mwaller

Last night, I attened the GroupZ meeting in Buena Park, CA. I was delighted that two 350Z's were there as advertised. I had plenty of time to inspect them from every angle, inside and out. Unfortunately, both were automatic Touring models, so I can't comment on clutch/shifter feel, nor the feel of the cloth seats. Both cars, I believe, are full production models. The silverstone had the VIN ....360. Here are a few of my impressions:
1) The seats are amazingly comfortable. No doubt about it, these must be some of the nicest seats available in any car at any price. The leather had a pleasant supple & dry feel to it; very pleasing. Unless I'm blown away by the cloth seats in my Performance model, I think I'll have Classic Soft Trim install leather.
2) Regardless of what you may have been led to believe, the door handles (inside and outside) are PLASTIC. There's not anything inherently wrong with this; it's probably a good thing for the exterior, because aluminum oxidizes quite easily. The exterior handles are very convincingly metalized, and do feel cool to the touch. Unless you know, you probably won't notice. But yes, there is a reason that Nissan claims "aluminum look" door handles. Similarly, the metallic portions of the strut tower brace and kick plates are made of metallized plastic, and look really good. The interior handles are less convincingly metallic, but are perfectly functional and reasonably attractive.
3) The whole car makes extensive use of plastic. The front cowl (facia???) and rear cowl are entirely plastic. (The fenders, doors, roof, and hood are metal, however) Inside the car, not surprisingly, you find a lot more plastic. The leather-textured plastic used on parts of the dash and on the center console has a decently soft and supple feel to it. The honey-comb textured plastic used for the door panels and center dash (where Nav is) is rather hard and dry feeling; not the nicest. The three instrument pods, too, are covered in a cheap feeling hard plastic.
4) The headlights look fantastic! The low beams (HID) sport unique metal fixtures that support a lenses. They look very cool. The high beam bulb is actually below the low beam lens. The turn signal bulb is above the low beam bulb.
5) The overall design of the cabin is fabulous. With minimal futzing with the seat adjustments, they fit me perfectly, and held me in the perfect position to drive off... sigh..... anyway.... The steering wheel was perfectly placed, and had a really nice feel to it. Likewise, the brake and accelerator pedals were well placed and well weighted. If the dynamics live up to the expectations set forth by the design of the cabin, everyone is in for a real treat.
6) I happend to be in the driver's seat when the Nissan rep suggested I fire up the engine and give it a bit of gas. Naturally I obliged. The engine started promptly, and idled smoothly. It revs up incredibly quickly, and really screams at high RPM; quite satisfying. Interestingly, the cabin noise was of the same magnitude as the sound directly behind the exhaust, which is to say not very noisy (good in my book). The exhaust note is pretty much non existent. Most of what you hear seem to come from the engine bay, and not from the exhaust outlet. The one odd thing I noticed is that the engine seems to gurgle when you take your foot of the gas at high RPM. It's very pronounced. I can see why CAR magazine said the engine wasn't smooth running at high RPM. I don't know if this is a problem or not. But there's no way to miss it. I can only assume that Nissan doesn't feel a need to correct it.
Feel free to ask any more questions. I'm sure I missed some things :-)
Thanks very much to GroupZ for organizing this event. It really made my day.
Regards,
Mika

rai

I'm glad you got to see the car. It really is amazing. Nice too that you got to rev it. Soon we will be driving the car, but for now just seeing one is an event.

What color were they? I'm trying to get some first hand impressions of the silverstone.

What type of kick plates were they? standard or optional?

How was the strereo?

DIGItonium

iTrader: (1)

You mean that slight popping sound when you release the pedal after revving it high?

I notice that in the videos and sound bytes....

My guess is with proper care and break-in, it shouldn't be too bad.

That popping sound reminds me of my friend's RX7 backfiring as he drives.

mwaller

Rai -- Both cars were automatic touring models. One was White, the other was silverstone. The white one had a few extra accessories - splash guards, nav, kick plates, aero package, one two-tone seat, and some accessory nets. It also had the frost interior. The silverstone had standard black interior and no options except nav. The metallic Z on the standard kick plates had already worn quite badly so the plastic showed through. My advice - get the aluminum kick plates.
I have to say, I like the look better without the spoiler. It doesn't ruin the car by any means (unlike that hideous G35 spoiler...), but it doesn't add anything in my opinion. It's sleeker without it.
The silverstone is very nice. If you're not crazy about the door handles, you'll be please to know that they blend in nicely to the silverstone. It's a very elegant color, but very neutral. I personally chose redline because it will make the car stand out. And because I've always wanted a red sports car... But the silverstone is delicious, too.

djtonium -- yes, that's what I'm talking about. The engine doesn't slow down as gracefully as it revs up. Hope this isn't a reliability or performance issue. It certainly doesn't add to the package....

Great car overall; no question about it.
Mika

mwaller

Almost forgot -
The stereo (BOSE) is quite nice. It won't satisfy the audiphiles, but it has acceptable clarity and bass response. Like most car stereos, it has a slightly hollow sound, as if the sound bounces around a bit before it gets to your ear. The trebel is not as crisp as it could be. It's not as "forward" as the system in some BMW's , for example (Harman Kardon). On the plus side, the bass is tighter than on my friend's BMW 323i. How can you complain???
Mika

rai

Thanks for getting back to us, you really have an eye for detail. I saw the Z (blue) and I love the color, but the door handles do stand out, for me I think the Silverstone will be nicer.

Good pick up about the standard kick plates showing early wear and tear.

this is my only real concern about the much discussed "cheap" interior and plastic colored aluminum. I thought the interior looked high quality, but am afraid it will not hold up as well as a real high quality (TT) interior.