I test drove a 2009 sport with touring 370z. I drove it for over 10 minutes from standing to around 40 mph, starts, stops, turns. I noticed the heat gauge going up and up and figured maybe the sales rep didn't put enough coolant in the car. This was in October, with average temp outside of around 68 degrees F.
When we got out of the car, there was an obvious burning smell. We did not come close to tracking the car, and were floored by it overheating so easily. If you can't slam on the gas to feel the torque from time to time without it overheating, what is the point? It was so odd, we really did believe there was something wrong on the coolant side, not a engineered defect allowed to make it into production.
Also, when we test drove the car, we had not heard about the oil temp issue so many have been discussing. If the car overheats when someone is slamming on the gas here and there to briefly test out its power, i can only imagine trying to have fun with it in the middle of the summer. A burning smell coming from the car cannot be good for it, regardless of what the dealer/manufacturer says. Nissan providing test cars with oil coolers just goes to show they knew magazine reviewers test driving them would encounter an overheating problem and warn people to stay clear.
I'm not looking forward to having to buy an oil cooler just to be able to slam on the gas from time to time, if that was the case, i would have just bought a sedan that was meant for getting to 60 slower and designed for comfort, not speed.
