I bought a 2007 Grand Touring Coupe a few months ago. It's still stock, other than a Clear Bra and new license plate frames. I just passed the 3000 mile mark. Comments so far:


Love:

Performance. I'm still getting used to driving this car so I'll be able to speak more about this later, but it seems responsive and fast as hell through gears 1 to 4. Feels rock-solid on sharp turns, too.

Car exterior. Obviously, the Z looks amazing. I've found it looks best from 3/4 perspective and from as close as possible (due to the wider field-of-view.) This is probably why the Z makes such a great visual impression in real-life, even more so than in photos. Plus since it's so curvy, you get to see light reflecting from all angles when it's in motion. Also, the side profile looks nice, too!

Engine sound. I know you can beef it up with a Nismo exhaust, etc, but the stock sound is quite satisfying for me. Above 3500 RPM, the Z has a distinct 'digital' tone to it that reminds me of racing in video games. Which I love.

Magnetic Black. Flawless color, as long as you're willing to put in the effort, which I am. Anyone who's ever owned a black vehicle will appreciate a silky-clean black Z. Zaino that sucker!

Interior. I've seen many guys on here complain about cheap Z interiors, but I happen to love the 2007 GT Z interior. It's just slick as hell, especially if you spring for the stock navigation. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to see wood paneling anywhere or a dashboard covered in dark leather, or silly analog clocks like the G35. The Z interior looks amazing for this class of car.


Other Good Stuff:

Manual transmission. I learned to drive stick on my '07 Z. I don't really recommend learning on this car since it seems a bit unforgiving, but now that I know what I'm doing it's extremely smooth and satifying to drive! I've never tried the automatic, but I'm sure it's fine too.

Brembos. Really, they just look freakin' bad ***. I've received many compliments about the stock Rays rims on my GT, bright orange brembos and 19" wheels. I know they don't make much difference unless I'm on the track, but I might as well say again: They Look Freakin' Bad ***.

3M Clear Bra. Thanks to the advice of many of you, I had a certified installer hook me up with one of these in my first week. I can't even speak to the quality of Nissan paint since my car is still pristine thanks to the protection film! Not a single mark on it. If nothing else, the peace of mind during highway driving is worth the $700+ installation.

Bluetooth. The Bluetooth phone interface in the 07 works surprisingly really well! The voice recognition is right on the ball.

Navigation system. I know that many of the guys on here will say the 3rd party options are superior, but the fact is they all look pretty hacked up after they're installed. The stock navigation has worked great for me and it looks slick as hell; everyone compliments it when they're in my car. Touch screen would be nice though, but at least I'm not having to clean off fingerprints every other day.

'07 hood. I happen to love the '03-'06 hood too, but I've still received lots of compliments about the new 'hump' hood, and usually it's followed up with a question like "What kind of engine do you have in that thing?", which is always funny. Honestly, the hump is extremely small and generally looks great except from specific angles.

General features. Audio controls, cruise control, temperature and other features work perfect for my needs. The steering wheel controls for audio and bluetooth are awesome. Also, the rear wiper, electronic seat controls, heated seats, and air bag features all exceed my expectations so far. Also, the Xenon headlights are insanely powerful (without being intrusive to other drivers, since they're aimed just right.)

Audio. The Bose MP3 CD-ROM support works great! Before buying the Z, I figured I was going to have to rip apart the dash and install an iPod adapter, but it turns out that the built-in MP3 features combined with 6 CDs full of music are quite adequate. Just remember to turn off the Bose 'Audio Pilot' junk and the system sounds much better! But, I do wish that ID3 tags would display on the stereo faceplate.


Major Issues:

First gear at slow speeds sounds scary. I'm not sure if this is just my car or what, but between 5 mph and 15 mph in first gear the engine sounds horrible! It performs fine, but moving at slow speeds makes for very whiny and jolty engine sounds. Redlining first gear sounds great though. Maybe the car just wants to go fast.

Crunchy shifting between first and second gear (either direction.) It's not that bad, but it feels like the gearbox 'gates' are a little tight sometimes. It never grinds or pings, though, and gears 3-6 are silky-smooth! I understand that gearbox 'notchiness' is generally a common problem with Z's.

No automatic door locking/unlocking! WTF?

Ineffective E-brake. This is probably just my car, but the E-brake can barely hold the car on even the smallest incline. Obviously I always leave the car in gear when parked on slopes, but I wish the E-brake was tighter. I'll probably have to get this looked at some point.

Dirt and dust. Black cars are easy to spot dust on and other minor surface contamination, like water spots. No biggie if you're like me and you appreciate the chance to detail your car. Don't skimp on polishes, cleaning materials and quality towels!


Minor:

Stock alarm system totally sucks. The 'engine immobilizer' thing is nice in theory, but I don't know if it will be very effective.

Distant exterior looks. Car exterior when viewed from a distance (or through a telephoto lens). Viewed orthographically, the Z doesn't look as flattering, especially from directly in front or behind.

Accessibility. Doors are long and you need a lot of clearance to open them all the way. People always seem to feel awkward getting into my car. It's also a bit of a hassle in a narrow garage. No big deal though. On even a moderate slope, the doors will fall closed; this is annoying when trying to vacuum the Z on a sloped driveway.

Glitchy door locks. The automatic door unlock mechanism refused to unlock the passenger door in one case. No biggie. The lock switches seem a bit flimsy though.

I wish there was a sunroof. And yes, I've already heard the joke about buying the convertible instead.


Overall I just love this car, I'm still enjoying every minute in it. Often I'll find myself taking the 'long way' to my destinations just to spend more time driving. It's pure fun. Thanks for reading!

 

Nice car and review.

Most manaul cars has the whine sound like that in first gear. If you are in first gear and press the gas and let go and then press again, it will be very "jolty". you are suppose to keep a steady foot in first.

 

How's the mpg? I wanna trade for an 07 but people are saying the mpg is actually worse than the pre 07 models (contrary to what Nissan said)

 

+1 You hit everything on the nose (especially 3M!!) except the GT only stuff which I know nothing of. MAn I am so envious! I get so jelous when I see a GT, the rims look PERFECT on it. Should have gotten a GT!!

About the ID tags, hold the DSP button down, you should get some tags.

BTW, I know what you mean by the non-forced perspective look and I somewhat agree. Except for the rear. Up close the rear looks like it has huge overhangs, but from far, it looks nice. Prolly dont know what I mean but oh well:

Camera far away but zoomed in:



and



Camera up close for forced perspective look:



and



To me, it looks more planted in the first 2 pics. The front and side though, like you said, looks better close.

Sorry one more minus (for me anyways). In mildly warm weather, it is impossible to drive with jsut the drivers side window down. It gets hot in there!! My other car, in summer I can drive with the windows down when its hot and my legs dont burn! With the Z, its either wait for winter or drive with A/C. Is it jsut me?

 

beautiful ride brutha! i know what you mean about the Z's looking better in person than in photo but the photo you posted up looks pretty damn good too! Check out this 03 Touring I just bought 2 weeks ago...

 

at first on mine, i was getting about 16mpg. then, after break-in and a 200+ mile trip to nashville i was getting 28mpg on the interstate and now i'm setting at about 21mpg after daily city driving for 2 weeks, shifting at 2500 to 4000rpm.

 

Is yours an 07 or an 03, Im confused.

 

From the signature, it looks like he has an '07 but it's kinda funny how I didn't even notice that there was a change from the OP to ybloc. Either way, it's an '07. Nice catch

 

I think you hit everything pretty well except I dont really have the problem with 1st...although I know it may not be very good for the clutch I do not fully release it when going less than 10 mph so that may be why.

 

I get better mpg in my Z than I did in my 06 TL. I took a short trip to Austin, 90 miles there and 90 miles back, and got 25 mpg.

 

Dark Veil nice write up im from boston too and also have a 07 magnetic black believe me throw a nice bodykit on with some nice volk gts wheels and that Z will look nice in every angle close or far away.

 

I get between 23-25 mpg with mixed city and highway driving.

I actually took my new '07 for a 900 mile road trip up to Nova Scotia recently. It was entirely highway driving, and I averaged 28 mpg.

Overall I'm happy with the fuel economy. You'll never hear me complain about mpg or fuel prices, since I strongly believe that if you're going to purchase a car like this, you should accept what you're getting into beforehand and just enjoy it!

Evolved: Thanks for the tip about the ID3 tags, I'll try that today! Also, I agree with you about the rear of the car looking better through a narrow field-of-view.

 

Thanks for a GREAT review, DarkVeil!

I'm looking to get an '07 or '08 in December and have been (anxiously) counting down the months.

 

it's an '07 Touring Coupe (signature)

 

If you think your 1st to 2nd gear is knotchy, you should come shift my '03 on a cold start. CLUNK is what you hear.... lol doesn't affect anything though.

Very nice ride, it was either blue or black for me, and the black was over priced so i got the blue. Very admirable color on the Z, and those stock rims look really nice. Good write up.

 

I like my Touring, but where on Earth did you find a GT coupe? I didn't even know those were made. The dealership here acted as though there was no such thing. They said that trim level only came in the roadsters, but I guess they haven't ever seen the GT Coupe for '07. Oh well, I can do with out the Brembos and different-sized rims.

 

Super secksy ride!! That black is really shining, keep up the good work!

I saw a Daytona Blue GT yesterday, and for a second I was thinking "damn I am glad I am getting an Enthusiast, but wow! The GT is SICK"

First gear on alot of cars I have driven is wound pretty tight, so it does feel like you are ragging on the car. 1st is only meant to get you going from a stop, and I think in the owner's manual it states you aren't supposed to take it over a certain speed in 1st.Don't worry, you will get over that feeling of hurting the car.

 

 

Couldn't help but laugh at the irony. You are on an online forum wondering how someone gathered the know-how on the fact that GT is a real trim level for the coupe to be better equipped against the dealers who always push to sell the cars they already have on the lot....I am guessing this secret info was snoped off the Nissan site

The few. The proud. The GT coupe owners.

 

Very nice review. Thoughtfully written, and I agree with most points.