This is strictly a rumor... I heard an insane rumor that within the next year Nissan plans to offer an AWD add-on for the car. I don't even know if this is possible, but if it were true I'm pretty damn excited. Anyone with info please respond...

What makes me the most optimistic was when I got conformation that dealers will warranty a twin turbo add-on within a year or so.

 

if nissan shares the FM platform from the z for the gtr then that will be your awd z.
remember that the FM platform is not only found in the 350 but also the awd fx45.
i would take a salespersons advice with a grain of salt when speaking about performance parts for the 350z.
remember dealers are just that...... dealers
franklinz

 

Like you said, your "opinion", but the twin-turbo warranty is fact, I had more than one dealership confirm it for me. It'll be about $6,000 and it'll have to be installed and tuned by the dealership, but when their trained and certified mechanics do the work, they'll warranty it. They couldn't tell me if it was Greddy, HKS or Nismo... though Nismo has been working closely with HKS on the new crate engines in Japan (not for sale in the US, they only have a race engine finished and it doesn't even run on gasoline), so I'll be excited to see what happens. Thanks for your input though. And you said it yourself, tweeks can be made to the G35 making it AWD and both cars are built on a single platform.

 

Has anyone looked under the car to see if there is a place to hold the AWD components? I have not looked at the bottom of the car but my guess is, they would have to do some nice modding to get this done.

But my real questions is WHY? I know RWD is not the best setup for roadracing but it beats the hell out of FWD when it comes down to the 1320.

Why would you want to change the Z to an AWD car? Are you really willing to add all that extra weight and add more power-train loss? Yes, AWD cars sound cool when you say it or when you say you own one but you take an AWD car and a FWD car with the same horse power specs and even the same weight from a 50+ roll the FWD car will take the AWD easily because of all this extra drivetrain loss. AWD is all fine and dandy but how many of you would actually take your Z to a place where you would need it?

 

I find it interesting that you think there are no real-world advantages AWD has over RWD other than the prestiege of ownership.

Do you not wonder why many sports car manufacturers continually pour resources into research and development of their AWD technologies?

 

I did not make myself clear, that is my fault. Here is a more generalized subject

Medium power (150hp to 250hp)

FWD

Straight line
Initially the slowest of the lot due to wheelspin (and that is subject to driver ability!) but once the car is up into 2nd gear there again is that slight advantage of power at the wheels over the other two types. But by that time, usually, the other two have pulled out enough distance so that over the 400metres they can't be caught. Also, if the FWD is traction limited when hitting 2nd gear that will also badly affect the acceleration. Good LSD's again help a lot here.

Top speed
As mentioned above.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
Increasingly worse with more power, as the car is getting to the point where it's able to spin both fronts in corners. This is where the clever LSD's really start to be needed to get the most out of the car. Turboed engines even more so, as the torque rises rather more quickly with engine revs than a naturally aspirated engine does.

Effect of total weight
Again this is where the FWD's have to start compromising between adding weight to the front to make it stick or having too much weight in the front that makes them understeer more. More weight in the back helps the balance, but reduces traction. Lighter is always better.

Cost
As mentioned above. CV joints that're strong enough start to become a problem.

RWD

Straight line
Getting to the point where traction can start to be a problem, depending on the rear suspension and driver ability.

Top speed
As mentioned above.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
As a general rule, the more power a RWD has the more rearward the weight distribution should be. This is to keep the weight on the rears when cornering hard, to help them stick. This naturally tends to make the car suffer from the pendulum effect even more, so once again some sort of compromise must be made. This is usually made by the driver working the throttle and steering to control the oversteer. LSD's help, though no special ones other than a plain old Salisbury (friction plate) type is often needed.

Effect of total weight
Starting to be a factor. The heavier the car the more the tyres get worked, so as usual the lighter the better.

4WD

Straight line
Starting to get hard to beat, as they will start to have enough power to keep the engine spinning along with the wheels until it gets moving. Not always the case though. Otherwise as mentioned above.

Top speed
As mentioned above.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
Ever increasing reliance on the torque split, but generally pretty good. 4WD cars with this much power tend to have more rear bias on the torque, and so also tend to be more stable when working the throttle in corners when on the limit. It also means that you can start to drive the car on the throttle to control the attitude.

Summary - medium power

Public
Take your pick really.

Racing
RWD or maybe 4WD wins every time. The ability to really drive the car through the corners is where RWD is best, but the sheer traction of 4WD can also be a good thing.

High power (300hp+)

FWD

Straight line
HP for HP, the FWD will be the slowest here as they just can't put the power to the ground. (Unless they are specifically set-up for dragging in a straight line, but they'll still be spinning wheels when the other two types are pulling away with all the traction they can handle)

Top speed
As mentioned above, though the really high power cars all tend to be either RWD or 4WD.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
The worst of the lot, as high power cars also tend to have lots of torque, and so keeping the fronts under control tends to dominate the entire chassis set-up. This tends to compromise the car into being a 'one type' car, ie, it's set-up for rally, road, or race, but is only good at the one thing at a time. That's true to a certain extent with all the cars of different types, but even more so with FWD's.

RWD

Straight line
Traction starting to become a bit of a problem, but wider tyres & driver control help a lot.

Top speed
As mentioned above.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
Very dependant on suspension, etc, and so varies from rather twitchy to quite good. Lots of power allows the driver to control the attitude of the car quite well though, and so with good throttle control corners of any speed can be taken pretty much as desired.

4WD

Straight line
Impossible to beat, with their great traction off the line giving them too much of a jump over the other two types.

Top speed
As mentioned above.

Braking
As mentioned above.

Stability
Still pretty good, though there is starting to be enough power to spin all the wheels, hence they're often set-up to have more rear bias with the centre diff torque split, so as to give a bit of warning that the whole thing is going to start moving sideways.

As you can see they all have advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on how you are going to use it, how much power you are going to have, who the driver is and how well the suspension is tuned.

 

AWD has a lot of advantages. It depends on what you want it for. If you are wanting to race rally with your Z , then this is for you. If you drag race your Z, this might be for you, AWD launches good. If you want to street race or highway race, RWD is probably better for you. If you want AWD to be accepted as one of a wrx or evo8 owner, go for it. It really comes down to what you want, and of course, how much money.

 

You are 110% right

Also one last thing I forgot is AWD is a TON more expensive to break :lol:

 

Id lay out 10$ on a bet right now that we never see a TT Z, not from the factory exept possibly as a dealer addon from nismo, possibly even under warrenty, but you will never configure a TT z from the factory.

same goes that you will never see an AWD Z from anything less than 20+grand of custom work.

I do not think this is my opinion, I think this is fact. and the other fact is that ALL, yes ALL dealers will lie out there *** to sell a car, oh yeah sure, next year you can add on AWD, buy my car.

 

For your last part, i agree with you 120%, especially the "I do not think this is my opinion, I think this is fact" part.

I will bet anyone here (via paypal, if you like) $100 that there will NEVER be a dealer-installed fully warrantied add-on TT for the Z. Especially for around 6k that was previously mentioned . it's just not going to happen people. dreaming is fun, but that's all it is (dreaming).

A couple notes about AWD that haven't been mentioned

-suffers from parasitic drivetrain loss, especially at high speeds (puts less and less hp to the ground).

-the AWD launches that we're all so scared of, while effective, are extremely hard on the the tranny and the front/rear diff. There have been many WRXers (clubwrx.net) that have had to pay big bucks for their great launches.

 

I appreciate everyone's input, but you all responded more or less by saying you have no idea if that's a possibility, nor if it's in the works...

If anyone has heard anything or has actually looked under the car to see the possibility, there of, please let me know.

 

I didn't see it mentioned so I figured I would chime in by saying AWD is great for snow!!! We have SNOW HERE!!! Also correct me if I am wrong but isn't the next skyline based on the g35? I believe that twin turbo and AWD are in the works for it too. Maybe that is the source of these rumors? Who knows!!!!!!!!

 

That is what I meant by when I asked if most people would even use it.

If you have ever driven in snow with an FWD car or taken a corner with a semi high power RWD car you will know you can EASILY get owned.

Nothing (other than independant suspension) can beat an AWD setup in the snow

 

I remember reading something a while back about an AWD Z. It seems that the spindles and front suspension components are designed so that an AWD system could be easily incorporated. This makes sense since the other FM platform cars will have AWD as an option and it would make sense not to make a different front suspension for those models. If that was the case you would need the differentials, transfer case, and axles which you could take from an AWD FM platform car, or buy them as a kit. I don't know if this was true, but if it was the AWD rumors might not be so far fetched.

 

I believe i saw a Japanese magazine have a photo of the new 350Z engine with a red logo on top, it said 3.3 twinturbo.

Is in Best car somewhere in April.
they claim nissan said they might put 3.3 V6 on a 350Z, for better performance just like the time that they use 2.6 for skyline R32.

but who knows, since 2006 model is the MC model , still yr and half to wait ......

For AWD, if they have it they will put it on higher model but who knows..

just my 2c

 

Depending on the front/rear ratios I'd be willing to spend the money just for the handling alone. Don't get me wrong, I hate the idea of all that added weight, but the handling would vastly improve and the launch would be amazing. I can't even launch higher than 2k without spinning my tires.

 

the g35 coupe is called the nissan skyline luxory in japan. there will be an awd tt skyline again someday. nissan would not turbocharge a high compression na engine
like the vq35. they will most likely building a low compression turbocharged built version of the vq35 which might end up being 3.3 litres if discplacement.
I don't think they will use the rb26. although it is a great engine.
I also think they will offer that engine in the z in due time. Iknow that is what I am waiting for.
I still wish we would get the sr20vet in a silvia but that's just me.

 

When you live in states that have crappy winters, and you drive your Z year round, you would benefit a LOT from having AWD those 4 - 6 months of less than that ideal "SoCal" weather...

I drove my Z thru this past winter here in Chicago, and I would have LOVED to be driving a WRX instead. When a typical 20 minute drive home turns into over an hour of driving and keeping the car straight while feathering the accelerator just to keep the traction control from turning on, even that 90 horsepower fwd honda civic looks pretty appealing...

Im probably just gonna try the "different tires" method this winter, and if all else fails, move over to a crappy s**tbox winter beater just out of peace of mind.

 

Ok you can call this BS or whatever, but here it goes. There is at least one G35 Coupe AWD here in the US, specifically in Cali for anyone who already knows. Supposedly this person has a lot of hookups in the industry and somehow got it special ordered. This car has already been sponsored by Injen , Greddy and tons of others. I didn't believe it at first but trust me, that thing is AWD.

 

I also heard about an awd add-on for next years z, but the way i took it was that it would be an option that was already installed in your car.