Anybody know where they are hiding the elephant in this car? This is just a general question as I absolutely love the car but can't for the life of me figure out what is so heavy to add up to something just shy of my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with every option conceivable.

 

I think it's the Bose system. They use technology from the 1950's. j/k I have no idea.

 

I read something about it sharing the same platform as that used for the SUV, thus contributing to the pork. Stiff and solid, but heavy. Not 100% sure about this, but I really remember reading this.

 

The car is stout... The car is very stiff... there is not alot of chassis flex. the car is designed to take power and high speed turns without the chassis having any flex in it.

 

*Ding*

It's all in the frame. How many other cars can you jack the entire side up on one jack point? In the front no less.

 

Supper's ready?

 

The S2000 is also very stiff and flex-free, but somehow weighs only ~2800 lbs...

I think it's b/c it shares a lot of components w/ other Nissan products, and was designed to hit a very aggressive price point.

 

The engine is also alot bigger than the S2000's. Comparing a 3.5L V6 to a 2.0L inline 4. And the Jeep got 500-600lb over compared to the Z (running an 4.0L inline 6). The Z is still lighter than a 3rd gen Supra.

 

the S2000 is far smaller, in every conceivable aspect. that helps.

also just to even things out the S2k is 2835lbs with 13.2gallons, the Z has 6.8gallons more good for almost 50lbs right there, now your about 300 off, Id say 100 lbs in the engine, 100lbs in the larger frame, and most likely about 100lbs in extra crap that we would like to say we didnt want and need, but most likely would be complaining about if it werent there.

 

If it were lighter you'd be asking
"why is this car $40,000"? As someone said it's all in the cost cutting. To deliver this car at the price point they wanted to, Nissan had to share several components... namely the frame. The frame has to be sturdy enough for the new line of Nissan SUV's. Is it overkill for this sportscar? Absolutely...

 

Fair enough. I think everyone hit on the two points that make the most sense, shared platform & hitting the low price point (certainly contributed to by the shared platform). Thanks for the thoughts....

 

Don't forget that the 350Z is about 300-400 lbs lighter than the 300ZX TT.

 

Not to Hijack the thread, but......
HokieZ......we're coming for you on SATURDAY!!

 

HAH! We're unbeatable. Oh, wait, there was that minor distraction that took place in Morgantown (I'm originally from WV but I'm still pissed). I knew we weren't a #3 team, but damn, could we have looked worse? My 105lb. wife, 3 cats and a couple of kids from the neighborhood would have put up a better fight....

I think we'll show up for this game though, it was obvious we've been thinking about it for 2 weeks rather than just one.....

 

Wow, that was a quick reply!
I'm actually more worried since you guys lost. I liked being a heavy underdog going into the game. We play better when everyone says we're going to lose. Now, we'll probably go in overconfident, you guys will be pissed off and we'll end up losing. Hopefully not though. Well, here's to great late season match up!

GO CANES!

(No more from me so that this thread doesn't turn into a "Who's number 1" thread)

 

 

GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!

(Graduated from OSU (: )

 

I did a a 540 yesterday nailing the curb and shattering my rear end spinnging my car into the woods....

I for one am gald to have had the extra low CG and weight...
The EMS could not believe how far the car was tossed and how i did not flip down the hill....

540 weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... praying car is totaled

 

So people who want a lighter car would buy the more expensive GT-R.

To make the Z heavy, they stuff dead cats between the frames

 

Well, i'm sure it being so solid was partially responsible for getting the 5 star safety rating. That's more important to me than 100-200 pounds of weight savings.