Early Impressions on "Pearlie"

jginnane

It's now day 1+ on my pearl and persimmon 7AT. Yesterday, delivery was uneventful at a dealership ~40 miles across the state ... it wasn't the fact that they honored VPP pricing, but that they actually bothered to go out and look for the exact color combination I wanted, and succeeded in getting it (and trucking it up from VA for $275.) So, a hat tip to Windsor Nissan on Route 130 over towards the Princeton, NJ area. [While I checked inventory at over 400 dealerships myself, they apparently knew how to work with the tools Nissan gave 'em.]

I realize now after a few miles that if I'd gone with the manual transmission, I'd always be wondering about how good the AT was. But having elected to get the AT instead, I'm content. I know how to row, I don't *need* to row. Everyone who's not in the Z world probably thinks I'm rowing anyways ... the engine makes those kinds of sounds ... but it's butter smooth. You cannot, ever, make a mistake with the 7AT.

Overall, when you strip away the beautiful lines, what you've got is a conventional Nissan V6 designed for mid-to-large frames stuck in a lightweight frame. Everything -- suspension, rubber, sight lines -- follows from that simple penciled equation. You can get all the pinheaded auto magazine people talking about how presicely this car fits on the eternal hierarchy of Greatness ... it doesn't matter. This is: big engine, small frame. That's all.

And unlike American pony cars, in Japan they don't have Big Square States where you can lash the steering wheel to the mast and drive over the horizon ... you have to be able to turn, too. Zed does that. Well.

BTW, on those sight lines -- on the open road, no problem at all. Crank your gigantic truck-like mirrors full-width, so you can't see more than a sliver of your rear fender for orientation when you look over. And turn your head, too. It's a piece of cake.

The A/C blows some serious cool, the radio -- did somebody have a thread about there being no back speakers? Guess I'll have to check that out. My PC speakers are better. (But I knew going in that Bose Always Sucks.)

Doing my best to keep it under 4K, and there were only about three short blips up to 5K on the tach when I was passing at 90+ today. Usually the engine's loafing at 2600-2800 for normal highway overdrive.

Scale to 10: a 10. Couldn't be happier. Desire to have gotten any other color: 0. Interior trim -- anything less than persimmon would be zero. Manual transmission? Approaching 0, too.

And the big one people try to figure out here -- the sport package? That's confirmed as a zero for me today, because these "little" brakes are more than adequate for the street. Also: I don't have to worry about the forged Rays getting mucked up; I don't have to deal with expensive "summer tread" replacements on 19s; if I ever find a spoiler I like, I don't have to pry off the poseur one. The LSD is a track specialty item ... if I need to suddenly go fast, it's from 4th or 5th gear already.

(I still think I would have gotten sport, if it was the requirement to get the colors I wanted, but I'm awful glad it didn't come to that. If you're one of those people paying on time -- No, it is not worth an extra ten bucks a month, even.)

ChrisSlicks

Sounds like you are pretty happy.

I will disagree about one thing. The LSD in the sport package is not for the track, it is setup for street spirited street driving. Track junkies would want to swap out the LSD for maximum performance.

zero

Welcome to the white/persimmon club. I love mine.

__________________

jginnane

Hmm, OK ... then it fits with the spoiler, it's for "spirited amateurs". ;-p

Here's a bar bet you can probably win against a roomful of Z owners -- which has the wider track, the Sport Pack with 1" wider tires, or the base? And the answer, since you're going to check this out, is that the "skinny" tires are actually further apart, by about 1/2 inch, both front and back.

I doubt there's any reason for it other than the way the Rays rims, Akebonos, and offsets happen to interact, but found it interesting nonetheless.

jginnane

It happened to work out very well. We were also close on the PG exterior, until we realized that the Japanese "titanium" in a lot of the original high-rez pix was a different color (with brown overtones).

Pearl white seems exceptionally good under night lighting, though I haven't paid as much attention to the other available colors in that setting. Perhaps because of the side sculpting, the white seems amorphous -- almost like a ghost slipping away. It's classic high-visibility without shouting the need to be seen, like several of the brighter colors.

The persimmon adds dimension and detail to the inside, in a way that grey or black suede can't. It's inviting, not forbidding.

I don't think anyone else should go for this combination, though. It's best being rare -- if a hundred 370Zs show up at a meet, it would be perfectly understandable if the majority are grey or black, with maybe a half dozen each of the red, blue and yellow. White should be the one that NOBODY gets.

Diversion

Sounds to me you're far reaching for reasons to justify not getting the Sport Package on your Z. As in, making sure you made the right decision. It doesn't matter to US as a community which way you decided to go, it's still a beautiful car in the end and we aren't going to judge against people no matter what trim they decided on. For a lot of us, we felt the Sport package was a killer deal (and in reality it is). Did I *need* the large brakes, spoiler, 19" wheels, LSD, etc? Heck no, I probably will never see the limits of my Z but knowing i've pushed the limits out that far, just suites me well.

For some of us, having the OPTION makes us most comfortable than being limited. I could way off base here, it just sounds like you're still talking yourself out of the idea that going with Sport could have been a better decision. You made the RIGHT decision no matter what level of trim you decided on, it's ***Z*** Haha..

That being said, welcome to the club!

jginnane

OK, I'll admit it. And I'll give you the track of logic that brought me to a Z.

1. I could own any car. At least a GT-R. Price was not at issue.

2. I've driven a GMC Yukon for the last 11 years. Six years were a stretch because our Doberman was big -- my justification for keeping the truck. But back when Tony Soprano switched over to an Escalade, I didn't ... There was a period of alternate justification after the dog passed on because I had to drive into NYC a lot. Truck tires are better on NY streets. But that was old on day 1.

3. At the same time, we moved my wife from an ML-320 to a TSX, to a 3rd gen TL, to (very recently) a 4th gen TL. She likes to drive. (She has never driven a real sports car.)

The point of #3 was I wasn't entirely stuck on an old 4WD, but occasionally drove the "sporty" family sedan. Wife couldn't figure out how I'd prefer the neutral-handling TSX to a nose-heavy TL, because she thought straight-ahead HP was all good. ;p

4. When I started searching last fall I spent a good 6 months trying to get a further compromise car. I thought the Infiniti FX line was a little crude and overtly macho -- no better than the Mercedes, or even an Acura RDX. The EX35 was slimmer, and had a good V6. But ... it was impossible to get one east of the Mississippi, north of FL without AWD. I even stopped in a West Palm Beach dealer to check out his used one. Nawp -- he didn't understand that when a car was built in Mar 07 and has 16K miles, it's now a 2-year old car (even if Infiniti never released a 2009 version).

5. After I got disgusted with Infiniti dealers who just didn't understand why I didn't take one of the creampuffs sitting on their lots (under dust), I spent a brief, intense period looking at hybrids. The Honda Insight was nice. If my stepson was 10 years younger, it would have suited him. The latest gen Prius is being rolled out RIGHT NOW. But to get good headlights (LED, not HID) and leather seats, you were already talking a sticker into the mid-30's. And after you got all done with that... it was still a Prius. "Hypermiling" sounds very virtuous, until you realize that if the car came with a sail, they'd be trying to sell you that, and you'd speak of _tacking_ in these forums.

6. The Z was like going back to an Infiniti, except it had the latest engine, and the correct number of back seats we need. I really didn't look at the 350 or S2000 before -- I came into this fresh. G37, coupe or sedan, wasn't considered because it was easier to let her select something she'd think of as a daily driver (and a TL was cheaper, and, after all, it's a Honda).

And, we still have the Yukon -- and its solid steel bumpers are just fine for parallel parking in NYC, thank you.

jginnane

In that last post I tried to set out a matrix of where we are, what we need, etc.

I saw a recent post from a grad looking forward to getting his first car, a Z. There was a bad feeling, because for many people in various stages of life, it's not only an impractical car, it's dangerous. (If you've looked for threads about roof racks for anything other than skis, or wondered if you could mount a hitch ... this may not be the car for you. Get an Outback instead.)

However. It's not mine to judge other people. I can hint, yah, but everyone has to find his/her Way.

So the sports package has a combination of useful and semi-useful items for people who want to go fast. Serious, pro-type drivers (who like the low pricing of the Z) will go past most items in the sport package. If you scan the for sale threads, there's already been good activity with those OEM Rays Forged 19s. My neighbor who retired from racing except for a bike, questions why Nissan downscaled from Brembos to Akebonos this year.

I could go on ... re-evaluating each component of the package ... but the bottom line for me was, is the 8-9% cost increase over non-Sport really going to give me a better, safer car? Or does it have the potential to turn a very good car into a high-maintenance horror, because of the way I'd want to drive, and because of the higher expense of replacement parts? (I look at the addition of "sport" in the same way I was evaluating adding AWD to the Infiniti EX35.)

It sure would be nice if Nissan used these owner forums as a test bed for future options package offerings.

ChrisSlicks

Actually I do want a hitch, I want to tow a very small tire trailer to carry race tires as you can't fit them inside the car.

jginnane

LOL -- Can I sell you a 98 GMC Yukon? Should be able to carry about six full sets inside. Or, you can put tires in the back, then flatbed your Z on the hitch and you won't have to do setup at trackside. (Plus you can carry a fullsize futon, your SnapOns, a large cooler for victory suds, a weeks worth of laundry...)

Earlier I was just going to CraigsList the Yukon, but there's a clunker law in Congress where they'll give $4500 if you trade an old beast toward a new car with better gas mileage. So the Galves wholesale has a bottom of $4500+ now (or will, as soon as the law gets passed).

Diversion

I read and see your points loud and clear. Makes more sense now. Without details it kind of looked like you were having to justify your reasons for not going with this and that, ya know?

Jay

ChrisSlicks

That's cool. I have a V6 Dodge with lousy gas mileage, not sure if I'm ready to ante up for a new truck and trailer right after buying the Z. And now thanks to the new law I can't even afford a 98 Yukon!

I've seen trailers like this made from aluminum and towed by Miata's. I figure if a 100hp Miata can do it then the Z shouldn't have a problem.
Harbor Freight Utility Trailer

jginnane

Hi Jay,

Well . . . Remember my thought that Nissan should scan these forums for input to future option packages?

One of the most important things in this forum is resolution of the oil cooling problem. I bet 99+% would in retrospect rather have an oil cooler than a rear wing spoiler as part of a "Sport" deal. (I'm not even sure a separate bolt-on cooler is needed, but it might be the cheapest/quickest fix.)

One thing I'm personally interested in is auxiliary front lighting. I have Bosch driving lights on order. (These are more important than fogs because you don't want to be driving the Z fast on summer treads in fog, even with the best fog lights.) None of the aftermarket companies yet have attempted to add lights into their nose shrouds, and it's an easy design if you leave access to the horizontal bumper bar for mounting.)

So in my case, I'd forgo the Rays forged rims and keep the heavier "base" ones in the hopes they'd last longer in the NYC area. But my ideal "Sport" package would either have an extra light set in front, or an easier way to drop them in. Think: removable fangs.

Just the two above changes, let's call them "Sport Package B", would be something I couldn't resist. It probably prices out a little cheaper than the current "Sport" -- but in each case I've replaced things I find less-useful with an item I would call More useful.

( I don't expect Nissan to make these changes because they've been adding profits since forever by bolting slab spoilers on Sentras and the like. )