This has been posted in one other thread as well by myself, but i want to make sure everyone gets a chance to read this:

Well, let me start off by saying that this car is INCREDIBLE!!!! It drove very much like my fathers porsche boxster, but had a more substantial feel to it, mostly because of its 3200 lbs. This isnt necessarily a bad thing though, because this car feels very well planted and by driving it. You can feel the quality and solid constuction of the car.

The acceleration was great! This car had enough power do do anything you wanted. Passing was easy, take off was fast, and it is so well engineered that everything seems perfectly balanced and well thought out. No complaints here except maybe that the engine doesnt sound quite as powerful as i had hoped for. Its more of a raspy sound at high RPM's than i would have like, but there is still a nice growl to it as well.

ONE NEGETIVE THING on the car i drove is that the shifter had lots of vibrations. I usually like to rest my hand on the shifter, but on this car, the shifter seemed to vibrate so annoyingly that i was discouraged to rest my hand there. Hopefully this is something that will be ok after break in. Otherwise one would have to get used to this.

Lets just say that this car is awesome. I would like to give a more detailed and comprehensive review, but i am short on time right now. I will try to post more info later on and answer any questions you all might have.

The car i drove was a Black Performance Package 6spd with aluminum kickplates and floormats. Black is definitely the BEST color on this car. It made the silverstone that was parked next to it seem almost insignificant, even though that color is nice too.

The dealership was North Bay Nissan in Petaluma, CA an my salesman's name was Lars. He's an awesome guy so if you so buy this car, buy it from him. He loves this car and knows all about it. He's a great salesman and i would love to see him get the commission for this car because he does deserve it.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING! My salesman informed me of the Nismo Chip upgrade that is going to be available soon for an estimated price of $200. This is said to put the car's horsepower above the 300 mark. He also stated that Nissan did intentially leave the cars horsepower below the 300 mark for insurance purposes. This may have been discussed before, but it may be news to some of you. I know this was told to me by a salesman so it may be inaccurate, so believe it if you wish. I have no reason to doubt him so i believe him.

As for why i didnt buy it, in all honesty, i am not sure if i like it more than the bimmer 330CI. i am going to have to keep this car for at least 5 years, and i dont think that a 2 seater will work for me down the road. However, i may very well place another order for a Z for the second allocation if i do eventually decided that this is the car i want. Even though i have to let this car go, at least i know i was one of the FIRST ONES IN NORTHERN CALI TO DRIVE IT!!! WOO HOO!!

shaam
(ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO DRIVE A Z IN NORTHERN CALI!)

 

Resting your hand on the shifter while driving is a great way to destroy the syncros. It's also a bad habit not to have 2 hands on the steering wheel.

 

Out of curiosity, have most of the manual trannys you have driven been front wheel drive, or rear wheel drive? Rear wheel drive trannys have more "shake" at the shifter because the shift is directly connected to the tranny. So, I guess my question is, does it have more shake than other front wheel drives (expected) or more shake than other rear wheel dirve cars?

Have to second LS350z's comment. I've heard that in rear wheel drive cars, resting your hand on the shift causes more wear on the tranny because it acts as a dampener to normal vibration. Probably not a large effect, but something to think about.

 

so this car is not spoken for? how much were they asking? i sure hope this wasnt someone elses car that is waiting to be picked up? its just odd that that there is a car on the lot to be used as a test drive vehicle.

 

Two hands on the steering wheel.... except when shifting...

Classic comment from a perfomance driving school instructor...

"What are you afraid of... the shifter falling off ?"

 

Well I agree two hands on the wheel. The best manual tranny I have ever driven was in a S2000 and it vibrated at certain rpm's (like 5000-6000). This did not take anything away from the shifter.

Jean Jenings of Automobile Magazine (who has driven every car out there) says of the 350Z:

"the shifter may be the most beautiful shifter in a car today, tiny, precise, rocklike to the hand"

That sound pretty good.

 

If you all recall there have been Mag reviews that have noted the vibration in the stick. NNA said they could have dampened this but then the feel of the gear changes would have been rubbery not the "click" that it now has. Which would you prefer considering you're not supposed to keep hold the stick.

 

come to think of it...most sticks i have driven have been front wheel drive, except for the bimmer which had very little shake. It felt more like a front wheel drive shifter to me. However the z's shifter was extremely good overall. To answer someones question as to why they let me drive it, they let me because it was the car that i ordered. i was the preorder customer for that car so i got to drive it. Hope that clears things up.

 

I'm surprised no-one said anything about this Nismo chip. Haven't heard anything like that anywhere else, but it'd be real nice if it were true...

 

could you explain this more? I'd like to know as this is something i tend to do as well.

 

Tjz, I read in my Audi TT manual once that if I reseted my hand on the shift **** while driving, it had the possiblity to introduce ratttle and play in the future.

 

i read an articles somewhere talking about nissan making the R34 with a chips to lower the horsepower due to the agreement(the one that no car should have hp over 280) in japan, therefore i think nissan had done it before so there will be a pretty big possiblilty nissan is going to do it again in the Z, yet, in a different reason.

 

Really?? I've done that while driving my Stealth for the last 10 years and guess what? I have toasted synchros! I wish I would have known that 10 years ago! Thanks LS350Z!

Why exactly does this happen?

 

yes, do explain.