I'm not a Z owner (yet) but I'm researching and questioning everything before I make my decision.

Of course it'd be easier on my wallet to purchase a pre-07 350, but the HR motor seems nice. Nice enough to spend another 5k+ on a 350?
If a couple bolt ons could get me to break 300 on the DE, I wouldn't mind that, especially since it'd save me grands of money.

Regardless of what year I get eventually, I'm in love with the sound of the Motordyne exhaust + ART pipes, so that'll be going on asap.

Any reputable CAI brands that I could look at?

Side question, how much of a power/torque gain am I looking at with the exhaust and CAI?

Thanks guys. Hopefully I'll find a Z soon!

 

You will not break 300 in a DE with "a couple bolt ons"

Test drive both and go from there. How are you going to take another person's opinion if the HR is worth an extra $5K? If I make $250K/yr, the extra bit is worth it. If I can barely get by with car payments and living costs, the extra bit isn't worth it.

 

yes

 

Perfect, thank you so much...

 

I'm curious by your comment about the HR seeming nice. Nice in that it delivers a little more power, nice because it has twin air intakes? To Quote Syner , take a test ride in both and see if its worth you spending the extra cash when you could put it straight into your DE. There are still some really decent DE's about if you look and I'm doubting you'll be driving the car hard enough to make full use of the few extra horses that the HR has.

 

I haven't driven the HR, but isn't the main power difference in the top end? I doubt you'll be seeing much difference on the street.

Bmurray, care to weigh in? (was it you who owned both?)

 

You make a good point.
I've read that the HR doesn't give you <i>too</i> much noticeable power gain, although you can still feel it, especially since the redline is higher.

 

You drive a nice HR and your questions will be answered; you will buy it! Go the MD route + art's, dual Stillen or Injen long tube intakes and you will be well on your way. No 300 with DE, could get there with HR + quality bolt ons. Good luck with it all.

 

like everybody said, drive both and decide. I drove both and didn't really feel any difference.

 

When I was looking for my car I drove a DE and HR and was sold on the HR. i felt the power difference right away, plus the car is newer and looks nicer.

At the end of the day it is what you can afford. If I could have only afforded the DE I would have bought it, but I was able to afford a basically brand new 08 Z with 2k miles so I went for that. By far best choice I made with cars.

 

I agree with everyone here, test drive it. Also 300 hp? Are you referring to the crank? We go by whp and dyno up in here. I got the de for reason which was Daytona blue.

 

I got an hr and its an overall way better car pretty much everything is more refined. If anyone tells you that they can't feel the power difference they are lying. I raced a modded G35 wit the de engine in my hr and he didn't put up a challenge at all. He was like wth did you do to that thing. I told him it is the hr nd am stock. I have More fun racing my friends turbo wrx on 16.8 pounds of boost.

 

the 06+ updated interior is also plasti dipped from the factory. watch out for that when you test drive.

 

this is true.. scratches off so easily.

If you can afford the HR, I can't think of a reason not to get it

 

The HR looks nicer with the redone headlights, LED taillights and bulging hood. If you get one, do not get a CAI unless you get the longtube ones. Ingen makes longtube intakes and so Does Stillen. If you get any short intakes, they will produce almost the same HP as stock and are not worth the money. I dont know if this is true for the DE engine, but it is true for the HR engine.

I have an HR with Ingen Longtube intakes and the Motordyne ART pipes. Still have the stock exhuast, but saving up to buy the Motordyne Shockwave as well.

 

The hood of hr has a different shape. Many people say it looks aggressive and ask if its aftermarket.

As an HR owner the main difference is the power delivery past 3k rpm, it is readily noticeable

If you want to go FI in future, pick de

Drive both and I believe it will come down to how much you want to spend.

 

The HR Z's are more refined overall. Interior is a bit nicer, obviously an improvement in the motor, and the exterior styling is better. They're just improved. If you can afford it, do it. If not, the DE's are still bad little ride

 

Or you could get a DE and instead of buying all those other bolt ons buy a used FI kit. Then you will have power you can feel no questions asked. Set it at a real safe 5 or 6 lbs and you can bomb on it all day. In fact I have a powerlab kit coming off my 06 as we speak. Going to be asking $3000 for it. That will demolish any HR with $10k worth of mods not FI. Plus it will sound better

 

Is it worth it? No. Will you regret buying a DE and not the HR? Yes. If youre not tracking the car, will you truly notice? No. See question 2. I went from a DE to a 370Z. The 370Z is obviously quicker, faster. Can I really feel the difference on my butt dyno? I dont know. I do like the 7500 RPM though.

 

i owned both,

my 03 at one point had jwt intakes, test pipes/hfc (test pipes lasted about a month befor i switched to hfcs) and injen dual, plenum spacer, and light weight gram light wheels, best i managed quarter mile was 14.030 i believe. ( i know it can be done much quicker but this was my best run with many attempts)

my 07 has just twin jwt intakes and at the time i had RPF1s for wheels.... best quarter mile result for me was 13.7xx with considerable wheel hop. (once again, i know this can be done mich quicker but i give this info as its same driver different car)

My first impression was that the 07 wasnt much different but it wasnt a direct jump from the 03 to 07. I was Z-less for about 2 years. But if i were to add the same mods to my HR then i think it would be noticably better as from my understanding HRs react better to breathing mods. If i were to do it again id probably still get the HR but if i could find a DE for a good price with low miles i might go that route and pick up a used supercharger kit from the classified section.