They finally brought my car up from houston. (As stated in the "about to purchase 2011 Z thread in pricing forum"). Last night the car was PDI'd, detailed, and judging from the houston pics, it seems they added pinstriping to accent the body lines. At first I was like "what the hell?" The Z is just not the kind of car I'd pinstripe. Then, upon careful inspection, I observed it was done tastefully and in conjunction with the Z's aggressive sports car design. My Z is GM base+sport 7at and the pinstripes are a darker grey that almost blend in with the cars color and acts more like an accent to the bodylines.
THIS IS THE LINK TO THE CAR I PURCHASED.
2011 Nissan 370Z, $35,988 - Cars.com
I paid 37k out the door with delivery, tire guard, oil changes all accessories including backup camera but a little premium of $900 was added for gap, paid that out of pocket. Considering I had an accident in my Z in june, it is a good investment. My gap paid my claim in 10 days from filing so I'm pleased with dealership gap.
I reflected on my accident while taking delivery and kinda got sentimental for my silver 370z. Just sad how it all went down. But we were ok and that's what counts.... and I have my Z back.
I have to say Gun Metallic (kad) is a beautiful shade of grey. It was my third choice of color. My first two were M. Blue and B.C. those colors were not available in my trim.
NOTICED EXTREMELY SUBTLE DIFFERENCES ALREADY!
FIRST THING I NOTICED... and this is strange to me. The exhaust. I found the exhaust louder on the interior. But when standing behind the Z on ignition. It wasn't anywhere as strong sounding as my 09.
SECOND... Is it me or has the crossbar been lowered and pushed another inch forward?
THIRD. I actually have the brackets and hinges in place for the tonneau cover. I priced that cover for the 09 what made it expensive was having to replace the interior panels to make the cover fit. Now the interior panels are there.
FOURTH:.. SUSPENSION IS A LOT SOFTER. Slightly disappointed on this one. Only because I have a sport package. The 09 suspension felt more true sports car. The 11 is beginning to feel more GT. I have put under 60 miles so I haven't revved high yet. But I wonder if some rasp in the engine has subsided??? I really didn't mind.
I was a little disappointed with the owners manual. No big deal but my 09 was in a beautiful zip up binder. My new one has velcro open trapper keeper type look which kinda cheapened the owners manual. No biggie. Just an observation though.
Its funny because every year we read no changes for the Z except the heated mirror, but I actually found a lot of changes. Though subtle, It shows nissan is trying to improve the car little by little. Imho the 09 suspension wise felt more aggressive. But the very slight crossbar relocation makes the trunk mildly more roomy. If the base had bluetooth/usb/ipod jack? It would be perfectly featured.
Its funny because things were looking bad with the dealer trade situation. It took 8 days before the houston dealer gave in and 2 days for the car to get to dallas. So after a week, I began test driving other cars just in case. I didn't feel like buying another used car. I test drove the evo, genesis coupe 3.8(again), mustang gt and the bmw 135, just in case the Z deal didn't fly. I truly enjoyed the performance of all these cars. The one that gave the Z comp in the fun dept was the evo. And the bimmer was a step up in quality. But I don't know what it is... the Z always wins my heart. The G37s is a great car but not a good enough replacement for the Z. The mustang is hella fast but the fun factor isn't on par with the Z. And honestly the retro look is just nausiating. The muscle cars need to evolve into something modern. Love the performance, hate the look. Still none of these cars corner like a Z, sound like a Z or look like a Z. I truly believe the Z34 will go down in history as one of the greatest affordable sports cars ever made.
This is off Z topic. But I purchased a 2012 tuscan sun red altima 2.5s for my wife. Our third altima. It replaced my 3.5 08 altima that got 18.9mpg's. My wifes on her second tank and she's already getting close to 24mpg's. It gets better with break in. All ready we have extended 95miles a tank to the driving range. Hopefully we can make 100 miles.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long azz thread.