Ok, a lot of people here obviously do not read my posts fully and go off half cocked, actually I am guilty of this myself. Let me reiterate. IT IS NOT THE ENGINE NOISE VOLUME OR ROAD NOISE VOLUME THAT IRKS ME. IT IS THE QUALITY OF THE ENGINE NOISE, I CAN'T EVEN HEAR THE EXHAUST NOISE. So, have I made myself clear? I am trying really hard to love this car and I have a sense of brand loyalty due to owning a really hot 240Z, ans also I am not one to gravitate towards Euro cars because I simply believe you're paying too much money for what you actually get.
The quality of the engine noise in the Z is not real sports car music to an enthusiats ear if you know what i mean. This is my only bitch really about the Zed, the other stuff I can live with and appreciate, but a sports car like the Zed should have a better sounding engine note/tone/timbre. I mean think of cars like the Corvette, Mustang, Alfas, Maeratis etc, hell even my MX5 sounds way better. To me a sports car is not just about power aand straight line stomp, which the Zed has in spades, it is also about the "feel" which encompasses sensory aspects like, feel, visual and auditory, and in the auditory sense is where i am saying the Zed lacks and for a sports car like this to me at least is not acceptable. I mean come on it reminds me of my first car, a 1980 General Motors product that had a wheezy agricultural OHV pushrod motor that only revved to about 5,000rpm and sound thrashy and harsh. I expected better of the 370z, much better considering the
edigree" of the VQ engine. I wonder as some car mags have said that the cause of this harshness is because this engine design has been stretched to its limits.
I know my friend had a Maxima with a 3.0 litre version of this engine and it was a sweet spinning motor and was no way thrashy or harsh. Maybe Nissan should have kept the older 350Z motor and found ways to make this 370z lighter? Some people on this post have said the Zed is a bare bones sports car, umm no it is not, at least here in Australia it isn't, it is loaded with almost every conceivable luxury. i think the 370 should have come in at approx 1300kilos not almost 1500 that it is, but that's another story.
Anyway I think i have made myself clear and in the end it is my opinion and i am entitled to my opinion. It is critisicm that hopefully sometimes makes car maqnufacturers improve their product.