I felt as the time nears for the RX-8 to be delivered, I should have a good feel for the other cars on the road that will be compared to it.

So today I went down to the Nissan dealer and took a test drive. It wasn't terribly long and I didn't get much out of it but I did get enough to know that it's not a car that would fit my needs. Here's what I can tell you.

Power. Power. Power. Power. Power. Power. This thing is bloody fast as hell. I slipped the clutch (only a tad, promise!) and squealed wheels out of the lot. It's a great amount of power and I think taking it on a test drive that's what the dealer keeps pointing out the entire way. It's definately the selling point.

Interior. I had sat in the car numerous times.. but this time everything was lit up, and I was in the drivers seat revving the engine. To be honest... interior is sub par. There is a storage bin in the front console (this car didn't have navigation) and it's the most awkward thing to close you'll ever find. The materials are low quality (lower than a G35C anyways), and the shifter feel gives you that 'meh' feeling.

And to the shifter... it's notchy. I've driven numerous BMWs and a Miata and this shifter pales in comparison. Each gear feels like it's being forced in with the clutch fully engaged. There seems to be some definate notchiness in the gearbox, and each gear didn't seem to come as intuitively as I climbed the rev range and needed to shift. Clutch feel was great, and not too stiff to give you that workout on the one leg

What else.... Well the car is built well. The doors close pretty solidly, and everything seems to fit together well. However there is almost no space for any luggage or anything like that. There are compartments behind the seats that will hold little more than a carton of cigarettes (and I don't smoke), and the trunk which is blocked greatly by the over-present strut tower brace.

Was I impressed?

In a word, no. I've driven a 2002 M3 and combined with its power and SHIFT FEEL, it's just more pleasureable to drive, specially on a day to day basis. I think that if I had the 350Z for a little while, I'd get used to the feel and it would be more inviting. But as a car that is used to be for fun, it seems to be more involvement in the car than it does with the road... and I've always loved the feeling in Miatas that let you feel 'one with the road.'

I'd report on handling, but I will be honest and say that my test drive didn't involve any chicanes or sweepers :p Just one U-Turn which I took reasonably hard and had a mild bit of understeer, and had to feed some more steering in to get the car to nip in properly. Brakes were great too.

All in all, 350Z is to me a very nice car with great power, that failed on presentation. And that's a lot. The shifter being notchy and unwilling combined with a WILLING clutch with great feel made for a poor balance and left me bitter. Steering feel was good but a tad numb but again, my test drive was reasonably brief and thus I can't give too much on that. The main things I can give you are what I have... and it's only on power that the 350Z impresses. The handling may be there (and I don't know), but with a car as involving to use it leaves little time to put a smile on your face while you're changing gears forcibly... it's the fact it's not smooth as silk I think, that the car seems bad to me. I should add too, that sitting inside the car you have a lot of open space and thus the car gets a very bloaty feeling.

I wish I could comment on how nimble it was; but sadly the test drives at every dealer are limited to very short stints. I'll be driving the G35 Coupe tommorrow and will report on that as undoubtedly I'll be getting a longer test drive on it.

Now it's only time for me to get my RX-8....

 

Could not help but 'bring this up' again

Anyways--- thanks Herc for the comments. I await your comparo of the G35.

 

the fd rx-7 had a brace in the trunk, similar to the z, but it was much smaller and less showy (albeit less pretty), and kinda blended into the front edge of the trunk so it wasn't really obstructive. so, why does the z have such a big strut tower brace in the trunk? is it mostly for show?

does the 8 have a rear brace over the strut towers?

 

Yes the 8 has a rear brace but you will not notice it at all. Infact that rear brace is the reason the 8 has no fold down seats.

About the 350Z.
I really hate the door handles. Everytime I see the Z the first thing my eye catches and sticks too is those fugly handles

 

I think the rear brace is enlarged to try to give the 350z closer to a 50/50 weight distribution, I could be wrong though

 

yeah those door handles are really weird-looking. over-styled. over-kill. and pretty ugly, too. i'd rather them replace it with something normal and flushed

 

Hmm, I asked to test drive one here and the dealer said you had to sign first. IE you had to go through the entire buying process and sign a condition purchase based on the test drive. I said never mind then I'm not interested if I have to hassel for it.

 

yeah that happened to me...but that was back when the z first came out. was home and went to cerritos auto square where i drove the mazda6, very sweet. drove down the street and saw a bunch of z's at the nissan dealer. all were marked up w/ "market adjustments," even the previously demo/media cars. the stupid sales, who was very arrogant about the cars, wouldn't lemme drive 'em until i promised him i was really buying the car. i hope the mazda sales won't be as unpleasant and hard to deal with when the 8 comes out, but i guess that's inevitable. how unfortunate

 

It's big and has huge "Z" on it's plastic shell. I'm confident most tower braces need not be that thick.

 

No. It's a functional part of the chassis and definitely not there for show. Nissan would have preffered to offer more luggage space so this wouldn't be an unnecessary choice on their part anyway.

 

Regarding the tranny:

The notchy nature of the tranny goes away after break in. I had to go through the same thing in my car. After awhile the tranny becomes very smooth, especially after you warm it up 5 minutes. The clutch engages close to the buttom. My main gripe is the drive by wire system gets touchy in first gear. It's difficult to start smoothly in these cars.

Regarding interior: The 350Z interior looks nice, but feels 'hallow' if you knock on the plastic. Interior is actually above average for Nissan, but you can't compare it to the G35C, which is in entry luxury class.

If I can sum up the 350Z, it feels like a Japanese version of American muscle car, only looks 10 times better. You want torque and style? You got it. btw: you forgot to mention the exhaust note on the 350Z, it's intoxicating.

 

Amen. The roar isn't obnoxious but it's quite melodious and does bring a definite sense of awe to the power lurking beneath the hood.

 

does it compare to the sweet rotary engine sound of the rx8?

hmm...

 

I test drove the 350z and I like how it just kicks you back in your seat real quick. I am not 2 fond of the look mainly the back... ever since I saw the rx-8, I can't look at another car that's as pretty.

 

Umm....you're comparing a 350Z to the M3?
Maybe it's just my imagination, but isn't there a little price difference between the two?
With such high standards, I'm guessing that you're going to be equally unimpressed with the RX-8.....

 

He's talking only about a good power/shift feel combination which many cars much cheaper than the M3 also deliver.

 

yeah, it's not like Miatas shift well at all or anything... jeez, in that light, it doesn't bode well for the RX-8 as it's getting exactly the same tranny from Aisin. :p

 

I could have said Miata just as easily but I felt I'd throw a car in there that the 350Z allegedly beat in R&T... regardless of lap times the car is quite uncomfortable and in my mind seems to be more work than play.

After driving the G35 and a much more relaxed and intoxicating cabin layout, I think that would be much more pleasurable to drive, much moreso than the 350Z.

 

I'm a bit perplexed regarding these two reviews. Essentially, you did not like the Z because of a notchy shifter (ok, you didn't like the materials and size of the cabin as well). Now, you didn't drive a manual G35, so how can you be so sure it wouldn't suffer from the same problem?

While the Z is no lightweight, it certainly is substantially smaller than the G35. I can't see how the G35 would feel "nimble" and "tossable". Certainly its a car that looks good, has a nice interior and lots of power, but I just can't see it being more "fun" than the Z.

That being said, neither car impresses me too much from what I have seen. They are too heavy and their suspensions are a little too softly sprung. However, I will test drive the Z to see if my opinions are off the mark. I will give Nissan their due for offering a pretty good sports car and coupe (with "torque") for a reasonable price and also having very good fuel economy and emissions for the power these engines produce.

 

revhappy please go back and read both reviews. I addressed both of your comments and you simply failed to pull them out. However for your convienience I'll tell you:

I never said the Z was more or less fun; I even mentioned that when I drove the Z I didn't get a feel for its handling. I did mention however, that the cabin layout in the 350Z was not nearly as relaxed and easygoing as the G35 Coupe. The G35 Coupe seemed between the two, the car more likely to be comfortable and fun to drive just due to the layout.

Simply put; I can't. I never made any inferences about it either.

 

The following excerpt is from your Z review:

"Was I impressed?

In a word, no. I've driven a 2002 M3 and combined with its power and SHIFT FEEL, it's just more pleasureable to drive, specially on a day to day basis. I think that if I had the 350Z for a little while, I'd get used to the feel and it would be more inviting. But as a car that is used to be for fun, it seems to be more involvement in the car than it does with the road... and I've always loved the feeling in Miatas that let you feel 'one with the road.'"

The following excerpt is from the G35 review:

"Handling is razor sharp. At a rating of 9 on the C&D scale I am hard pressed to see how the RX-8 will be better. However since the RX-8's weight is signifigantly less, I think the agile feeling contributes to the handling rating. The G35 Coupe though is excellent in this regard and after driving it you appreciate it a lot more."

From those excerpts, the message was that the G35 was more "fun". This was based on getting to see the G35's handling (a positive presumably for the 2 cars) and driving the manual in the Z (presumably a negative in both cars). The bottom line is I wouldn't come to a conclusion in regards to "fun" if I hadn't driven a manual on both cars through some curves.

However, I liked the reviews, I think they were quite thorough. Next time, visit a Nissan dealer in the mountains. :D