Well, I've got 8.5 hours seat time now after driving from Kansas City to Dallas. Lots of curvy back roads to test her out on, until the wife cried uncle a few times.
Impressions: I am very happy with the car. It is nimble and fun to drive and is a much better highway cruiser than I expected. I got lots of compliments and rubberneckers in a very short time, (almost as many in 2 days as I had during the entire time I had the M3). As far as compared to my M3, let's just say the $30K price difference makes any shortcomings of the 370 more than livable (the M really is in another league though).
Now that I have some time in it, I will admit the low end torque isn't better than the M3 but it has a nice mid range punch and moves out nicely when you mat it. I appreciated the simplicity of the Z cockpit, the M was like an airplane with so many ways to adjust it.
That said, the things I missed the most were the seat comfort, the exotic exhaust note, and the extra 77 hp. All of these I believe can be improved substantially with a few mods (G 37 seats?). I also missed the abrupt crispness of the BMW DCT trans, but again, I am sure there are some mapping solutions out there that may help the Z in this dept.
If anyone would like to make some suggestions on the best way to supplement these things, I will add it to my research.
BTW, with lots of spirited driving and 90-100 mph cruise I averaged 22.3 mpg over the entire 600 mi trip, pretty good!
Overall, I can tell already that this will be a fun car to own and I am looking forward to the lower expense and worry associated with my ride (translation-I will track this car ruthlessly).
ps: I got pulled over in Southern MO and the cop was so impressed with the car he let me go with a warning!
The wife calls it "the baby Z" and "baby batmobile" lol. She wants to drive the Z , but was scared of the M3 and never did.