Yes, i swapped cars with my brother for 10 days! I needed 2 cars with 4 doors as my wife had a course to go to.

Well i thought it would be good to give my opinion on the car since I got to know what it could do on the road...last time I drove it was at Wakefield.

First impression is that the seats are efin hard but hold you in real tight. Second impression is the incredible sense of acceleration.
Let me just say that although it seems soooo much faster than the 350z, it in fact isn't. It's about on par with the hi-tech Z.

The Sti has great situational awareness vs the 350z, a great gearbox (MT), massive power on boost... great ground clearance (my Z is lowered), and therein lies the problem. The Sti can't corner like the 350z.
Massive understeer, tyres are terribly mismatched (re040s) and pull in very hard into the grooves of the road. There is plenty of sway and the 4wd traction works against you around uneven corners. Ie..plenty of grip in the wrong direction.

The other bugbear is the lack of torque under 3000rpm. But everyone knows that. You just have to experience it with a truck coming into an intersection to see the value of a comp ratio of 10.3:1 and 3.5lt engine.

I loved the drive... I couldn't live with it. It's an all or nothing car. Like the 350z suffers from rebound (very minor) and has **** standard tyres.

Since I just picked up my 350z an hour ago I felt like I got into a new car. Much more refined. Much sharper turn-in feel. Bloody fast and nice drifts (u can't drift a rex, hmmm u can, but not in the city).
Two complaints.... our seats sux (don't hold us in) and the shocks are shocking. I still bounce sideways around the cahil onramp to the bridge (very poor road).

Nothing like a week and a bit to confirm you made the right decision.

 

Thanks Zuff .... that's exactly the model STi that I lined up against, drove and was taken for a 'hard' spin. I can only concur with everythig that you said and can only add that the STi has incredible stability. In the wet you can do things in it that would see any other car sliding off the road backwards ... not in the STI ... it almost feels like it's dry allthe time. I can't imagine anything keeping up with it on a public roads in the wet.

I came back from my drive saying (more or less) the same thing as you. The only other thing that I really noticed is the incredible amout of lag (and this is comparing it with other turbos like S14 200SX, s15 200SX and pre '01 WRX).

Second impression is the incredible sense of acceleration.
Let me just say that although it seems soooo much faster than the 350z, it in fact isn't. It's about on par with the hi-tech Z.

I could not agree more ... the rush of acceleration when you hit 4000rpm is incredible. Probably it feels so fast is because it is so slow bellow 4000rpm.

The other bugbear is the lack of torque under 3000rpm. But everyone knows that.

When bellow 4000rpm, I kept on looking down to check if I put the car in a wrong gear (ie. one gear too high). S2000 is a torque-moster compared to this.

Two complaints.... our seats sux (don't hold us in)

That's what I've been complaing about since I drove the 1st 350Z. I'm still not 100% happy edven though I changed my seating position to get a bit more grip.

ps. Her'es what I said when I came back from the STI drive ... not too different to what you say here:
https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=58705

 

I concur with the grip in the wet remarks.

A friend of mine took another mate and I for a spin in the wet. On this a down hill, sharp turn, wrongly cambered WET corner with 3 people in the car at speed, the thing just went around the corner like nothing else. I thought we were going die LOL. But then he tried doing a 180 with wheel spin and the only thing that spun & burnt was the clutch! Not very good.

 

Yeh... wet performance is to be envied! Nothing like an AWD in rain.

I recommend anyone who has a family member with a WRX Sti or EVO to do a swap for a while. It'll definitly be a big wake up call.

BTW David boost is on by 3000rpm, it's when the car starts moving forward . And yes at 4000rpm it feels like you got hit in the rear by a truck which missed a stop.

I recommend the 7000rpm clutch drop in first. Nothing like holding on for dear life. Just remember to change gears.

Don't you want a 350z TT now?

 

Good review Zuffy. Looks like you got the better car, but I am definately biased towards the Z.

If I could have one thing from the Sti, it would be 4wd. Driving the Z in the rain last week after a couple of months without serious rainfall, reminded me how pitifull the RE040's are in the wet. It is not possible to take a left or right turn from a stanstill uphill start without spinning the rears. In fact, whenever I am turning a corner in the wet, I am very gentle on the accelerator as it is very easly to induce wheelspin and slide the rear out. So I would love 4wd if there was no trade off in steering response.

I'd also like the turbo response of the STi, but I think we can go one better with the APS TT, with reportedly no torque hole that the STi is famed for.

 

How can you have understeer in the STi? It's a rally car, you're supposed to use the handbrake at every corner

 

Solution that everyone knows.... GTR

Rear wheel drive until you loose traction, then some power is transfered to the front depending on the amount of wheel spin. Thanks Porsche, very good solution, except the entire dynamics of the car would change. You'd have to drive the crap out of it to get used to the dynamic dynamics. Would be a fun learning experience.

 

BTW David boost is on by 3000rpm, it's when the car starts moving forward . And yes at 4000rpm it feels like you got hit in the rear by a truck which missed a stop.

That maybe so, but at 3000rpm it only left like the power was starting to come on. It's not 'till 4000rpm 'till it felt like I had all the power there. I made sure to try and 'explore' the power curve, and putting my foot down at 3000rpm still felt like I was in the wrong gear. At 3,500rpm it felt better, but still did not feel on 'full power'. Maybe it takes 1000rpm to spool up?

Oh, and how much lag is there if you even get off the power (ie. even at high revs)? If you keep constant throttle at 5000rpm and then put your foot down then there's 'nothing' for good 1/2sec before the car responds with any urgency.

I recommend the 7000rpm clutch drop in first. Nothing like holding on for dear life. Just remember to change gears.

I had this done at least 5 times while I was in a passanger seat ... believe it or not, too much wheel-spin in the wet :-) Though, this was dropped from the limiter (ie. 8000rpm).

 

Fuggen - my post for this thread is in

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....186#post941186

Sorry.

FRIZZLE

 

When I was car shopping, I took a MY03 WRX (non STi) for a test drive. I was underwhelmed, to say the least.

After sitting in S13s and S15's all the time, getting into the WRX was like getting into a van. You sit in a Nissan coupe. You sit on the Impreza. You can tell its the cooking model of an econobox, rather than a proper sports car. Interior felt low rent (even with the Momo wheel and grippy buckets).

The engine was soggy. Running 14psi means it feels laggy (especially against an S15, which I was mainly looking at) and, off boost, it drove worse than a NA Impreza. Once you got on boost it was fine, but trying to drive over speed humps in a residential area was trying. I was always a gear or two too high, expecting the pull from an SR20DET. All I could think was, "If people bag out the STi for being laggier than the stock WRX, than it must be really bad".

The traction, however, was great. Pulling out of a side street, I floored it and the car just turned. No squeal, no histrionics, just went to redline turning a 90 degree turn like I was driving Miss Daisy. I never got to thrash it around some bends, but on the corners I did take it on the steering felt a little remote (I'd been driving a BMW around before then, which has pretty nice steering too).

My first test drive of a 350Z was far different. As soon as I sank into it I could feel the quality difference. The car's solid, and it doesn't feel like a $20,000 car with $15,000 in performance mods. The engine pulled from any gear, and the steering had a directness the WRX just couldn't match.

So much for buying an S15 and doing it up.

 

The only time I was impressed with the WRX's was at the NSCC vs WRX NSW motorkhana. Whereas I'm trying to feather the throttle on concrete that has running water on it, to stop myself from spinning out, the WRX's just plant it and the car shoots out like a scalded cat on carpet.

Riding in a WRX with the owner while he flung it around the cones, handbraked around and then just flattened the throttle was something to be experienced.

It is a bit of a one-trick pony, though. Aside from grip and turbo rush, there's no entertainment there. The khana was fun, since I spent most of it sideways, but I still prefer doing circuit work. Its more challenging and a better thrill.

And, on the track, the 350Z has the measure of the WRX.

 

On the track I would hope the 350z can beat a WRX. A WRX is in the 200sx league and the 350z is above the 200sx.

David got any times?

 

The standard WRX has nothing over the Sti. It really is a far superior ride.

After driving both the Sti and Zed on and off the track I can say they are almost equal in performance albeit coming from two very different angles.

 

On the track I would hope the 350z can beat a WRX. A WRX is in the 200sx league and the 350z is above the 200sx. David got any times?[/b]

You're right, the S15 200SX and WRX are a very close match, In all the track tests (where they had both of them) they are always within 1/2sec of each other. You'll be surprised to hear that a basic (if you can call it that) Commodore SS laps in the same ballpark as well, when in the hands of a pro (ie. Cameron McConville).

Anyway, here are the lap times from the different PCOTY/BFYB:

Wakefield (long) '02:
- STi = 1:15.03
- S15 200SX = 1:17.06
- Integra Type-R = 1:17.75

Wakefield '03:
- STi = 1:11.53
- 350Z Track = 1:11.97
- WRX = 1:12.84
- Commodore SV8 = 1:13.22

Winton '01:
- S15 200SX = 1:46.40
- Commodore SS = 1:46.58
- WRX = 1:46.74

Winton '02:
- STi = 1:43.60
- Integra Type-R = 1:45.53
- Commodore SS = 1:46.64

Winton '03:
- STi = 1:43.75
- Commodore SV8 = 1:45.37

Winton '04:
- 350Z Track = 1:43.18
- Commodore SS = 1:46.13

After driving both the Sti and Zed on and off the track I can say they are almost equal in performance albeit coming from two very different angles.

Hey Zuff, it sounds like you have actually put them against each other like me .... have you? If so, can you let us know what you did and some details ... I'd love to hear about it.

 

Appart from doing a lot of daily driving with the two cars my brother and I have taken them to Wakefield twice.

We both found the performance to be too close to call.

A pro would probably pull more out of the 350z imho.