Lunch with a Brickyard Z
06-06-2002, 01:31 AM
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Lunch with a Brickyard Z
I went to lunch today with a friend who had access to one of the 350Z's in Gardena. We got the brickyard Touring car, frost leather, automatic. The car is obviously very nice looking and very comfortable. I didn't get to drive it but being a passenger gave me more time to try and soak in the details. I brought a camera, but my friend was not comfortable about me taking pictures.
The seats are firm but comfortable. The driver seat does NOT have a vertical adjustment. It has two electric switches at the base of the seat, one to adjust the angle of the back, and the other is forward/ rear adjustment. There is a round **** on the left hand side of the seat to adjust the angle of the base, more or less upper leg support. The driver was 6 foot 3 and had just enough head room, although any body taller would not work.
The right hand seat only forward/rear electric motion, no base adjustment, and a manual back angle adjustment. It was very roomy with great arm rests.
There were two cup holders located rear on the center console positioned behind ones elbow. These would be unusable while driving as they are very awkward , if not imposible to reach. I looked for the thrid holder, but coundn't find it.
The on our way to the restaurant, the driver took a couple curves and the car was like on rails even with the 17 inch tires. The suspension was very firm, controlled and quiet. The car didn't have a squeek or rattle. We got on the freeway and accelerated with a confirming growl from the engine, very nice. The engine note was not pressent until aggressive throttle was applied. The 17 Bridgestone tires were very quiet at speed.
We got to the restaurant and we opened up the aluminum hood, which was very light. There is an ajustable strut brace that reached from side to side over the top of the engine. There is a cold air inlet that led directly to a filter box, looks like room for improvement here. I couldn't see the exhaust headers or anything behind or down the side of the engine. There is a little room in the front of the engine to provide some room to work. Everything is very tightly packaged.
I opened the rear deck lid and noticed that the rear brace is huge!!! It uses alot of otherwise useful space. You golfers will have to fit the bag under the brace bottom first, not too much room.
The rear deck wiper was there in all its glory. I looked to see what it would look like if I removed it completely. It will not look good as the post is positioned in a hole in the sheet metal, leave a gaping hole if removed.
The brushed Stainless steel door handle is hard to live with if you have a dark color IMO. I suppose that just a subjective thing as it seems to cause an abrupt contrast to the rest of the car. For the women, the door hand will not be fingernail friendly as one must extend the fingers into the handle to get enough leverage to open the door. Also, fingernail and rings will scratch paint on the door as one positions the fingers into the handle.
The rear window visibility is awkward, but I think ok once you get the hang of it. The rear field of vision peers out the back window between the strut brace and the roof. Visibility seem impaired a bit because of the extreme angle of the rear window causes a little distortion to images, but I think one can get used to that.
In summary, it a wonderful car, agile, comfortable and a good value for the buck. If I were to change anything, I might rethink the rear brace and the door handle, but those are just nits compared to grandure of the total package.
The seats are firm but comfortable. The driver seat does NOT have a vertical adjustment. It has two electric switches at the base of the seat, one to adjust the angle of the back, and the other is forward/ rear adjustment. There is a round **** on the left hand side of the seat to adjust the angle of the base, more or less upper leg support. The driver was 6 foot 3 and had just enough head room, although any body taller would not work.
The right hand seat only forward/rear electric motion, no base adjustment, and a manual back angle adjustment. It was very roomy with great arm rests.
There were two cup holders located rear on the center console positioned behind ones elbow. These would be unusable while driving as they are very awkward , if not imposible to reach. I looked for the thrid holder, but coundn't find it.
The on our way to the restaurant, the driver took a couple curves and the car was like on rails even with the 17 inch tires. The suspension was very firm, controlled and quiet. The car didn't have a squeek or rattle. We got on the freeway and accelerated with a confirming growl from the engine, very nice. The engine note was not pressent until aggressive throttle was applied. The 17 Bridgestone tires were very quiet at speed.
We got to the restaurant and we opened up the aluminum hood, which was very light. There is an ajustable strut brace that reached from side to side over the top of the engine. There is a cold air inlet that led directly to a filter box, looks like room for improvement here. I couldn't see the exhaust headers or anything behind or down the side of the engine. There is a little room in the front of the engine to provide some room to work. Everything is very tightly packaged.
I opened the rear deck lid and noticed that the rear brace is huge!!! It uses alot of otherwise useful space. You golfers will have to fit the bag under the brace bottom first, not too much room.
The rear deck wiper was there in all its glory. I looked to see what it would look like if I removed it completely. It will not look good as the post is positioned in a hole in the sheet metal, leave a gaping hole if removed.
The brushed Stainless steel door handle is hard to live with if you have a dark color IMO. I suppose that just a subjective thing as it seems to cause an abrupt contrast to the rest of the car. For the women, the door hand will not be fingernail friendly as one must extend the fingers into the handle to get enough leverage to open the door. Also, fingernail and rings will scratch paint on the door as one positions the fingers into the handle.
The rear window visibility is awkward, but I think ok once you get the hang of it. The rear field of vision peers out the back window between the strut brace and the roof. Visibility seem impaired a bit because of the extreme angle of the rear window causes a little distortion to images, but I think one can get used to that.
In summary, it a wonderful car, agile, comfortable and a good value for the buck. If I were to change anything, I might rethink the rear brace and the door handle, but those are just nits compared to grandure of the total package.
06-06-2002, 02:00 AM
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exsilio
Materials used...good/bad?
The materials seems sufficient, Details in the air ducts on the door were very cool. The is actually a "Z" molded into the air duct vanes.. kinda cool. Leather seats were perfect...
Acceleration? Great for an automatic... the driver wound it out once or twice through 3rd... Probably 0-60 in about 6 or so .. It's hard to say how hard he was on it the throttle... 90% 100% I don't know for sure.
Steering wheel fell. I didn't drive the car, but did sit in the drivers position... leather steering wheel with the cruise controls on the right side spoke. Felt comfortable..
Radio? AWESOME!!!! BOSE sound with a thumper.
Gauges? Gauge pod moved with the adjustment of the steering wheel... Gauges were very readable and clear.
Materials used...good/bad?
The materials seems sufficient, Details in the air ducts on the door were very cool. The is actually a "Z" molded into the air duct vanes.. kinda cool. Leather seats were perfect...
Acceleration? Great for an automatic... the driver wound it out once or twice through 3rd... Probably 0-60 in about 6 or so .. It's hard to say how hard he was on it the throttle... 90% 100% I don't know for sure.
Steering wheel fell. I didn't drive the car, but did sit in the drivers position... leather steering wheel with the cruise controls on the right side spoke. Felt comfortable..
Radio? AWESOME!!!! BOSE sound with a thumper.
Gauges? Gauge pod moved with the adjustment of the steering wheel... Gauges were very readable and clear.
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06-06-2002, 02:47 AM
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How was the leg room for the 6'3" guy?
Thanks for the great right up. You said their wasn't much headroom left for the driver. I was wondering about the legroom. Were his legs cramped at all around the steering wheel, or was there plenty of space? You got me a little concerned with the head room comment, so I'm just wondering how comfortable the 6'3" guy felt overall.
06-06-2002, 03:00 AM
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Dave,
Come on now... It's a Nissan Corp Car... Nissan employees are insured, not friends of Nissan employees....
I thought it was very gracious of Nissan to extend the invite.
Come on now... It's a Nissan Corp Car... Nissan employees are insured, not friends of Nissan employees....
I thought it was very gracious of Nissan to extend the invite.
06-06-2002, 03:08 AM
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alt123
Alt123,
The driver, who had not driven this car before, mentioned that he had plenty of room for his size 13 feet. I noticed that he had his seat back angled back quite a bit, and he looked comfortable. I looked at the top of his head and there was about an inch more room, however, as the roof slopes down toward the rear, it was much closer to back of his head.
Everyone is put together a little different.... some with long legs, some with long torso... you'l just have to wait and see, but he commented that there is much more room than a BMW M Coupe if that helps.
The driver, who had not driven this car before, mentioned that he had plenty of room for his size 13 feet. I noticed that he had his seat back angled back quite a bit, and he looked comfortable. I looked at the top of his head and there was about an inch more room, however, as the roof slopes down toward the rear, it was much closer to back of his head.
Everyone is put together a little different.... some with long legs, some with long torso... you'l just have to wait and see, but he commented that there is much more room than a BMW M Coupe if that helps.
06-06-2002, 03:10 AM
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Dr. Bronz
Not to mention the fact that he wouldn't let you take pictures. How does he "have access" to the car? Is he a Nissan employee?
He is an employee at Nissan Hq
He is an employee at Nissan Hq
06-06-2002, 03:15 AM
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thanks for the extra info
Sounds good. I'm 6'4", so I should fit about the same as the guy you mentioned. I've got no problem putting the seat all the way back. When August or September rolls around, as long as I can squeeze myself in I'll be happy. The more comfortable the better though.
06-06-2002, 03:20 AM
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did u look at the key? is it the same kind like the Q45? like a kinda key shape but not exactly a key~ and is the suspension hard? like hard as the boxster? or kinda soft on a sport car? what about the steering wheel, is it light when u see ur friend parking the car?
Brickyard color
06-06-2002, 03:30 AM
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A great write up of your impressions of the car and you have my thanks to join those of many others.
My question is about the color itself...Brickyard. How did it look out in the real world. Is it as nice as the pictures that have been presented so far? Your impressions on that and any other thoughts on the paint job, fit or finish would be appreciated.
ZBarrister
Brickyard/Enthusiast
My question is about the color itself...Brickyard. How did it look out in the real world. Is it as nice as the pictures that have been presented so far? Your impressions on that and any other thoughts on the paint job, fit or finish would be appreciated.
ZBarrister
Brickyard/Enthusiast