Yes brakes are really dusty but I can live with that. However I had major problem with the clutch. It began with a stuck clutch pedal. The dealer could not find the problem so they went ahead and replaced the slave cylinder. I took the car back but in less then 5 miles of driving the same problem returned. I took the car back immediately to the dealer and 2 days later they got approval to change the master cylinder as well. After the second repair they said everything is find. So I took the car back and drove it for a couple of days. Guess what? I am getting the stuck pedal again. After sitting in the dealer for another 7 days they said Nissan has agreed to replace the entire transmission altogether. I am glad all these were covered under warranty. At that time I had only 1200 miles. After the last repair I have no problem with the clutch anymore.

Aside from the clutch problem, the Nismo is a great car on a road course track. Everyday driving is livable. Handling is extremely good. Bone stock it is within 3 seconds/lap of my full race prep scca ITS E30 M3 race car with Hoosiers on the same track. Only if Nissan can give the Nismo another 50hp to compensate the weight then it will be great.

 

I was wondering what type of ITS car you had. After the clutch repair, does the clutch takeup feel different? Many of us here who had 2003 350Z's find the clutch on the 07 my lighter.

 

here is my scca race car. its a bmw e30 M3 which started life as a road going daily driver. This baby has been with me since 1988 and will stay with me for as long as I live.

 

^ Cool. I always liked the E30 M3 boy racer look. Kinda the reason I dig the Nismo Z. Here is my favorite ITS car owned by a friend.

 

NICE! the second picture tells me your friend's car is pretty neutral handling. i can feel it is accelerating very hard out of the turn.

 

nothing so far w/my car. i just passed the 4k-mi. mark. except maybe the usual loud clutch noise our cars come standard with when in neutral. i have learned to get used to it though, lol!

 

yea, i dont even hear it anymore. scared the @#$% out of me at first though. thought i burned it up already. lately however i have had a really bad smell come from underneath when i turn it off. any ideas what this could be?

 

likewise. i thought the noise was not normal at all. then again, i was rest assured from the techs, to actual owners that it is indeed normal on the car. as for the smell, it just depends on how you ride your clutch while driving, imo. as long as it runs and drives fine, there's nothing to worry about. other than that, not sure really. i do get that burnt smell occasionally though.

 

yea i only ride it a little in first. i think it must be the cats burning up because it isnew and i drive it like a nismo should be driven. or when im parking in the garage i probally ride it a little more. dont want to pull a whole shot through my kitchen! the wife probally wouldnt like that.

 

The dealer told me not to freak out if I smelt some burning when I turned the car off. They said that all the Z's have this smell and its nothing to worry about.

Then again they have been known to lie before. Just my 2 cents

 

lol o yea should have mentioned smell was comming from the exausts

 

I have 1000 miles so far, and so far I love it, but nothing that I can tell so far cept those darn spacers they left in my springs, now that they are off the car feels great.

 

My only complaint, if you can call it that...
is people just seem to stare too much!

 

I bought mine in July, 2007. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the car except that: (a) the clutch fluid can't take hard driving, and (b) I burned up one slave cylinder already. I'm not a bad driver (I have driven stick for over 20 years and never had these types of problems). There's another thread on this forum where we're discussing these two issues, so I won't go into the details here.

It was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC on the track (Willow Springs, in California, the 2.5 mile track). Other than on the staightaway, where cars with 400 and 500 hp pulled away from me, I was able to keep up with cars costing over $100,000. And it's great to drive around town, very, very practical. So, to me, it's a great daily driver as well as a great enthusiast's car, a really nice combination - I own several other cars costing much, much more than the Nismo, but the Nismo is one of my favorites, for sure.

If you're not going to want to take it to a track a couple to three times a year, these problems should not be a concern. However, if you do want to take the car to a track, you should do what you can to assure yourself the '08 model won't have this slave cylinder problem (the clutch fluid problem can be addressed by just replacing the fluid under warranty or as part of normal servicing).

 

It actually isn't only a fluid problem. Mine luckly hasn't had that issue and I have beat the heck out of the clutch from lots of 1-3 runs and autox. Jan 25-27th I am going friday to a road race course, and Sat and Sunday 700 miles through the hill country fast pace driving. Hopefully it continues to work well.

 

Tell me what it's like in the Hill Country, I loved to drive my old one around there before - and I imagine the NISMO is hoooot.

I managed to get my old one up to about 100mph on one of the big dips where you could see for miles

No traffic - no pedestrians, was awesome

 

Oh yea it will be fun. You should have signed up for that run.. RB Texas Stampede.

 

I'm so uninformed....

and a bit of a chicken No spoiler I'd feel like a bit of a pariah... I can just imagine people walking past me shaking their heads at me

 

no problems with mine!Somebody needs to tell young men in hondas that it takes more than a muffler and cold air intake to run with a Z!Seen alot of them disappear in my rearview mirror! Nismo Z #0348