I'm just wondering why Nissan didn't bring the Z back with an even 300bhp. 13 more bhp doesn't sound like a huge increase considering the huge perceived difference in the car buying public's minds. As we all know 300 sounds a lot more impressive than 299...


Is there still room for the factory engineers to squeeze it out? Wouldn't it make sense for nissan to put some more distance between the z's bhp numbers and those of the other vehicles using the same engine? ie maxima, altima, G35.

 

if they could Im sure they would have.

you see all the difficulty people hae getting 300 hp aftermarket, 1000's of dollars in exhaust, intakes, and other assorted goodies for an extra 10-15hp. and some of these make the car not street legal, there are dB restrictions that no doubt many of the aftermarket exhausts break. and test pipes and even high flow cats are not street legal.

CAI are not realistic for everybody as many wont know and accept the risks; their easily avoided, but not if you dont realize its there.

perhaps a better designed plenum, but even so, its tough to improve on that; crawford had to move the strut bar, and kinetix has very thin walls. an OEM part needs to have a bit higher strength, cant have 30,000 parts a year out there that could break when the driver has no clue to even expect it.

 

many of us doubt it even really has 287 its semms more like 280ish

 

All they probably had to do is use cams that are more aggressive, and raise the redline.

 

I thought the BHP numbers are meaninless in a way, all that matters is Torque? and ours is around 240 on a good day?

 

Why release a vehicle at maximum capability in the first year? You've gotta know they're keeping some of the upgrades for future years - that's why car models have a life cycle, not a different generation of car each year.

 

You're right. Just a more radical cam and larger vavles will yield over 300hp. I think Nissan will up the HP soon, rumors said it is due in the 05 model. It is a marketing strategy to offer some improvements for the mid year models. They never give us all the goodies in the first year....

 

Don't forget it's a newly redesigned car. Sure many parts (e.g. motor) are off the shelf, but many are new, including the tuning and power output, etc.

Nissan couldn't afford for the return of the Z to be plagued with major issues, so better to keep it safe and build from it. Sure we have common problems (e.g. tire feathering, early tranny issues, etc.) but those are little things compared to blown motors or bad rep for reliability, recalls, etc.. They still managed to keep it highly competitive and don't forget, it takes more than a day or two to design a car, so maybe 287HP during the early stages of design probably seemed enough for the return of the non-turbo Z.

The first 2-3 years we should see Nissan fixing common problems (e.g. feathering - at least I hope they're trying) and improving in other areas (e.g knee pads) and hopefully by 06-07 maybe we'll see a bump in power and/or maybe even a body redesign. Give NISMO some time, they're out there testing and fooling around with many ideas I'm sure (especially thanks to Subaru, Mitsubishi, and maybe even the infamous M3). Don't forget, a production car needs reliable and dependable OEM parts which = lots of testing.

 

I thought I heard that Nissan also wanted the Z to be "insurable". Supposedly that was one of the reason behind the "287" rating. I think the insurance industry determines insurance rates based on size of the engine and horsepower out put. Our insurance would have been a lot more if the Z was rated @ 300 or more Hp. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

 

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but in Japan, all the automakers have a "gentleman's agreement" not to hit or break the 300 hp barrier with their vehicles. I have my doubts as to whether on not they actually adhere to this though.

 

it's actually 280...
and according to Best Motoring, Z in Japan has exactly the same engine as the G35C, where we get 287 here.....

 

You're right...my bad. I knew it was between 280-300 someplace.

 

i thought it was bc 300hp cars are outlawed in japan. that law's gonna have to change though or they're gonna seriously have to underrate their hp numbers in upcoming years.

edit: oh nevermind. i probably should have read the thread.

 

What counts on these city streets is torque my man......and we've got plenty of it in the Z.

 

In Japan, they do seriously under rate the HP on their High perfomance car. For Example, SKYLINE GTR, although it was rated 280 in Japan, numerous performace test on the GTR shows that with GTR's weight (around 3,400lb) it should have horsepower around 340 to 350.

 

I think a lot of people want more HP in the 350z as the 300TT had so much. People often say it should have 350, But it doesn't have a turbo. If there was a 350ZTT released.. then we can start talking some HP because I would personally expect some 350bhp atleast after tuning. Insurance would go through the roof though... and this is all besides the fact that a TT is highly unlikely.

 

in japan people just say that there cars are under 287 agreement but do you think a skyline really has 276 hp??? no its more like 320hp.
Derek

 

The Subaru STi has 300HP...from Japan.

Why doesnt our car have variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust?

 

I have a guess:

$$$$

Remember we have 4 camshafts so that doubles the costs for valve trickery, even the s2000 only has 2.

 

are you sure the z has no variable valve timing. i thought all modern cars used some form of that kind of technology.