***Disclaimer: I cannot emphasize the word "MY" in the thread title enough***
Now that I've had my 370z for a week, driving daily, ripping in curves, driving in city traffic, I finally have a feel of not only driving the car, but OWNING it. Please keep in mind that my last vehicle is a 2009 Nissan GTR, with pretty much full turboback straight pipes, HKS hard pipes and dual SSQV, AAM intakes, suspension, Volk GT30's, Cobb custom tune, and a bunch of other misc. mods. All simple mods, but all things that GTR responds well to. As many of you know, I traded in my GTR of 2 1/2 years for the 370z due to the "fun factor". Now let's see if it lived up to my expectations.
First of all, my background. I work in a corporate environment. I work on average 12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I'm just a few months shy of 30. Now this just means that I still want to have fun, but sometimes do not have the time to do so. I do love the track, but unfortunately due to my work, my opportunities are limited to 4-5 trackdays a year. That means 95% of my driving is done on the street.
Ok now that we got that out of the way, I first purchased the GTR after I sold my 420z-tt. This was a fully built, GTM sponsored, Methanol inhaling, fire spitting, stroked motor twin turbo 350Z. Needless to say I spent a fortune on that car. Enough to buy a Ferrari. Somewhere in that build, the fun of horsepower decreased and the hassle of maintenance increased. GTM did a beautiful and flawless build on the car. Just that with any car built to that extent, you'd always have to watch the gauges, listen to noises, etc, to a point where you cannot just simply enjoy the raw fun of driving. I also had a couple of other cars at the time as DD's. So I decided to buy a GTR. High power, unique, reliable, AWD, can handle the occasional snow day here in Canada, dual-clutch with auto mode, etc. Perfect. Unfortunately the trade-off was that other than on the track, the car was boring. Too stable. If I wanted to have fun on the streets, it'd be at speeds that I can go to jail for, which I'm not about to do.
In comes the 370Z.
Performance - Obviously, performance is not in the same league as the GTR. I don't care if you have a 800whp Z, you're not beating a 500whp GTR from a stop or on a track. Period. From a roll, horsepower wins. but other than that, you might as well go home. The main strength of the GTR was not the power. It was not the AWD. It was not the DCT. It was a combination of all of them. The only strength of the GTR, if I can only name 1, is its consistency. It's a sniper. One shot, and the job is done. No drama, no bs. The Z is slower of course. I feel that even free revving, the Z feels very laggy in comparison. It stops slower, and gives a lot less confidence in the corners. Given the 45 degree weather we have here, the tires are so cold it does not grip. I still ripped it through some back roads, and I actually feel how slow I shift compared to the GTR's DCT. The Z's Syncro-Revmatch is awesome though for those lazy days.
Exterior - This is subjective. But I prefer the Z. So does my gf who loved the GTR as well. Yes the GTR is blunt, it has a presence. But have you noticed...that no matter who put what bodykit on a GTR, hell even a widebody kit, all GTR's look the same? The Z is not as "iconic", therefore its identity can be skewed a lot easier by the owner's efforts, if that makes sense. With a few mods here and there, the Z can really be "your own". Whereas the GTR is still "Mizuno's own".
Interior - This goes to the Z as well. The GTR has a lot more interior functionality, sure. It has 4 seats. It has all customizable gauge displays in the center concole. It has more supple leather as well. However, the Z's interior has a lot less plastic, at least that's how it FEELS. I love the black headliner, as it makes the interior a lot more "roomy" feeling. The GTR is like a pair of really like Tom Ford sunglasses. Chic, well displayed, good looking, etc. Whereas the Z's interior is like a pair of Oakleys. Simplistic, but WRAPS AROUND YOU. Get's to the point. I prefer that when I'm driving. I like the cockpit feel of the Z over the relatively luxurious interior of the GTR.
Aftermarket - With relation to my comment above, the Z is a lot more "customizable" due to its lack of iconic presence, relative to the GTR. And of course, all the parts are at a FRACTION of the price of those for the GTR. I got a lot of my exterior simple mods done for only $10k on the Z, whereas for the GTR, that buys you maybe a full amuse turboback exhaust.
Comfort - The Z's suspension is VERY soft compared to the GTR. It's a lot more comfortable to drive the Z in town than the GTR. It's also not as wide or long as the GTR, so parking is easy. The Z has a lot more road noise though coming from the hatch. The GTR's seats are a little more supportive, but I like the lumbar support of the Z's seats. The GTR needs that.
Attention - The Z gets pretty much 0 attention compared to the GTR. But that just means I fly under the radar. I loved the attention of the GTR for the first month of ownership, but since then I've beend dreading it. What's the world coming to when a man cannot even pick his own nose in his own car without being seen?
With all the above, what does that translate to? I love the exterior and interior of the Z, even though it lacks performance. I shift a lot slower than the GTR's DCT, but MAN is this fun! Dump the clutch at 3.5k rpms and let the fun begin! This is something that no DCT nor auto tranny's will be able to have. After getting suspension upgraded, and a pair of snails, and some exterior parts, the Z will be a car of "my own", and something that I know I will enjoy more than the GTR. So what if I'm not the fastest? So what if I'm not the rarest? At least I'm having fun. At the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about?
If you're read up to this point, thanks for your patience. Wish you all a great New Year. I know mine is.
Alex