Why does first gear in every other car feel and seem faster than the Z?

m4a1mustang

If you are used to driving automatics and now drive a manual transmission, those autos probably feel a lot more frisky off the line in regular driving than your manual transmission car does. Why? Because with the MT you have to consciously operate the clutch and gas pedal simultaneously to get moving. Unless you're purposely launching they it's a little slow to get a quick getaway. With the automatics, they just feel like they are ready to get up and go since all you've got to do is give it gas.

I feel this way when I drive my girlfriend's CLK500. In regular driving it feels much peppier off the line than my Z did and my 5.0 does.

Also, as has been documented here before, some people have experienced a severe throttle input lag under 4k (the car feels like it bogs down and just about dies when you give it throttle), so it's possible the OP could be experiencing something like that.

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

FL 4Motion

/\ quoted for truth. If you keep your rpms under 3K and try and take off from a stop w/o trying to be a street racer, the car is downright slow. For me, this car seems to be either on or off as far as acceleration goes, there's no middle ground like there is with an automatic.

IDZRVIT

I disagree. The Z does 0-60 in less than 5 seconds. If you know how to shift, this car is not sluggish in the lower gears at least for a M6.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

m4a1mustang

I think you're missing the point. There's no argument that the car is quick when you actually get on it, but we're talking about regular driving where things slow down a bit with an MT due to clutch operation from a stand-still.

In that case an automatic tends to feel quicker.

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

NYBladeZ

I also agree with the regular driving sluggish feeling. The Z is a drivers car, if you want the most out of it you need to get her going. During normal driving it definitely feels slow, but that's because of my driving style. OP, you might want to look into the "sprint booster." It won't give you any extra power but it'll wake you up from that 1st gear lull.

__________________
2009 Carbon Fiber/Red 370z aka Trish: Sports Package, Meisterschaft full catback, Fast Intentions Longtube Headers, Injen Long Tube Intakes, UpRev Tune: Sold
2008 Lotus Exige S Club Racer aka Bella, always leaves me smiling

IDZRVIT

I don't think so and you said it yourself - the Z is quick. If the OP is reluctant to rev the engine, then of course it will be sluggish. Am I missing something here?

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

m4a1mustang

Well, considering the Z is quick when you actually launch it, I think the OP was talking about sluggishness in "regular" driving. So that's what I was trying to explain. Everyone knows 0-60 in 5ish seconds is quicker than most cars on the road.

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

IDZRVIT

Yeah, it is a little different pressing down on the gas in an auto vs a manual. I drive a tad on the aggressive side with my manual. I don't like an auto for a sports car but that's just me.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

m4a1mustang

I don't care for them either but it's great that they are as good as they are now. It used to be that autos were painfully slow relative to their MT counterparts... not true anymore!

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

FL 4Motion

/\ exactly.

Oh and yea, another auto vs. manual debate.

keb370z

Whoa. You guys were busy while I was away. A few things:

I'm not afraid to hit the gas. Whenever I'm in the Z, I drive it. (This thread originally got modified for being too close to the topic of street racing and in that process brought up an important fact that off the line, I've found the Z to be slow.)

I think first gear is slow in both regular driving and.. track driving.

I've only owned manual transmission cars, so I can't really compare to automatics except for the rentals I've had, and those are usually either Ford Focus types or Suburban types so not the same thing at all.

What I *am* comparing to is my husband's Mazdaspeed 3. He would beat me off the line, no doubt about it. And my car has how much more hp than his? He says it all comes down to torque. That the Z can't have that much power in first because the tires would just spin. Is that all it is? Seems crazy to me that a 4 cylinder turbo could beat a sports car.

My previous car was a VW GTI 2.0 4 cylinder. Yes, for a few years in late 1990s-2000s they made a 2.0 non turbo GTI. Great car. It was fast off the line for what it was. Really fast. Dare I say it would beat my Z off the line? Who knows. We sold it.

When I first bought the GTI (used) it had a problem I can't exactly remember, I think it was a completely bad catalytic converter (I could be totally wrong=GIRL). It was BADASS off the line. Stunk like crazy, but it could GO. We had to fix it, it slowed it down quite a bit. But still.

So take away manual vs auto in this argument (we all know autos suck anyway j/k)

Compared to most cars on the road, regular driving and track driving, first gear in the Z is slow. Maybe I need to take it to a track and have some lessons, but I think I'm pretty good with my launch. When I first bought it, no. But a year later, I'm not bad.

So... ????

TerribleONE

Your Z will absolutely beat a MS3 off the line and all the way down the track... trust me

__________________

m4a1mustang

MS3 has the disadvantage of FWD. If you do your job right you should be able to beat it off the line if you are both on comparable tires.

Of course it doesn't help that the Z on street tires isn't exactly the easiest car in the world to launch quickly. Only a handful of people are able to successfully cut sub 2.0s 60' times on the stock tires.

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

m4a1mustang

ALSO, since we know where this is taking place... anything can happen. You both need to get to the track and see what happens there.

__________________
- Steve

Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!)
LIKE us on Facebook!

phunk

geez... i was cutting 1.90 60's on stock 19s/tires, completely BALD, when my car was stock, on a 95 degree day, with the added neg camber from lowering without alignment!!@ pretty easy car to launch (at stock power) if you ask me!

__________________