Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - Why does first gear in every other car feel and seem faster than the Z?

keb370z · 01-24-2012, 05:28 PM

Whoa. You guys were busy while I was away. A few things:

I'm not afraid to hit the gas. Whenever I'm in the Z, I drive it. (This thread originally got modified for being too close to the topic of street racing and in that process brought up an important fact that off the line, I've found the Z to be slow.)

I think first gear is slow in both regular driving and.. track driving.

I've only owned manual transmission cars, so I can't really compare to automatics except for the rentals I've had, and those are usually either Ford Focus types or Suburban types so not the same thing at all.

What I *am* comparing to is my husband's Mazdaspeed 3. He would beat me off the line, no doubt about it. And my car has how much more hp than his? He says it all comes down to torque. That the Z can't have that much power in first because the tires would just spin. Is that all it is? Seems crazy to me that a 4 cylinder turbo could beat a sports car.

My previous car was a VW GTI 2.0 4 cylinder. Yes, for a few years in late 1990s-2000s they made a 2.0 non turbo GTI. Great car. It was fast off the line for what it was. Really fast. Dare I say it would beat my Z off the line? Who knows. We sold it.

When I first bought the GTI (used) it had a problem I can't exactly remember, I think it was a completely bad catalytic converter (I could be totally wrong=GIRL). It was BADASS off the line. Stunk like crazy, but it could GO. We had to fix it, it slowed it down quite a bit. But still.

So take away manual vs auto in this argument (we all know autos suck anyway

j/k)

Compared to most cars on the road, regular driving and track driving, first gear in the Z is slow. Maybe I need to take it to a track and have some lessons, but I think I'm pretty good with my launch. When I first bought it, no. But a year later, I'm not bad.

So... ????

01-24-2012, 05:28 PM	#26 (permalink)
keb370z Base Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 214 Drives: '11 M6 Sport in Blue Rep Power: 13	Whoa. You guys were busy while I was away. A few things: I'm not afraid to hit the gas. Whenever I'm in the Z, I drive it. (This thread originally got modified for being too close to the topic of street racing and in that process brought up an important fact that off the line, I've found the Z to be slow.) I think first gear is slow in both regular driving and.. track driving. I've only owned manual transmission cars, so I can't really compare to automatics except for the rentals I've had, and those are usually either Ford Focus types or Suburban types so not the same thing at all. What I am comparing to is my husband's Mazdaspeed 3. He would beat me off the line, no doubt about it. And my car has how much more hp than his? He says it all comes down to torque. That the Z can't have that much power in first because the tires would just spin. Is that all it is? Seems crazy to me that a 4 cylinder turbo could beat a sports car. My previous car was a VW GTI 2.0 4 cylinder. Yes, for a few years in late 1990s-2000s they made a 2.0 non turbo GTI. Great car. It was fast off the line for what it was. Really fast. Dare I say it would beat my Z off the line? Who knows. We sold it. When I first bought the GTI (used) it had a problem I can't exactly remember, I think it was a completely bad catalytic converter (I could be totally wrong=GIRL). It was BADASS off the line. Stunk like crazy, but it could GO. We had to fix it, it slowed it down quite a bit. But still. So take away manual vs auto in this argument (we all know autos suck anyway j/k) Compared to most cars on the road, regular driving and track driving, first gear in the Z is slow. Maybe I need to take it to a track and have some lessons, but I think I'm pretty good with my launch. When I first bought it, no. But a year later, I'm not bad. So... ????