New Z owner - '15 red sport tech

JAOz

I finally own a Z! I've wanted one since I was 20. I'm over 40 now - it took awhile. Most recently I've owned an FR-S and a Genesis Coupe. They were Z alternatives for various reasons. I should have just got a Z before these. So, I finally decided to go for it. I was a bit disappointed to learn they don't offer an "everything" package in 2015. I got the sport tech because the sport upgrades (especially the Rays) were a must. Nav was also a must. I really wanted leather too but the sport tech does not have. The touring has leather but not the sport upgrades. So, Red Sport Tech it is!! I do love it!

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Kaldaien

Welcome, I have had my eye on a Z for almost as long. For a while I was convinced that a G37 was an adult version of the Z because of its 2 rear seats. But after owning one for several years and never using the rear seats ever, I am convinced if that is an adult car, I am not an adult yet

As far as I'm concerned, what you got is the "everything" package. If you downgrade to Touring, you get power heated leather seats and all those do is add weight You are better off removing the cloth seats you got in the Sport Tech and using the ~$900 you saved vs. Touring to buy some proper racing bucket seats; you got an actual limited slip differential, a decent set of brakes and a more sophisticated transmission instead of heated leather seats.

JAOz

Yeah, I test drove some g37s and the new q60 and they lack "spirit." They definitely don't handle nearly as well as a sport Z. I do like their lux feel but for the money I'd be better off with a new vette.
For full disclosure, I did get an automatic. It felt a bit blasphemous but I'm just gettin too lazy in my middle age. I did enjoy the Genesis Coupe's AT. Plus this car has plenty of power to support an AT. The FR-S needed to be stick cause it was lacking power. So, aside from missing out on the sycro rev match upgrade, the other sport upgrades are still way worth it. I also confess I had to have the Rays rims - they are quite possibly my most favorite stock rims on ANY car!
So, to address the leather, I am seriously considering having a cool black leather/red suede recover done. I just don't know where or how to go about it - it must be perfectly done! I don't care if it's expensive. I also considered some new sport seats too but, again not sure where to go. I also must confess I really like the retro design placement of the power seat controls on the Z - they are sooo Z! I'll miss them no matter what I do.
Thank you for your reply to my post. I appreciate the validation
And finally, back seats in a true sports car are just plain dumb! Lol.

Kaldaien

I too drive a 7AT. 2015 is the first year they offered it on the Nismo trim, and I thought I would dislike it, but I tested the 6MT and 7AT and really really liked the paddles while cornering. However, I never leave it in D because having a fully automated transmission will bore the pants off of you

Believe it or not, the manual mode paddle shifters also have synchro rev matching. It is actually not uncommon for automatic transmissions with a manual mode to have this feature. Basically, if you chose to manually downshift it is going to blip the throttle a little bit to keep the car from lurching after the shift.

I downshift sparingly, however, because if you do this while coming to a stop at a traffic light the sound the engine makes will draw a lot of attention - sometimes you just want to blend in If you let the transmission downshift by itself (it does this at ~1500 RPM), it does not make the aggressive noise and it saves gas.

JAOz

I noticed you have a 15 nismo! nice! I never would have considered a previous year nismo because of their spoiler alone. However, for 2015, the spoiler is PERFECT! So, you have the nismo tech? Again, sweet. I didn't even test drive one (I did sit in one); perhaps I should have test driven one. The reasons I didn't initially consider one were 1 the cost. 2 the stiffer suspension (my partner wouldn't even ride with me in my FR-S cause of the firm ride - he's cool with the Z, mostly cause it feels more upscale and heaver / safer to him. Before we always took his stupid optima - the nismo might have pushed the limit on stiffness) 3 I preferred my rims over the nismo (the rims on the nismo are still badass.) 4 I wanted red and red on the nismo negates the cool red striping (I would haven chosen white (for a nismo) though - white nismo looks sweet .) 5 the recaros should be electric (my friends cts-v as AWESOME gazillion way electric recarros- they are awesome!) --- ALL that being said there is something especially awesome about this years nismo!! I may have a little regret on not at least test driving one. Though maybe it's good I didn't cause they do stretch the budget quite a bit. Did you get a good deal on one? I did get my sport tech auto at a $4k discount (it has all the mats, z-lit kick plates, mud flaps) - I pd $36k even plus tax and license which I think here in California is a really good price (though it did have 99 miles on it :/)
Anyway, congrats on your nismo - it is one VERY special ride - the 7AT even adds to that fact the 2015 AT nismo will probably be a collector's item someday.

Kaldaien

Yeah, the suspension and seats were both very stiff vertically. I swear the suspension is significantly softer now than when I first got it, so it might be necessary to find a broken-in car before judging suspension. I know that car magazines report better engine performance after the break-in (1200-2500 miles) on Zs; ride quality probably also changes.

The seats definitely are not what you would expect in a "tech" package optioned car, you usually get heated leather and 8+ way electronic controls. But they have plenty of support zipping around corners at high speed, if I actually had to reach for a stick shift then being firmly planted in racing seats while cornering would be a bigger deal.

I got the car for $48K w/ the 5 year Security+Plus Gold Preferred service plan after taxes, which was pretty much MSRP (and my budget) so I did not bother haggling. I could have gotten a Sport trim, swapped out the suspension for something stiffer, changed the exhaust, etc. for less than the cost of a Nismo but an extended service plan/warranty would make zero sense when a significant chunk of the OEM equipment would be gone That is how I justified the purchase, anyway.

Mine only had 4 miles on it, because it went straight from the trailer to the showroom floor It was next to a base model GT-R and the Nismo styling on the 370z really made the GT-R look tame. They will probably never get a GT-R Nismo, but from what I have seen online the styling direction is pretty much the same for all Nismo models and would not show up on a solid red model. In years past Nissan offered magma red instead of solid red, and that would probably look nicer on a 2015 Nismo.

madwi

Welcome, hope you enjoy your ride as much as I do mine!

time
Having actually owned a FR-S, Genesis and Z, what is it about the Z you like better?

JAOz

I love the power of the Z over the FR-S; the genesis coupe was a 3.8 so it had good power. However, I like the superior build quality of the Z over the genesis coupe. I'm a bit amazed that the Z (mine having the sport package) handles even better than the FR-S. The genesis coupe doesn't really compare. Plus, I enjoy the nav and Bose stereo - very sweet upgrades I didn't have in either previous vehicle. I particularly like the ergonomics of the nav set up in the Z.

Also, I really appreciate the heritage of the Z. Like I said, I've really always had a desire to own one. Now's my chance and I'm very grateful!!

Thanks for your reply to my post. Looks like we both have a shared taste in cars

madwi

Thank you, I like to browse a bunch of car forums and always like to hear honest opinions of people who actually drove the cars more than a test drive around the block.
Everytime I get in my Z and start it up, it puts a big smile on my face, absolutely love it.

JAOz

Yeah, I think my new Z is going to be a perfect fit for me! I truly love it so far!

JAOz

Me too. What are your thoughts on the FR-S and GC as they compare to our Zs?

madwi

I have not driven either to be honest. I like the looks of the FR-S but it is not really a vehicle I would choose to buy. They both have "back seats" and that is just wasted space/added weight I will never use.
Obviously I love the way the Z looks. The others are ok, but they don't make me look back at them while walking through a parking lot.
I would love to drive around a FR-S for a week or so just to check out the steering input and handling. The GC, meh, the car has a lot of potential I think, but doesn't hold a candle to the Z in the dept. of looks, interior and overall performance.
It is also difficult to shake the old thoughts of quality when I hear the name hyundai lol The ex had a tiburon that was a POS and we had an elantra for a rental and literally the visor fell off driving out of the dealership parking lot and would shake like no tomorrow @60 mph it had 200 miles on it. That was not inspiring me to buy any of their cars, even if it was just a fluke.

Tadpole

Welcome and congrats on your Z purchase!

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Kaldaien

Bose and Nissan have a weird relationship, by the way. Bose is supposed to be known for measuring the acoustics in a car and then developing a speaker package to match, but... Nissan is also known for lots and lots of mechanical noise across their entire model line

You expect a lot of road noise in a Z, but even in something reasonably tame like a Maxima you can hear a lot more rattling and other noises than you would expect from a modern sedan. Bose didn't put in its Active Noise Control feature in this car, which uses a microphone to cancel out road nosie. GT-R and competing Porsche models have that, but not Z :-\

You might need some sound dampening material to get your money's worth out of the "premium audio" package. For me, it just came with the Tech package so I didn't really care that the car's so noisy you might never notice the difference between Bose and base speakers. I _really_ wanted the auto-dimming mirror, reverse camera and navigation system w/ traffic data through Sirius/XM.

JAOz

I really like the Bose stereo. It sounds WAY nicer to me than the crappy stereos in the FR-S (though not that bad) or the genesis coupe (it was crappy). I find myself listing to the stereo more than ever in this car. The volume leveler for the increase in speed is particularly nice. I custom adjusted bass, fade, etc and it really sounds nice at all volume levels.