Car and Driver recently drove the 370Z (two weeks ago).
I think we can expect a "short take" review of it in an upcoming issue.

In short he said it was nice, and better than the 350Z in every way.
Was a 6MT car.

Cheers.

 

Link or scans, my friend. Links or scans.

 

This is probably the same prototype zedmunds and motortrend drove 2 weeks ago.

 

Yup.
But it's not really a prototype, just an early production model.
Nissan has been in So Cal recently "testing" them and preparing for the LA Auto Show "world" debut of the car.
They allowed some of the car mags to drive it.

My buddy who just got done driving and photographing the G8 GXP for the same car mag yesterday told me about the drive of the 370Z too.
The same car mag was doing their full tests of the G8 GXP at Willow Springs on Friday.
You can expect to see that full test article in a month or two. If they decide to do a quick "short take" review of the 370Z they drove it will be in that same edition I'm sure.

 

Oh and in case you are even in the slightest bit interested in what he had to say about the Pontiac G8 GXP here's the recap I posted for the guys over at the Pontiac G8 boards:

Ok, here goes.
I just got off the phone with him.
It was raining on and off here in LA all day long today.
I thought maybe they'd cancel the photo shoot and drive, but they didn't.

The car was a Blue Pontiac G8 GXP with a 6MT tranny.

Yesterday it was at Willow Springs doing the performance testing for the magazine, they did not release the details of the testing, but know this, the car magazine allowed the photog and driver today to take their new $5000+ VBox (professional unit) along with them today.
On a damp day here in LA on a nice straight road in Malibu, a non professional driver (but he's a friend of mine and like me we've been car enthusiasts for a long time and he knows how to drive well) was able to get a
0-60 in 4.79 seconds. This is an uncorrected time and done on a road that was recently damp, with a driver who was driving the car for the first time.
I'd bet the official times from the magazine are probably in the 4.6 second range when done on a track with better conditions.

He said the 6MT is great. Very smooth and easy clutch.
The tranny is the same from the Corvette, but they mentioned the clutch is much smoother and easier than the last Corvette he drove.
He mentioned he was able to get this time by launching somewhere around 2600 rpms and not slipping the clutch but not dumping it either, but a smooth progressive and quick release.
He was disappointed that the car came with 245 Bridgestone rubber ALL around.
He thought with 265 or wider rear rubber he'd have even better off the line times.
He did say the 245 rears did make for some entertaining sliding.

You are able to turn the stability control completely off, but it's either on or off.
With it on, he said it wasn't overly intrusive, and allowed a bit of slip, but not much.
Personally I think it would of been nice to have a "sport" mode where it wasn't completely off, but did allow more slippage than when it's on.

He said the sticker price was $36k on the car and it's only real option is the moonroof (other than transmission choice). No NAV.

He said, compared to the G8 GT (which the exhaust note is a bit soft) the GXP was near perfect. He thought it could MAYBE use a bit more sound, but that would only be for those who really like a rumbling exhaust. But he didn't feel any need for it to be any louder for a stock V8 sedan.

Suspension wise, he was impressed. Doing a bunch of side to side chicanes on the canyon roads he said it handles great. The magazine won't allow them to cross the double yellow line for the photography, but he said once he was still able to run the car hard around corners and sweepers and for a ~3900 lbs car it felt great.
He did say the rear suspension seemed a bit high though.

He loved the seats too. Not sure if they are the same in the G8 GT but said they were comfortable and the bolsters were more than sufficient for hard canyon driving.

That's about it.
You'll probably see the full test by this magazine in a couple months.

Well hope this gives you guys a bit of an insight into the G8 GXP.
You'll definitely have to pick up a copy of the magazine when it comes out. But I'd bet if you are a car enthusiast in the slightest that you guys already have a subscription to this magazine already anyway.

 

F

 

What's interesting is the price and 0-60 and 1/4 mile acceleration of the G8 GXP will probably be pretty much identical to that of the upcoming Nissan 370Z.

 

Not really sure why we'd care about a Pontiac anything, but that's for posting?

 

whats the point of this thread. Obviously we will, be waiting for a C&D repost. UGGHHH fail

 

FAIL

 

He called you up personally and say this?

 

Yup.
He's a pretty good friend of mine and he knows I'm a car enthusiast so we talk quite a bit and hang out when we can so he gives me a heads up on some cars when he can.

Thanks though.
I'm on many car forums, and have been since 2000 (when I was the 336 th member of Car and Driver's forums.
I gotta say though, sadly there are some of the most pessimistic unfriendly members on this one.
Without fail, no matter what you post here, no matter how you try to pass on some "inside" interesting information (whether it turns out to happen or not), you get tools here that post, "fail" and "pics or ban" or other crap like that.
Nobody else in any of the other forums, seem to do that with the regularity of many of the guys here.
Even the BMW forums (since I own one) I posted the G8 GXP info on, people were like, "hey thanks for that, even though we don't have that car, it's great to hear about upcoming cars."

I wish the people here that have nothing good to say, or worthless things to say like "fail" or whatever other crap they post like that, would just move on and not bother posting at all. That type of post and attitude is just so worthless and unnecessary.

So thanks for your interest regardless of car. Shows you are a true car enthusiast.

 

Good to know . I am interested to know what else he said. Right now the info I am dying to know is how much it's going to be. We have seen Nissan increase the MSRP on the GTR by 7000 ( i believe). That's why I am bit nervous about a big price increase (10%)The current Z msrp is approximately $28500. We DO know that "waizzz" has seen the tv ads and pamphlets for the 370Z with a price tag of $29500 but that was 08.21.08.

Try to get more info out of your friend for us

 

 

Good read on the G8 GXP. Get more info on the Z!!!!

 

Good read and info on the G8 GXP. I had an 04 Grand Prix GTP Comp G before i got into the Z and i can tell you it was a blast to drive and a whole lot of bang for the buck. So i still have some love for pontiac. Cant wait to hear more info on the 370z as well.

 

I agree, when ppl post "fail" or "repost" it doesnt help anything. The thread has already been made so your basicly posting to get +1 on your post count. I just choose not to post in threads I dont care for. Anyway I'm not a fan of pontiac nor a lot of other brands but I love cars in general, like most of us, thanks for the mini review.

 

Why are we talking about Pontiac? It's another piece of GM junk.

 

I'm pretty sure we have a G8 GXP thread going in the other vehicles section...you'll get a better response to your information there.

 

The immaturity level here is bad, but not quite as bad as the Evo boards. The more fastar and furiousest a car is the more young kids it attracts and the more useless posts you get. Not everyone's a tool though -- just the most vocal ones.