I was on my way to Chris Getgready's last week. Fast lane of the M53 with a Blue Z350 up my rear. Me being in my Volvo C70 T5 thinks, "when the traffic open up a bit I'll pull over into the slow lane and he'll scream past me".

 

Well road opens up and I'm just about to pull over to slow lane while accelerating from 65 to about 80mph and low and behold the guy tries to come up my inside. I thought :xxx: I'll make it a bit harder for you and nailed it, still expecting him to fly past.

 

He got along side me and 80mph to 130mph he just couldn't make any ground and then began to fall away. He looked totally embaressed and I thought what a poor show. My Volvo is no match for my 300. I can't see how anyone could say that the Z350 is a worthy replacement. Its got not teeth at all + it looks crap. Most of all though. There seems to be too many twits behind the wheels of 350's

I'd like a 350.

 

But it's not in the same genre as the 300ZX, Mk IV Supra or the 3000GT.

 

Isn't the engine from a renault Vel Satis or Maxima or something?

 

I'm not knocking it.... like I say, I'd like to own one.

Isn't the engine from a renault Vel Satis or Maxima or something?

 

Sort of .. in that they share the basic platform, but make no mistake, it's a Nissan Engine 100% - it just so happens that as part of the company buy-out Renault decided they'd use a derivative of the engine to power the Vel Satis. And why not?

 

The engine is a superb bit of kit, plenty of grunt and a decent soundtrack, but it could do with revving a little higher IMO - red-line is at 6600 .. 7500 would have been nicer! In fact, I think there's a Nismo version available in Japan that does rev a little higher, and produce a few more horsies too! :D

350z is a little disapointing for me, ill tell you why in a mo.

 

Its a nice car all in all, (much better than the afore mentioned hairdressing audi TT's and the all too common so call, sporty BMW's).

 

My reason I dont like it too much is, the styling is following the genre of every other modern car that out atm, its soft. When you see one in the rear view mirror it looks like a honda civic on heat (which is funny youll see why later), it doesnt comand you to get out of its way like the old 300 does. The awesome presence of the 300 on the road, can not be matched. The 350z looks to the passer by to be in the same league as a new audi or something similar. It just doesnt shout out at people (and these views are common in people I have met and spoken to that dont even own a 300).

 

The power is disapointing. Its good compared to a lot of average modern cars, but having said that, we are now getting a lot of manufacturers going back to their routes and producing faster cars instead of the crappy era of gti's etc that dawned the end of fast cars such as the cosworth, 300zx, etc.

 

Compared to todays top line up of cars from the manufacturers it fairs pretty well;

 

Nissan 350z GT 27000 276bhp 0-60 5.3

Subaru 2.0 WR1 STI 29000 315bhp 0-60 4.3

Golf V6 R32 23000 237bhp 0-60 6.4

Volvo T5R 36000 310bhp 0-60 5.7

Audi TT 3.2 V6 28000 240bhp 0-60 6.2

Focus RS 20000 215bhp 0-60 6.2

Honda NSX 60000 276bhp 0-60 5.5

Renault Clio V6 27100 255bhp 0-60 5.6

BMW M3 Coup 41000 343bhp 0-60 5.0

Vauxhall Monaro V8 29000 381bhp 0-60 5.4

Vauxhall VX220 27000 216bhp 0-60 4.2

Porsche 911C 60000 380bhp 0-60 4.8

Honda S2000 27000 246bhp 0-60 6.0

Civic Type R 16000 215bhp 0-60 6.6

 

And price wise too, but as you can see there is no shortage of competitors for this car.

 

The big problem is for me, when we were in my brothers civic type R, (he bought for 14k as he works for honda) we actually had a race with a 350Z off the mark to about 80 near junc 16 m4, toward malmesbury, (lots of twisties) he couldnt loose us at all, and we cained him round the twisties :(, my brother found him self having to ease off round the corners for the Z to go round them.

 

And I hate civic type R's too, I absolutly anayalate my brothers civic off the mark, and was so upset when the 350 put up a poor show :( (mind you he does do well on the corners!)

 

I've no doubt when we were getting to 80mph teritory the Z would have pulled big time on a straight, but, when it hit the corners at about 80 he could not go faster than us. For a 16k hot hatch to keep up with a 27k sports car, well its just :XXX:

 

My personal thoughts, I could find much better cars for 27k. But then I hate new cars, because they are more so money pits than old ones, the thousands of pounds lost in the first few years ownership, is usualy more than it would cost to buy an older, better looking, faster car and maintain it for the same amount of time.

Good list, Steve-o. The 350Z is streets ahead of anything in there under £30k. And (since the 300ZX is a £50k car in modern money) it's not too shabby against the NSX or 911.

 

And either 350Z or 300ZX beats the pants off an M3 coupe. I suffered many miles in my ex-mate's one. Hard spine rattling ride, uncomfy seats and harsh noisy engine. Awful car.

 

So time for Z and ZX owners to enter :D

True, having said I hate civics and generally people who drive type r's. (For some reason they think they have just bought they keys to the fastest car on the road, 'cause da ones in da F&F woz well good aiiiiiiiii so mine mus be wicked, bling bling') they are a prety nippy point to point car, but only because they have the build quality of a go cart, and that was done by accident not intention lol.

oh and btw, a volvo 850 t5 is a good match for a stock 350z or 300zx with the 250 hp it has. I was going to get one as a spare car as they go for about 2.5k :D nice kit for the money.

FWD v RWD on corners is a little unfair. I could thrash my VTS around corners much more quickly than my 350 simply because I felt more confident.

In the 350, I'm sure I could enter and exit corners much more quickly than I do but its always nagging in the back of my mind that the rear end could put me in a ditch, all too easily. I never thought about it in the FWD car and just used to drive as hard as possible. I'm hoping to rectify this, shortly, with a new suspension/sway bars.

 

Could be why the Type R was gaining on bends.

Civic Type R drivers, in my experience, have all been :xxx: though.

 

350 doesn't rev higher because past 7100, apparently you'd risk losing a rod. A bit shocking that the rods really ARE that bad. :rolleyes:

 

If you 'think' you took pics of my car, you probably did. It was the black one. :D

JWT are launching a TT kit for the 350. Its been in testing for quite some time. I will be going FI in the future but I need a bunch of money, first. Internals to replace and all that. :mad:

FWD v RWD on corners is a little unfair. I could thrash my VTS around corners much more quickly than my 350 simply because I felt more confident.

In the 350, I'm sure I could enter and exit corners much more quickly than I do but its always nagging in the back of my mind that the rear end could put me in a ditch, all too easily. I never thought about it in the FWD car and just used to drive as hard as possible.

 

In which case, the best and best-value upgrade you can do is to do a skid-pan course and/or high-speed training and/or track day.

 

The 350Z is one of the best and most balanced cars around - if you don't feel confident in it, or if you can corner a VTS more quickly than a 350Z, the limiting factor is driver not car.

 

And besides that, increasing driver skill is the one upgrade that is easy to transfer from car to car!

The car is stable, the tyres are sh*t. Its like driving around on clogs. Sometimes they grip, sometimes they don't. New wheels meant new tyres for me and I'm much more confident on bends, both wet and dry.

 

The car has so much torque, though, it only takes a slightly heavy right foot to get the back end out, 'specially with an 8lb flywheel. ;)

Top thread

 

The 350 IMO is a nice looking car both in and out, Would have one if I could afford it...cant compare it to my 300 (which I can afford...(talking b0ll0x now)_) but I reckon Nissan have looked at the competition (Steve-0's post highlights this) and not the past success of the 'z' so it should be judged in it's own right,...for me...love it....

 

If you 'think' you took pics of my car, you probably did. It was the black one. :D

 

yes, i did! & we'll have no sarcasm towards mods on this board please :nono: :D

 

36k I tell you what I would buy is the New 350 Skyline now that'll chew the Knackers off anything 3.5 Litre V8 Oooh Suits me sir...

The Nismo supercharger has been an optional extra from Middlehursts since last September. It delivers 370 BHP at the crank. Weedy performance and that will bump the price of your Z350 to £36,000.

 

Thats R34 Vspec land not plastic Audi TT impersonator Land. (Have you seen under the bonnet of the Z350) it looks like it been made from recycled Sierra bumpers :slap:

In which case, the best and best-value upgrade you can do is to do a skid-pan course and/or high-speed training and/or track day.

 

The 350Z is one of the best and most balanced cars around - if you don't feel confident in it, or if you can corner a VTS more quickly than a 350Z, the limiting factor is driver not car.

 

And besides that, increasing driver skill is the one upgrade that is easy to transfer from car to car!

 

I agree with Gio there :tongue:

 

Top gear (old series) did a fast corner/braking in corner test between FWD (an Alfa 156), RWD (a 3 series Beemer) and 4WD (An Audi A4 Quatro). All pretty high-spec models, not base cr@p to see which variant was safest, most predictable etc.

 

Suprised me too, but RWD actually proved the best. I have to say I prefer RWD to FWD anytime - as the experts say "....better to steer using wheels that don't also power the car..."

 

Must explain why all supercars (Ferrari, Lambo, Aston, TVR etc) are all RWD :dance:

 

Richard :cool:

G35C Skyline/350GT Skyline has the same lump as the 350Z in it. Has got an extra 2 seats, though, so its a nice alternative to the RX-8, if you've got an extra £10k.

 

If you mean the '07 GT-R, then nobody knows what engine its g'na get. 3.2 TT seems most likely, though a 4.7 V8 is also being thrown around.

 

Ooh, my car was shiny! :D