You're right. V8's are only for muslce cars. They do not bide well in the performance aspect required by sports cars. Plus the fact no V8 out there gets decent mileage.

V6 all the way!!!

 

Highway is the only place the V8 will get good gas mileage and that is mostly due to gearing. Daily driving city or mixed, it will still get under 20. A V6 will get over 20.

Get your nuthugging Vette attitude out of this forum!

 

Oh wait, so has Toyota in the Camry, oh and GM in the Monte Carlo. LOL

 

Supercharger. Twin Turbo. Whatever, same thing.

And the reason so many companies are jumping on the boost band wagon is NOT to please us, FYI. There's a little thing called CAFE regulations that you need to educate yourself on, and it's getting more and more important for manufacturers to consider fuel economy, as these regulations get stricter and stricter.

Boosted engines make more power for the same amount of fuel - they are inherently more efficient. That's why they are becoming popular, in this day of $4 a gallon gas and tighter CAFE regs.

The future is turbos and direct injection, and I haven't heard anything about Nissan's development of DI technology, unfortunately. Taking a given engine design, and adding direct injection, gives you about 10% more power AND fuel efficiency. It's a win-win.

If the 370Z comes in around 3200 pounds, as the platform progresses, it wouldn't ever require over 380 HP or so. And a tuned 4.0L VQ with direct injection could easily provide this - they don't need a V8 - it's not some 4000 pound slug.

Sure, it'd be nice to dream about 450HP Z cars for $35K, but it isn't going to happen.

A 3200 pound Z with 380 HP has a power-to-weight ratio similar to Vettes and M3s. A tuned factory NISMO version with closer to 400 would be Porsche GT3 territory. Fo shizzle.

 

^ Wow. Gas is still $4 in your neck of the woods?? Sucks to be you!!

Try 91 octane at $3.10!!

 

For the V8 haters...Aint nothing wrong with a V8 and yes you can have a V8 with similar gas milage as a V6 just not at the our Z's pricepoint. BTW my 350z guzzles gas. I literally watch the needle go down as I drive.

 

Im getting sick of you Everytime I go to respond to posts you pretty much say what Im thinking....Well said.

 

If the 370z had 2 options a v6 and a v8. The v8 costing i dont know i will just make a goofey guess and say 3k more.

you guys would buy the v8 in a heart beat.

Its like the "the 370z is ugly we dont like it" people. they gonna be owning one and you all know it.

btw im not saying put a v8 in the 370z. I kind of like the idea of a powerfull v6 with good gas milage.

 

Would an 8 be only 3k more??? Ummm.....NO. An 8 would definately be in a special version of the Z costing much more than 3k more. That said, I would stick to the 6.

 

Sorry... I'm late since I've been too busy coding and testing at work.

There were, in fact, variations of the VQ series that incorporated direct injection technology as far back as 2001. Look for Nissan's NEO DI in some older VQ engines. It is fairly unfortunate they didn't incorporate this as they had a VQ30DD that produced 260PS(?) crank. IIRC, it's the high sulfur content with gasoline that made it unfeasible for use here in the U.S.

 

Boost may be more complicated, but it's a whole lot more fun when that turbo spools up!

 

So does the V8 used in the GT500 series make it less of a Z? If so... call my car less of a Z, and give me one.

http://thegarageblog.com/garage/nism...championships/

Some of you are failing to realize that a large percentage of Z owners don't care about the "heritage" of the car. Not all Z owners bought the car because they followed it since it's early Datsun days. Regardless of the number of cyllinders used, if a car made the same power and was equally efficient... most consumers wouldn't tell the difference. It's not as if Z car buyers are all registered on this forum, tune their cars, or know how to change their oil...

I'm sure Nissan has good business reasons why they are not putting a V8 in the Z, or perhaps they will someday... who knows, until then we can only guess as outsiders.

 

Cost. Larger engine, at same weight means more expensive, means the Z would be 50 grand. There is a cost to everything man. When you sit in a Porsche there is no way you can consider the Z in the same group. Its economy, vs High-end. The quality of materials, the fit and finish, you name it. If you want to keep the Z affordable, there are limits.

 

Funny how my daily commutes are a mix of highway and city driving, yet I manage to average 22-24mpg between fillups.

Just another case of where you don't know what you are talking about.

 

I am waiting for the V10 Z. V6 and V8s are for pu$$ies!

 

The point of the scenario was to see who would actualy take a v8 over a v6 by negating any major price difference.

 

And why are you even having this discussion when a V8 Z is not going to happen?

 

I doubt they will ever put a V8 in the Z. Even less of a chance now that the GTR is here. Maybe a low volume special edition, but I suspect even that will go a FI route. Like others have said, it will not be for the first year anyway. With declining perception, whether real or not, of gas usage by a V8, I do not tink they will go that route. The Vette has always been a V8 and thus would be perceived negatively if it went with a turbo 6. So some things are about perception real or otherwise. What is a good way to boost perception. You guessed it, heritage. Think it like this. The Z most likely (since its crazy to say never) will not be a V8 for the same reason it will not be a a blown 4.

All of this is just guessing anyway, although fun in its own way. Regardless I plan to wait a few years before even putting the purchase of a Z34 on my radar. By then maybe they will have a green painted option and maybe FI also. Although the current Z33 will run for 6.5 model years with no FI.

 

You are right that not all Z Car owners care about the Heritage of the car. However, where you are incorrect is that the heritage of the Z plays a HUGE part in the Z community. You have your 350Z today because of the Z Car enthusiasts. And it has a 6 cylinder in it, nothing more, nothing less, because of Z car enthusiasts. While developing the next generation Z car that would become the 350Z, Nissan tried to push over a 4 cylinder (240SX) motor into the new car. Z Car enthusiasts were outraged and demanded a 6 cylinder in the Z.
So yes, a large percentage of Z Car owners DO care about the heritage of their beloved Z.

 

^^Can I get an AMEN hah...Preach on brotha hah..........