Mine too!

 

Yeah, until fairly recently the Japanese sports cars weren't really comparable to a good old V8 in the 1/4 mile. I am a torque-aholic and proud of it.

I would never buy a "FWD sports car" like an Eclipse or whatever. I just HATE the feel of a FWD car and it gets worse if it actually has power (more torque = more torque steer). They have gotten better at controlling torque steer, but it still feels like it is fighting me. It may also be because I am used to RWD.

The old 300ZX TT was tempting, but the cost to buy was high and the cost to insure was high. (especially given what I was earning back then!)

When the new Z started turning 0-60 times of 5.5 I knew it was time to re-consider the Japanese cars. (well that, and they stopped making the Camaro)

Now I have completely reversed. I don;t see any american sports cars I really want and the Z seems like a clear winner. (well, ok the S2K and Z4 are pretty nice to).

It is gonna be wierd driving the Nissan. If my old hot rodding buddies see me I am really gonna get some sh*t for it. (but only until I whomp them in a race).

AndyB

 

Isn't the Z AT an adaptive transmission? Based on certain inputs and sensors it should learn what type of driving you want to do and implement the proper shift algorithm and further modify that algorithm based on what it has learned from the drivers throttle inputs. Wouldn't just driving harder make the transmission learn to shift harder when in the right algorithm?

Also, high-stall TCs can be configured in different ways. I don't remember what forum I saw it in but one guy was able to increase his 0-60 by about .25 sec and still keep the car street driveable with 97% efficiency. Another guy was able to get more than .5 sec improvement but it shot his mileage and top end speed to pieces. The car was also hard to handle in street driving because it wanted to go to the higher rpm right away. From what I hear high-stall TCs when configured right are one of the best mods for the money.

 

****, owning an import is requiring me to learn a whole new language. Shift kit is easier to remember.

On an unrelated note, a cam for my bitchin '71 Camaro was only $200 and got 50hp easy....damn imports.

 

Yeah, that's the advantage of a lot of the conservatively tuned, big displacement engines that you find in some of the American cars. You've got a lot of engine potential that never gets realized from the factory, so aftermarket mods start utilizing that potential and making a lot of power. With a lot of the import cars the engines are tuned much closer to their max potential from the factory, so there's not as much power to unleash.

There's always *some* power to be gained in just about any engine, because factory tuning is almost always going to be a bit conservative. (For the sake of reliability, long engine life, fuel mileage, quietness, etc.) But some manufacturers just tune more conservative than others, leaving more room for aftermarket improvement.