Cool comparison between the two. Posted on a few other forums already, but thought I'd post it here.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...topanel..1.*#2

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awesome review. the 370 has been growing on me a lot. especially the performance factor.

 

Looks like the 370Z blows the doors off the 135i.

Exterior wise, the 135i looks like *** compared to the 370Z. The 370z is much more beautiful. Not a fan of red color, but that one is nice.

 

Never been a fan of BMW, always felt like you're buying the name. I am glad 370z is a better choice here comparing the two and 5K cheaper!

 

Agreed.

 

370Z is growing on me.

 

and the funny thing is that the turbos only give the 135I a 50hp advantage when tuned to the max on them. the 400whp tunes are called turbo melters on 1addicts and e90 post.

but the most common tune and parts adds up to 350whp. so the Z,135i,335i and mustang are gonna be pretty tight when it comes to highway runs and drag times.

 

Where I live the price of the 135I is way over what the review stated. That is typical BMW though. They give the MSRP with hardly any equipment but go to the dealer and find one at that price.
I also think the 135 is goofy lookiing. The 370 is kick *** and we are going to see many new owners who never owned a Nissan before.

 

Wow they made a really bold statement about the Z. The turbo cards have the advantage, but the Z is definitely easy and fun to modify with large aftermarket support. I think this is the upgrade I've been looking for from my '03

 

haha I have a 135i and from the review I think I might have to go test drive the 370z

 

That Z is going to look mean as fk with a drop and aggressive wheels.

 

Senior Editor made a bold statement with the quote below. He makes it sound like the 350Z sucks, maybe he never drove the HR version... dipshiz if you ask me.

"This wouldn't have been a very tough decision if the 370Z was nothing more than the old car with a bigger engine and some new styling. I never much cared for the 350Z. Lots of potential there, but it was always hard to exploit it. I would have chosen the 135i in a second."

 

The "Turbo melter" is just one map on the JB3 piggyback. And that map has not even been released. Its a 17 PSI map, but the default map will be around 14 PSI for the new JB3. It will also have a "low boost" map of around 12.5 PSI. The older JB2 piggy back is about 11 PSI and good for about 335 RWHP on an otherwise bone stock 135/335. Not bad for a $200 dollar mod. I mean thats about 60-70 more RWHP than the 370z.

 

Both are great cars.

Glad the Z won.

 

if the 370z was stock. im talking both modified

intake, tune, down pipes, test pipes, catback:335i
intake, headers, test pipes, catback, tune: 370z

plus all that exhaust stuff for the bmw will cost more.

we have more agressive gearing, less weight, instant power. not as much torque though. about 100ftlbs less when equally modded.

but im sure a more agressive tune on the 370z could fix that when people start playing with the intake lift and duration and start replacing the exhaust cams.

hell we might be able to get 400hp na with: intake, headers, test pipes, catback, tune, cams, vvel tuning, bigger throttle body, and the usual hotrod sstuff.

 

nice comparison

 

The N54 engine doesn't last too long when it's "tuned".
They've been having a lot of problems with it. It's no Mitsu Evo engine.

 

Damn, the Z's brakes slaughter the Porsche's considering one is just a regular brake rotor, and the other is carbon ceramic rotor. This is bad for me. If the look of the car grows on me, I may end up trading in the 06. =(

 

I'm wondering what can be done by altering the intake lift lobe with a more aggressive ramp up.

 

Although the 370Z brakes are awesome, we don't know how long the pads and rotors will last compared to the ones offered with Porsche. With my '03 Z, the stock brakes were pretty darn good. The major drawback was brake dust that kept ruining my nice clean wheels after a few days of driving. I'm trying to stretch it a few more months after the Z arrives dealerships and read up on some impressions.

As for 370Z N/A power and tuning... of course we'll never achieve as much power as the turbo i6 from BMW. IIRC, someone posted a dynosheet from a G37 with around 320whp. That's a pretty nice gain, but I'm sure that's much more effort and cost than a simple ECU tweak for the BMW.