Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post

mliebs · 04-11-2015, 04:01 PM

A little background on myself first. I'm 52 years old and have always driven either sports cars or something else pretty nice. In the last 10 years I've had a C5 and C6 Corvette, BMW 328i, Mercedes C300 and a Camaro SS/RS. I knew buying the 370z I was getting something that hadn't really been updated in awhile and was sitting with some pretty tough competition at it's price point but I've always like the looks of the car so I thought why not.

I see threads all over the internet on the 370z vs this, that, and the other. Some of the things I've read have been true and others seem to be more of a reach vs reality IMO. I traded in my 2013 Camaro SS/RS on the 370z so I was coming from a higher horsepower car that gets great reviews to a lesser HP car that doesn't see many reviews at this point.

The interior in the Camaro was pretty nice. The seats were heated with leather and the door panels really set the car off (especially at night). The interior in the Vettes, BMW (I had the M sport package), and Mercedes all seem a little higher end and more pleasing to look at. If the 370z Sport Tech had leather seats and matching door panels I think it would put it more inline with the other cars. However for me the seats in the 370 seem to be a weak point in the car.

Performance wise it's pretty clear the C6 is at the top of the cars listed above and the C5 is probably right behind it. The Camaro has plenty of HP but the car has a chunky feel to it. I've been on a few country roads and really got on the Camaro and it felt powerful but it also felt like the steering wasn't very stable. The 370z on the other hand has excellent steering and almost feels like it's on rails. The only other car I had that had a similar feel was a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 that I purchased new in 92'. I really haven't gotten on the 370 yet because I'm trying to keep it under 5K rpm's for a little while but the car seems to be pretty quick and I'm more than happy with the power.

Overall comfort is something that's subjective. My Vettes had quite a bit of road noise so I replaced the shocks on both of them with Bilstein's and it really helped. I also ditched the RFP's to help with the ride. The Camaro on the other hand was pretty quiet inside and the ride was pretty impressive for a sports car but that's probably why it felt a little unstable. The 370 on the other hand has a ton of road noise and it almost made me back out of buying it. It was raining yesterday and I couldn't really even use the bluetooth for my phone because it was so loud in the car.

I love the way Vettes look. I've owned a C4, C5, and C6. For me nothing makes me smile like a Vette but at this point I don't want to pony up the money for a C7 and I've already had a C6 so it was time to move on. The Camaro looks blocky/chunky and it feels that way when your driving it. The 370z on the other hand is in it's wheel house when it comes to this. I love the way the car looks. Every time I look at the car it makes me smile and I think to myself damn that car looks sweet.

It's pretty obvious I'm a big Corvette fan as the picture below shows but I'm really happy with my purchase. The Camaro has more power and the interior is superior to the 370 (power seats, leather, heaters, lumbar) but the overall feel of the car is lacking in a big way. I paid 6K less for my 370 than I did for the Camaro so it's really hard to give the Camaro any Kudos when I could do a ton of work to the z for the same money.

My overall impression of the 370 is that it's built for driving. By that I mean it wants to be driven into the corners a little harder and it doesn't want to take 8 seconds to get up to 60 mph. This is a true SPORTS CAR. It's a 2 seater that's lacking some of the bells and whistles but it's also lacking the higher price tag. It's the type of car that demands interaction from it's driver and gives feedback accordingly. Anyway, that's the way I see it.