Buying a Sports Car

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I wonder how the NISMO cat-back unit would sound, i was thinking of getting that as one of the few options if i were to get a new Z.

[SJ_GTI]

I guess i just find that hard to believe, i've never driven a TT, but i have driven several golf's/gti's jetta's and passats(not really relavent). I just don't think i'd feel the same way, though we do have different priorities.

That's kind of like someone saying they've driven a Malibu so how could a Saab 9-3 Aero be any better?

The TT is based on the same chassis as the golf, its not a straight rebadge.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Your right, its not wise to make such statements.

But i'm sure the difference between a golf and a TT aren't as drastic as the difference between a GM midsizer and a SAAB.

Either way i wouldn't waste 30K on a psuedo FWD based semi-performance car, so i don't see what the arguement is.

[Raghavan]

didja buy the Z yet?

[FlatBlackCaddy]

If i do buy a Z(its not set in stone) i will have to order a new 06 model, so i'm kinda waiting for nissan to get some 06's in so i can go check them out and find out more about what nissan offers for financing.

[Raghavan]

If i do buy a Z(its not set in stone) i will have to order a new 06 model, so i'm kinda waiting for nissan to get some 06's in so i can go check them out and find out more about what nissan offers for financing.

why not get an '05 and get it cheaper?

[Raza]

yup some people view things differently.

I've heard several times about the glove box, doesn't matter to me since all i ever carry in a car is a CD wallet. Poor materials..sure but some of us realize that we aren't buying a luxury car, it may have poor materials compared to new luxury cars(or mainstream cars who's main focus is luxury, ex. camry). As for the visability thing, it is a sports car, which normally denotes style over function, i wouldn't expect it to have the visability of a maxima or anything, but i'm sure its not anything that would bother me.

I'm not one to point out material flaws in a said sports or GT car, but I'm just saying that the TT is a far more charming automobile than the Z is.  

[Raza]

If i do buy a Z(its not set in stone) i will have to order a new 06 model, so i'm kinda waiting for nissan to get some 06's in so i can go check them out and find out more about what nissan offers for financing.

why not get an '05 and get it cheaper?

Availability.  They may or may not have what he wants left, so if he wants to compromise he can save big, but if he doesn't, he has to wait.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

the only 05's left in my area are verts and they want 30+K for them(which is not important since i wouldn't buy a vert Z to save my life).

More importantly the 06 has updated the only issues i had with the 05(model i was getting).

For 06 all manual Z's get the 300hp(i presume old Track model tune) motor, as well as 18's standard.

And for what i want i would be better off ordering it, there normally aren't many "lot" Z's that are under 30K(I built a enthusiest model, with just a few options, it comes out to 29K).

[FlatBlackCaddy]

yup some people view things differently.

I've heard several times about the glove box, doesn't matter to me since all i ever carry in a car is a CD wallet. Poor materials..sure but some of us realize that we aren't buying a luxury car, it may have poor materials compared to new luxury cars(or mainstream cars who's main focus is luxury, ex. camry). As for the visability thing, it is a sports car, which normally denotes style over function, i wouldn't expect it to have the visability of a maxima or anything, but i'm sure its not anything that would bother me.

I'm not one to point out material flaws in a said sports or GT car, but I'm just saying that the TT is a far more charming automobile than the Z is.

Well i'll take your word for it(i'm kinda lost), and i don't really know what you mean by charming, but i don't see one thing that is "good" about the TT, let alone enough to make it better than a Z.

[Raza]

yup some people view things differently.

I've heard several times about the glove box, doesn't matter to me since all i ever carry in a car is a CD wallet. Poor materials..sure but some of us realize that we aren't buying a luxury car, it may have poor materials compared to new luxury cars(or mainstream cars who's main focus is luxury, ex. camry). As for the visability thing, it is a sports car, which normally denotes style over function, i wouldn't expect it to have the visability of a maxima or anything, but i'm sure its not anything that would bother me.

I'm not one to point out material flaws in a said sports or GT car, but I'm just saying that the TT is a far more charming automobile than the Z is.

Well i'll take your word for it(i'm kinda lost), and i don't really know what you mean by charming, but i don't see one thing that is "good" about the TT, let alone enough to make it better than a Z.

I am a firm believer that cars should have character and that is what makes enthusiasts want to own one instead of just drive one (it's also the only reason I drive a Volkswagen Passat 1.8T instead of a Honda Accord V6), and the character is something you actually have to drive to feel out.  If an automobile doesn't have a personality, it might as well be a toaster.  And the Audi TT has personality in droves, beginning with its artful exterior (even in convertible form, the lines are not destroyed so drastically), and when you drive it, it makes you feel so...good.  It's ineffible really, just like the feeling of driving a W140 S class compared to a W220.  There's no question which is the better car, but the other one just makes you feel so damn good.  On a race track, the Z would destroy a TT, and yes, it will catch as many, if not more, stares at a stoplight.  But when I drove the Z I just didn't get the same feeling as I did when I drove the TTs (I drove both a coupe and convertible).  But, there's also no question as to which car I'd rather own--the Z.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Well i guess thats my problem(and why i'm not on the same page as you). I don't tend to give cars mystical qualities(not being a ass, i guess i'm just simple). To me a cars character is summed up by its performance(chassis, engine, transmission, etc), and styling, etc has little to do with it.

[Raza]

Well i guess thats my problem(and why i'm not on the same page as you). I don't tend to give cars mystical qualities(not being a ass, i guess i'm just simple). To me a cars character is summed up by its performance(chassis, engine, transmission, etc), and styling, etc has little to do with it.

I guess we are on different pages.  Cars can never be numbers on a page to me.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I never said they were numbers, just simply that i don't find any unexplainable qualities in a car. If a car handles well has good turn in and feels great on the road i consider it to have a good chassis/chassis tuning, as opposed to bad. Like i said i'm just simple like that, i don't get some unexplainable feeling from a car. Any feeling i get is a result of a good car vs a bad car, once enough bad stacks up i generally don't like the car(i've had a few like that).

I guess its just hard for me to explain it.

[Raza]

I never said they were numbers, just simply that i don't find any unexplainable qualities in a car. If a car handles well has good turn in and feels great on the road i consider it to have a good chassis/chassis tuning, as opposed to bad. Like i said i'm just simple like that, i don't get some unexplainable feeling from a car. Any feeling i get is a result of a good car vs a bad car, once enough bad stacks up i generally don't like the car(i've had a few like that).

I guess its just hard for me to explain it.

I see where you're coming from, but I'm the type that would rather drive a Ferrari Dino instead of a Ferrari 430.  I'd rather have a Miura than a Murcielago.  An XKE instead of an XK8. It's all in the feeling, the inexplicable part of the car/human interaction that is baffling and beautiful at the same time.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Have you driven all those cars?

[Raza]

Have you driven all those cars?

Well, no.  That's the point where all analogies break down, I suppose.  But you get the point.  

[FlatBlackCaddy]

yup

[Raza]

Okay, I just had a go in the 05 350Z Touring Roadster.  

Umm...buy one.  You have my blessing.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

haven't visited this thread in awhile, it sounds like you had fun raza.

I'm looking at a stripped(read no option, other than floor mats) enthusiast model. Its basically a base model with a LSD. I'm sure the roadster was a good ride(nissan claimed to have designed the car from the beginning intending it to be a roadster as well as a coupe). Structural ridgidity in the roadster should be almost as good as the coupe(though weight is probobly over 3300lbs). The enthusiast coupe weighs in at a hair under 3200(3197 to be exact, iirc; with floor mats it would probobly be a even 3200). So the benefit of having 100 or so less pounds might make it slightly(very slight, but i do like to keep an eye on weight) more responsive.

I'll probobly get a 06 model(bump to 300HP(basically the track tune motor) for all manual Z's and 18's stock). I can't wait, and i'm going nuts waiting for the 06's to come out.

[Run Away]

The '06s are slower to 60mph that the previous model C&D found IIRC.

More hp but less torque, and the power curve is moved more towards the top now.

[Raghavan]

Don't get 'the roadster.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I'm not that concerned with the outright speed of it, though you are correct, the track tune(aka 300hp VQ) has modified internals(i think just a cam) that opens up the top end, at the loss of some bottom end. I'm not worried, I'm sure after the warranty expires i'll probobly be looking at a vortech unit.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I'm sure as hell not getting a roadster(i have verts).

Raza just drove one and said it was great, and i can only assume the coupe is better than the vert(as a general rule when it comes to chassis rigidity).  

[Raza]

I'm sure as hell not getting a roadster(i have verts).

Raza just drove one and said it was great, and i can only assume the coupe is better than the vert(as a general rule when it comes to chassis rigidity).

The coupe I drove was all in all less entertaining and less fun than the roadster, and it didn't seem to handle as well.  The roadster is more fun because it is a roadster (if you're in to that sort of thing, which I am), but another thing that attributed to it being a better drive than the coupe was that I drove a Base model--no LSD.  I left a track in a parking lot because I revved it a bit high (the clutch has a higher catch than I was used to, but the overall gearbox is excellent), and no LSD and no TCS means I left some smoke behind as well.  That salesman wasn't exactly thrilled with that...

[ifcar]

They've also made some upgrades to the car since 2003, when did you drive the coupe?

[Raza]

They've also made some upgrades to the car since 2003, when did you drive the coupe?

It was an 04 model, which is why I didn't understand the storage door complaint.  They fixed it by then.

[SJ_GTI]

The enthusiast coupe weighs in at a hair under 3200(3197 to be exact, iirc; with floor mats it would probobly be a even 3200).

I'm not 100% positive on this, but "curb weights" I think are dry weights, and not really representative of the car you will drive around. I think if you too your Z to an industrial scale you would find that it weighs alot more than 3200 lbs.

[Raza]

The enthusiast coupe weighs in at a hair under 3200(3197 to be exact, iirc; with floor mats it would probobly be a even 3200).

I'm not 100% positive on this, but "curb weights" I think are dry weights, and not really representative of the car you will drive around. I think if you too your Z to an industrial scale you would find that it weighs alot more than 3200 lbs.

Curb weights, much like 0-60 times are mostly about bragging rights.  The Elise will obviously never weigh under 2000 pounds when driven, unless the driver weighs less than 60 pounds.  And I don't know of any 8 year old girls who drive Elises.  

[Secret Chimp]

The enthusiast coupe weighs in at a hair under 3200(3197 to be exact, iirc; with floor mats it would probobly be a even 3200).

I'm not 100% positive on this, but "curb weights" I think are dry weights, and not really representative of the car you will drive around. I think if you too your Z to an industrial scale you would find that it weighs alot more than 3200 lbs.

Curb weights, much like 0-60 times are mostly about bragging rights.  The Elise will obviously never weigh under 2000 pounds when driven, unless the driver weighs less than 60 pounds.  And I don't know of any 8 year old girls who drive Elises.

Gary Coleman should be a race driver.