“’Twas the week after first deliveries and all was quiet.”

No new posts for a few days. The people who have taken delivery obviously have other distractions; however I have two questions for any of those fortunate folk.
Have you noticed any issues with the Bose, like the reports from the US?
And
Hows the satisfaction level thus far?

Cheers!
Bev

 

I was thinking the same thing this morning Bev. Everyone's just disappeard.

A friend at work said he saw one on the road the day before yesterday which is the closest I've had to a sighting yet.

So how about it, let's hear your impressions after driving them for a week or so.

 

Nearly up to my two week annivessary!!

Still running the car in and cant wait to open it up.

In relation to the Bose, you will either get used to the sound fluctuation (which doesnt bother me) or it will drive you nuts.

Very satisfied with the car, however I am not sure if I find the seats comfortable. I am getting a sore back which I have never had before. My s15 seats felt alot better and I hope that over time the seats will become more comfortable.

I continue to be stared at (I am not sure if it is because of my good looks) and love the car.

On another note I havent seen any others around town yet but maybe we will get together for a meet?

Got to go now and wash car due to the drought breaking on my car.

Zdster

 

My thoughts as well.

Looking forward to the Wheels Magazine article next Friday on the test between the Z, Audi TT and WRX STI. I have a feeling we may be a little disappointed with the Z's performance figures.

Whilst one should respect the performance and engineering in the Subaru, beauty must be in the eyes of the beholder. IMO it is not pretty, both inside amd out. The Z sure is something else.

 

The bose sux .
I understand its meant to increase/decrease with road noise, but it sounds to me like the sub stays on regardless, which really makes for a bad sound at times. Very inconsistent. Very annoying.
Driving the car is heaps of fun though and it feels really solid, unlike some other japanese cars. Wider,longer and sexier than expected.
And the looks you get ! I actually try not to stop at lights anymore because of the people staring. But its unavoidable, so just enjoy it.
Through the hills in the Dandenongs and on the way up to Maroondah Dam the car simply shines. Amazing how fast this car can be driven in the twisty roads. Switch off the VDC and you can easily spin the wheels 1/2/3 shifts . I would leave it ON for the first 1000 km so you have a good idea of the cars characteristics.
The car has plenty of grip for a RWD. Steering is exellent. A little heavier than I had expected, but it turns in with great precision and the steering wheel is nice and chunky.
Suspension can feel a little firm at first (I have the track 18") but all is forgiven through your first high speed corner. Handling in my opinion is phenomenal. Everything responds to your inputs fast.
Bumps on the road will not throw the car off line.
Engine wise, the thing just wants to rev. I'm talking effortless reving . Simply tap the throttle and keep a close eye on the tacho.
A good feature is the shift light -- set it at around 4000rpm for the break-in period otherwise you will have a difficult time staying below the recomended rpm.
Oh ye, it sounds mean too. Deep rumbling sounds
The gear box is so sweat. Short accurate shifts to die for. Being a six speed many would say 6th would not be usable on highway roads, but this engine has so much torque and the gears are spaced so well that cruising in 6th is comfortable.
No doubt you have all read about the "linear" acceleration on other posts and it is very true. there is no turbo shove-in-the-back feeling, just a solid pull from 1000 rpm all the way to redline.
Look down and you will be surprised at your speed. Love the digital speedo on the third gauge as well.
Brembo's wipe off speed f-a-s-t.
As an overall package Id say its fantastic performance and value for money.
I can't stop driving it.
Even washing it is fun.
Trust me when I say your patients will be rewarded.

 

So is anyone going to try the cheap Bose fix outlined in https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=19106

 

Thanks Blue_350_z!

Bev

 

It is funny that I have not got my Z yet (well it was suposed to be here 2 weeks ago) but have already got all the stereo components ready for it. I personally never heard a decent factory fitted sound system so I'm not holding my breath when it comes.

 

Well..... I love the car and the sound system though! I used to have Orion speakers and the JVC MD and CD single din in my bmw M3 before... and I can say that the Bose system is as good as those.... I am not a audio expert as many of you guys, but to me, this system will be in its place through out my ownership of the car!

As the built qulity of the car... it is fantastic.... BUT somehow I got a rattle noise just right under the steering wheel.... but only once, then I had a knock at that panel, then it was all fine!

Got my Viper pager system installed on Friday... Love that system and it does page me if the alarm goes off for any reason, everything is shown on my pager display screen!!!

I went back to Nissan dealer today for the fuel pump noise... and they said that the fuel pump noise is actually TOO loud to be accepted! They are going to give me a call back on monday after they contact Nissan Australia for further assistances, since not many technicians know about this car so far!!! But it seems that Nissan dealer is going to replace my fuel pump for sure because we actually had a try on a BRAND new Z at the back (a silver touring model instead of Track version)... the fuel pump only has the hissing electronic noise, but somehow my one goes alone with fuel injection nozzel noise too! It appeared about 3 days after I had my car!!! So pay more attentions on that or it might just be an individual case!!!

I just cannot stop driving the car either.... so far nearly have 600km on the car for only 7 days of ownership!!!

cheers,

richie

 

Oh... btw.... I have seen another 2 "SILVER" touring models on the road already!!! one was parked near my place at Canterbury and the other one was on Station Street at Box Hill!!!

Expecting to see more later, I think it will be as popular as s2000 or WRX!!!

cheers,

richie

 

350ZLOVER --

I do agree that when parked with the engine off, the Bose system can sound decent given that it has limited bass/treble adjustments.
However, I didn't buy a car to listen to music parked.
My advice to everyone is to judge the sound quality (or lack of it)while driving at highway speeds and particularly when coming to a stop at traffic lights.
And if your not happy tell your dealer. Simple as that.

 

Maybe I'm just tone deaf, but I haven't noticed any problems with my Bose... in fact I think its rather good...
Love the car... ive already written down my first impressions in another thread so i wont repeat them... only rattle is with the passenger seatbelt
How many melbournians are here? maybe we should have a meet...

 

oh yeah, i find the seats comfy, the seat warmers are a bit ***** tho.
had 900ks end of week 1, 1500ks end of week 2, been for the first servicing.
have taken it over 4000 revs a few times, i believe in break-in with occassional squirts just so the car knows it aint gonna be driven by a grandma all its life

 

as to popularity... i dont think nissan is going to bring in more than 800/yr (at least for the first year)... it may become as common as s2000s but there are 10 wrxs for every s2000

 

Being tone deaf, the rattle shouldn't bother you. lol
Seriously though, I discovered a seatbelt holder to plug the buckle into. Look for it just where the unused belt rests and "plug her in" ...............rattle gone!

 

Don't you mean 10 wrxs crashed/stolen for every s2k

 

Ok, had my platinum/charcoal touring 6 speed manual since Friday - that's 6 days of driving at the time of writing. I've done 750 km so far, so you can tell that I enjoy driving the car very much.

I'll give a breakdown on all the major points that I have noticed so far. The message is quite long, so I will make two parts from it.

PART 1 --------

1) The looks

First to the looks. Having one of these babies in the flesh is amazing indeed. It looks absolutely beautiful. On the inside: Mine had lots of finger prints on the inside door panels that couldn't easily be removed, although I paid a lot of money for the Defense Pak aftercare, which included vinyl protection etc blah blah.

The 35% window tinting that I had put on was installed without problems. The dropping of the windows can be avoided with a little secret switch in the door, so the people that did the job did not have to remove the door panels to do a proper tinting job.

As you continue to spend time in the car, you notice just how good the design of the car is, inside and out. At first, you don't notice all the brushed aluminium/plastic trimmings, for example around the gear lever, but I bet you'll notice it more and more as you drive and you'll love it.

On the outside, the door handles get grubby very quickly, which does not look overly nice at all.

2) Ergonomics inside

The centre console is top notch in terms of useability. That includes the radio and the climate control. You can reach everything from your fingertips without taking your hand of the gear lever. I love it!

Operating the indicator is fun. It just is so smooth. The trip computer buttons are a bit clumsy to operate, but I'm sure I'll get more used to it. The cruise controls on the steering wheel are perfect. Soon you'll operate them blindly without even thinking.

The seats are a two edged sword. I must have a wide back or big lats or something, but my back feels squeezed in quite a bit, it feels like I'm hunched over. I'm 6'1 and probably belong to the taller Z owners, and I sure like the sport seat type of being closed in in the seat, but I do feel that the seat was designed for shorter or narrower drivers. However, it is comfortable enough for me to spend all day in the car, so take that with a grain of salt.

Visibility when changing lanes is abysmal. You have to rely on your back and side mirrors because of the large blind spot. The more I drive the car the more confident I get, but initially it was a rather stressful experience to change lanes.

Rear visibility is alright when you reverse, but as with most cars, you'll need some practice before you can judge the dimensions of your car in tricky parking situations. Also watch out for those pesky bars that you find in parking bays of some public car parks. The Z is very low in front and you need to be careful.

The automatic climate control is good and definitely keeps the car cool. I feel that setting the temp to 25 C produces a temp that's lower than 25, but once you get used to this, you can get to the right temperature quickly. The air outlets take a bit to get used to! I found it more pleasant to use the passenger vents that would blow cold air in the car inside, while closing off my own driver side vents, so as not to get my belly frozen while my back sweats in the leather seats, but rather have cool air circulate around me.

The seat belts feel ok, but when you take them off, they are pulled back into their resting position quite violently, with the buckle hitting everything on the way back. I recommend releasing the belt gently, and I developed the habit of warning my passengers before they take off the belt.

The passenger door has the habit of giving my spouse an electric shock, not matter what shoes she?s wearing. The driver door doesn?t. Weird!

The car comes without any vanity mirrors. Female drivers, be warned!

Storage is extremely limited. Little mini compartments behind the seats, but you have to contort yourself to deposit anything in there.

I'll discuss the BOSE system a bit later.

3) Driving

I've done 750 km, which is probably good going for only 6 days of owning a Z. I'm breaking it in, staying under 4000 rpm, but a few times I have inadvertently hit over 5000 rpm while showing off the car to my more than impressed (scared to death) passengers.

The steering wheel provides quite some resistance, unlike the one-finger operation of my ultra-easy-going '96 Maxima. It is a nice resistance though, and you get good feedback from the road.

Using the clutch, gearbox, brakes and accelerator takes some time to get used to, however after day 4 it was second nature. The brakes feel really good too. After driving my Z, all other cars feel as if they have hardly working breaks at all! It feels that in all other cars you've got to step on it like a madman to bring the car to a halt. I suppose that shows just how well the brakes work in the Z, and they are a joy to operate.

In the touring, you don't get VCS, but you do have TCS. At several occasions, like rotating around a round-a-bout at break-neck speed like a satellite gone ape-****, I had the impression that the TCS had begun to operate, but under normal driving conditions it is quite hard to notice a difference between TCS on or off.

As has often been reported, the Z sticks to the road that makes you feel like you're defying the laws of physics. Especially my passengers reported that they felt they had crossed over to the other side several times and after realizing they were still alive and in one piece, they found a new appreciation and a profoundly new perspective on being alive. The car has spiritual powers, especially on the timid! ;-)

Keeping the car under the speed limit will be possible only for the most strong-willed amongst us. The car just wants to drive and to rev. You can easily go 60 in third gear at about 3000 rpm, and at the tap of your toe, the car will jump forward and leave everything in the dust. I am seriously considering a radar detector, not because I'm speeding at maniac speeds, but because I'm always and constantly 20-30 km/h over the speed limit.

The car is stiff and stays parallel to the road at all times, but its hard ride is not a torture, and the car should be fit for everyday driving. In fact I drive mine everyday, just for fun. You wont step out of the car with a sore back or butt after an hour of caning the car around town. It does dampen uneven and bumpy roads, but clearly, on a good flat street the comfort level is higher.

----- to be continued in PART 2

 

Part 2 of my first impressions (6 day Z owner, platinum/charcoal touring 6sp manual, 750 km so far)


4) Car Sound, Rattles and Noises

The engine sounds wonderful. Hard to describe. It's got a race car note to it, you're almost expecting flames to shoot out of your exhausts. It's a throaty, but at the same time smooth, p-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- when you give it a bit of gas. Very nice and very addictive and unlike anything I've ever as much as sat in.

I noticed some occasional rattles around the steering wheel but soon discovered it was the key with the remote control hitting things in corners. For both driver and passenger seat belts, there are some clamps where the belt buckle can be fixed in position when not it use. This is mandatory if you drive a lot by yourself, because otherwise the passenger seat belt hits the door and everything all the time and that is severely annoying.

I also noticed a quite hefty clunk somewhere in the back when coming out of corners. This noise is quite disconcerting and I'm not sure what it is. So far my guess is that it is my heavy instruction manual that is in the main storage compartment, and every now and then it shifts position and hits one side, making this sound. I'm not totally sure yet and will investigate further.

In general, the car is quite loud inside. The aftercare lady was successful in selling me an anti-rust and sound-proofing car package - some sort of teflon underpaint -, but road noise from the wheels is still quite noticeable. I'm not happy with that.. with the air con on, the road noise, the engine noise, and the wind noise, that's quite some noise level. And at this point we introduce the BOSE sound system, for better or worse...

5) The infamous BOSE sound system.

In principle a great idea, in practice it can drive you nuts. What it is meant to do is this: measure internal car noise frequency and volume, and adjust music frequency (treble and bass) and volume accordingly.

The reality is this... occasionally it can work quite well. You stop at a traffic light, and the car is quiet, so the volume of the radio drops as well. However, the treble and bass, especially with the subwoofer, are totally out of wack and it just sounds terrible.

For those that already have a Z: I have found a Treble+1 and Bass-2 to work best for the radio. I also believe that if you push the AUDIO button, it will reset to your original setting, and you can sometimes get rid of the booming bass by pushing this button. Most of the time after pressing AUDIO, the sound is good for 2 seconds, then goes back to booming sub-bass.

It's by no means an ideal situation. Sometimes the radio sounds good enough, but most of the time it is quite annoying. Volume and sound changes, and you have no influence, imagine that!

The CD seems to be ok, and curiously not under the influence of this marvellous "autopilot" technology. Here I found treble+1 and bass+0 to work best. Anyway, in the main forum, people have started to post quick fixes that only require a little capacitor or resistor to be installed somewhere. I'm no techno or electro man, so I would have to leave this to trained experts to do this fix for me.


6) Appreciation

Well I appreciate my car, that's for sure. Others do too, and often you will find people in other cars almost breaking their necks trying to catch a glimpse of the car. Some people gesture you thumbs up. Friends are genuinely surprised when they hear I did not pay 6 figures for it, and I agree, the car looks like it's worth well over 100 grand.

I will get customized number plates for my Z. I will go take pictures now and afterwards with the help of some photoshopping decide which colour number plates looks best

7) Insurance

I drive my car in sunny Perth, and I have rung about every insurer there is for cars in WA. I found the quotes for comprehensive insurance ranged from the most expensive ($2000+, RAC) to quite reasonable (HBF, less than $1000). Your actual quote will depend on your age, no claim bonus, driving history, suburb and many different factors that are specific for specific insurers.

8) Paint job - an afterthought

In hindsight I'm glad I've chosen the platinum. I've seen the Le Mans Sunset, the red one, and the Daytona blue in the flesh. The red is not my favorite, the Le Mans orange/brown isn't my thing at all, but the blue looks gorgeous. What a nice blue - but I wouldn't want one, because you'd have to clean the car every second day. You just look at it and you know you would have to clean this car a lot.. probably similar to a black one, although I haven't seen it. My platinum is really quite dirty already from all the driving around dusty places, but it still looks shiny and flash. So, in case you haven't ordered yet, this may be something to consider.

I hope you enjoyed my first impressions. Comments and questions welcome!

Cheers!

 

Thanks pookiebear, I enjoyed reading your comments.
Your first two posts as well.
Welcome to the group.!

Wow 2109 words.

Cheers!
Bev

 

ok i just couldn't resist that.