To me the biggest disadvantage of the 5at is the mechanicals. Manual transmission equals easier rebuild + lighter + easier to remove. Plus in my experience they last longer.....

But then again a certain amount of owning this car is realizing it is going to be a paid in the butt to work on. I had the car up on a lift for a pre purchase inspection and it certainly isn't going to be as easy to work on as my jeep or prior pickups. I'm pretty sure me on a creeper just ain't gonna fit. And I cringe at the thought of doing my headers, HFC, and exhaust with nothing but jackstands

The auto is less enjoyable (i.e. complicated for racing purposes) but obviously beneficial in many applications including someone with preexisting injuries and a girlfriend that will be driving regularly.

 

Here is where the FAIL begins.

 

Yeah because there is nothing cool about sharing with your future fiancee

I suppose I should drive the car every day so I can stare at it from my cubicle wishing I could drive it and at the same time ensure that she is getting 15mpg in our 4x4 jeep cherokee on a 30 mile commute (I drive 8 miles)

Brilliant

 

https://my350z.com/forum/intake-exha...installed.html

 

Based on my experiences yes the Z's is superior...here's a story.

My Mom got a 2000 GT stang vert. back in 2000. Dad decided he'd just shoot out onto a road, with my brother in the front seat and me in the back area (can't call those seats). any who TCS on, the *** end kicked out, he figured "ahh the TCS will catch it"...well we ended up facing 180 degrees the wrong way....so after I learned the Z a bit I decided to attempt to duplicate his situation...on a private lot of course. The Z would not let the car spin out. it held the front end facing front. I was impressed to say the least.

I've driven LS1's and stangs the TCS systems are shitty. and I hate them. The Z's has some room for improvement, but its quite nice compared to the others I've driven. Having said that I turn it off a LOT

TCS in general is a crutch...for those who have disabilities in the driving dept. As stated previously you will never find the full abilities of a car w/ TCS enabled...this is true even in a Porsche Cayman S. guy @ local Autox found this out...dropped 4-5 seconds off his lap time when going from sport to off. on all his electronic nanny's.

 

I'm pretty sure he's just messing with you man. I'm a die hard MT guy, but to each their own. I'm not judging, and besides you seem like you've got pretty good reasons to have an AT

 

haha yeah man i was just messing.

 

had a 2000 mustang gt and couldnt hardly get it to spin the tires with the tcs off

ls1s wont hardly let you turn the tires over with it on, regardless of speed and with it off will smoke them all through 1st gear and go ape **** into second

 

Thanks for the link, I was thinking Borla, but really like the Bassani as well. The exhaust shouldn't be tooooo bad, but I plan on doing HFC and Headers at the same time and I def. plan on those being a royal PITA. But I have a full tool kit so it should be manageable and at least the car is a second vehicle so I can do it at leisure instead of at 2am.

No offense taken on the g/f comments. She is a pretty cool g/f at that. If either of us want speed or a manual transmission we both have our own sportbikes..... That's just not what the Z was intended for.

 

I haven't read all the posts inbetween.

But Going from an 03 350Z Touring 6 speed with VDC (sold) to my new 2008 Mustang GT 5 speed with TCS is night and day.

I gave it a good amount of throttle during a turn to make it infront of traffic and my car was turned almost 45 degrees in my lane and fortunately I was able to correct it before I hit anyone. Yeah it is my fault.

But I know in my old 350Z, I could have easily made that turn with the same or greater acceleration without losing control like I did.

I even took my 350Z to a road course with an instructor in the seat, and he told me I should have lost control and spun out at one point cause he got scared. He attributed it to my wider tires and my VDC.

It is fair to say the 350Z is more controllable vs. a Mustang GT given a NOOB driver like me.

 

My Corvette gives me a surprising amount of leeway with the TCS on. It's pretty fun.