Originally Posted by TongMan

On May 28th I finally stopped by a few Nissan dealerships to look at their inventory 370z's. I was allowed to drive the 7AT and the 6MT. The auto was smooth, but it didn't feel faster than my current Mazdaspeed3 that I was going to trade in. When I drove the manual version, it felt much more fun compared with the auto.

The weird thing was when driving the 6MT was that the clutch pedal was too close to the brake pedal, so occassionally when I press in the clutch I would hit the brake pedal arm on the top. I find that unusually close. To avoid that I would need to use the big toe side of my left foot to press the clutch pedal. I find it uncomfortable since I'm used to resting the top center sole of my left foot on the clutch pedal.

The shifter was not impressive and is clunky. I couldn't get into gear as easily as my Mazdaspeed3 or my Civic Si. I test drove the 350z a few years back before I bought my Mazdaspeed3, and I see that the shifter feel had not much improved.

I love the exterior and interior styling of the 370z and would still consider purchasing one, but I hope I can overcome the bad clutch pedal placement and the clunky shifter feel. Plus the dealership had none of the colors that I wanted (red, blue, or white). There were no base models with sports package, all were touring models with or without sports package and the 40th Anny model.

I may have to hold off until I can find the color that I want. The dealerships kept pushing me into an auto touring and the dull colors that they had. I was informed by the dealerships that they only receive silvers, gray, and black 7AT Z's, which was disappointing to me being this is a sports car.

Now my question: what did you think of the clutch pedal location and bad shifter? Is the clutch pedal too close to the brake pedal or is it just me???