[New2Nissan]

Greetings everyone! I thought I'd introduce myself to the other Z and general car enthusiasts on the board. As noted in the title, I'm potentially entering a completely new world. My experience with cars had lead me to German and American performance cars. At the moment, I'm driving a 2011 M3, which I would sell to get the Z--depending on how it turns out. I will say that even though I have never owned a Z, I have crossed paths with them frequently over the years: a family friend when I was growing up always had a Z car (a 280z was among the first performance cars I was ever in), as I got older two friends had Z cars as first cars ( a 280z which was ancient at the time and a Z31 300zx), and lastly, I briefly test drove a 350z shortly after I bought a new GTI back in the day. Perhaps like many Z people, or maybe just car people, but the Z32 Z is among my favorite designs of all time. If I was my age now back when these cars were new, I'd have one. I was a diehard VW fan as a kid, but I just couldn't hate the z32. What a gorgeous car.

So that brings me to today. Once I was old enough to buy fun new/newer cars, nothing Asian really captured my attention. I generally like the 350/370z cars, but they just didn't move me like the z32. So I went after other cars. Now? Nissan has a real chance to get me as a customer. I just hope it doesn't turn out like it did for the current Ranger. I was really hoping the Ford would bring out an awesome version of the Ranger Raptor for the US market. I was on the Ranger forums following along like a lot of others. As it turned out, not only did Ford not bring us a cool Ranger Raptor, we didn't get ANY Ranger Raptor. So I bought a new Jeep GC SRT instead. I'm ready to move on from the BMW, so my money is theoretically up for grabs. I really want to own a new Asian performance car with a manual and the Z is really the only vehicle with the potential to turn me to the reliable side.

 

[Paul_S]

Hi and welcome

 

[zenki]

Welcome @New2Nissan!

I always liked those E92 M3's. Is it the sedan or coupe? Used to own an E36 328IS and loved that thing! With your M3 being a V8, are you going to be okay with the lack of torque here in stock form? Did you ever test drive any of the Z's you came across all these years? Or anything similar?

 

[New2Nissan]

Welcome @New2Nissan!

I always liked those E92 M3's. Is it the sedan or coupe? Used to own an E36 328IS and loved that thing! With your M3 being a V8, are you going to be okay with the lack of torque here in stock form? Did you ever test drive any of the Z's you came across all these years? Or anything similar?

Hi Zenki,

Thanks for the kind comments. I have the coupe version, in for me, is an ideal spec: no nav, no leather, CF roof, manual trans, and competition package. It's been a very good car, but I feel like it's time to give something different a try. I've always enjoyed the general drive of BMW, particularly the e9x series and earlier cars. The sister of an old GF of mine had an e36 328i back in the day. That was a really good car---tighter than my car as I recall.

As far as the torque is concerned, you may be surprised by how little the V8 in the M3 (S65 in BMW-nerd speak) makes! The car is a small displacement V8 (4.0L), revs really high (redline of just over 8k rpms), and has very little torque (295 lbs/ft which doesn't start to come on until above 3500 rpms). I tried to drive a 370z back in 2011, but the dealers wouldn't let me---I bought a 2012 Mustang GT instead. I did get to drive a 350z back in like 2007. I liked the performance but the seating position and interior design didn't really impress me if I'm honest.

Obviously we're all speculating at this point, but I would be ok with some modified version of the current VQ motor, but I would prefer the 3.0t if I had the choice. I rented a Q70 with the basic 3.0t and I thought it was a very good motor. If we could get the 400hp version, with a manual in a Z however, well, that would be perfect. It would likely give me a lot more torque much further down than what I currently have.

The last three cars I've purchased had a V8 and they're really nice motors. But I'd like to spend some time living with a V6t in a sports car layout. I hope the overall woes at Nissan are not forcing the company to make suboptimal decisions with the upcoming Z. C'mon Nissan you can do it!

 

[THaskins]

Welcome to the forum @New2Nissan! As far as V8 cars go that's a sweet 1/2/3 punch. the Grand Cherokee SRT is an absolute monster. What happened when you tried to drive the 370Z in 2011? Why weren't you allowed to test drive?

 

[New2Nissan]

Welcome to the forum @New2Nissan! As far as V8 cars go that's a sweet 1/2/3 punch. the Grand Cherokee SRT is an absolute monster. What happened when you tried to drive the 370Z in 2011? Why weren't you allowed to test drive?

Yup. Maybe they thought I wasn't serious? The Z holds a weird spot in the philly area it seems. I once worked close to a nissan dealer. They always had 3-4 Zs on the lot at any one time. But they would sit. And sit. And sit. They didn't seem at all motivated to make any deals. At one point, I asked about how much off of MSRP these "stale" (almost 2 model year old)
Zs were going for and it was almost nothing. So I guess that's what happens when the company spends no money on updating product. Anyway, when I was actually ready to buy, the two dealers I went to had no real interest in trying to get me into a Z. I really wanted the Mustang at the time, but I also always thought the Z was a neat car so I thought it was worth giving it a shot before I purchased the mustang. There are quite a few nissan dealers near me though, so if I am really interested in one, it looks like I will need to be prepared for a bunch of driving to find the right car/dealer.

 

[THaskins]

Yup. Maybe they thought I wasn't serious? The Z holds a weird spot in the philly area it seems. I once worked close to a nissan dealer. They always had 3-4 Zs on the lot at any one time. But they would sit. And sit. And sit. They didn't seem at all motivated to make any deals. At one point, I asked about how much off of MSRP these "stale" (almost 2 model year old)
Zs were going for and it was almost nothing. So I guess that's what happens when the company spends no money on updating product. Anyway, when I was actually ready to buy, the two dealers I went to had no real interest in trying to get me into a Z. I really wanted the Mustang at the time, but I also always thought the Z was a neat car so I thought it was worth giving it a shot before I purchased the mustang. There are quite a few nissan dealers near me though, so if I am really interested in one, it looks like I will need to be prepared for a bunch of driving to find the right car/dealer.

I guess their backwards thinking was it was more worth it to have the Z cars as window dressing rather than trying to sell them. I would sort of get it if it was only 1 car but 3-4? come on lol

 

[ZPirate]

Welcome to the forum. Been through the American and German performance cars too. But I keep coming back to the Z. Well I guess I have a Z longer than all the others. I've had my 350Z since January of 2003.

 

[THaskins]

Welcome to the forum! I am very glad that there is a replenishment in our ranks.

Welcome @silviastar! Are you a current or former Z owner?