their idea of perfect?

 

yeah but the Z sounds like crap from inside. seriously..its just noise and a lot of it. Not saying It's not a major downfall or anything, but personally I'd love it if my car sounded more like a ferrari 355.

 

Better than sounding like an '85 Jetta

 

Yea I dont understand why they didnt test the Touring model, since that would of been more appropriate. It would of done better on the track cause of its LSD, and would of had the leather seats and navigation(option). Then they wouldn't of been able to call the interior cheap, and the car would still be inline with the other cars prices. They said the RX-8 was the "grand touring trim", why did they have to test the base Z?

 

I still say they should have tested the G35 6MT. It would have been a lot more fair with the backseat.

 

Just recalculate the scores taking out all the stuff you don't care about. I bought the mag b/c I was in the airport and wanted something to read. When I looked at their scoring, not to mention the article text, I realized that their priorities were different than mine. I'm rather annoyed that it seems like they took their subjective impressions and came up with a way to score it to fit those. I personally took their numbers and recalculated scores based on my priorities. I also deducted a few points on the Mazda for rotary quirkiness (engine flooding, more or less). If I recall, it came out to something like Z > RX-8 > Mustang > TT.

It's also odd that they tested a luxury brand Audi against mainstream brands Nissan, Mazda and Ford. Then they complain about the non-Audi interiors...

On a side note, they used the cargo capacity of the convertible rather than the coupe for their "trunk size" but they tested the coupe. What kind of sense does that make? Ultimately, the only time cargo capacity really makes a difference with these sorts of vehicles is when they're used as daily drivers, and the capacity hamstrings the owner in some way.

 

This is a serious default of the test almost as bad as the gotta have it and the back seat points. One of the major plusses they have given Zs in the past has been the sound now they say we sound like a coffee grinder. Unless they are saying the 07s sound that much different than previous models this is a complete turn around. I do remember not liking the sound of the 07 as much as previous years but still better than most cars out there. Besides on a sports car the engine and exhaust note, I thought was part of the love. People almost purely buy mustangs for the sound and how many company sell exhaust as an aftermarket add on.

 

Being the fastest car in the test and the fastest car around that track they did a couple months ago (and that was an 06!) as well as the lowest priced car in the group, the Z did not win a SPORTS CAR comparison test. Its been beaten to deathbut dayam, that is jsut wrong.