Base 2013 Nissan 370z or Base 2013 328I
 

This may be a dumb question because its a Z forum but which is better out of Z and 328i? BWM is more practical and drives better but I love the power of the Z. Anyone have experience with both cars and can over solid advice? Thanks!

What drives better is more opinion than fact. To each their own, but you have your answer already. Which is the most important to YOU? Practicality or sportiness?

True. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you love your Z?

Fuel starve issue (hopefully soon to be fixed) -1, CSC issue ($1500+ fix) -1, steering lock issue (warranty fix) -.5

So I guess 7.5/10 for reliability.

9/10 for sound, mustangs and camaros hate that I sound better than most of them lol.

10/10 for surprising the above mentioned drivers with their girlfriends keeping pace with them.

Don't have the CSC issue or the steering lock problem. My reliability has been 9/10. And mustangs and camaros do hate the Z because most of them rev next to me trying to intimidate me.

In what word is the VQ37 a pleasant sounding engine? And the Z is not keeping up with either car in recent gens.

I have a 2012 370z and the car before that was a bmw 330xi. for the most part I like the z more. what I liked more on the bimmer was all wheel drive for the winter months which might not be important to you. and of course it's more practical. the bimmer was expensive to fix and that was why I sold it. fun-wise the z has it all over the bmw. what I do recommend is considering a sport instead of base z. I had the choice of either and spent a little more for sport, touring, nav and i'm very glad I did. it sounds small but having the touch screen nav instead of a vertical glove box was a great decision for me. good luck.

I couldn't agree more, i bought the car for rev matching cause its cool, but after a couple of years i think rev matching is the cause of throttle lag, i seem to enjoy driving more with sport mode off.

I wouldn't get the base Z unless you plan on doing a lot of mods. The Rev matching is nice, and the VLSD will always be better then an open diff. The wheels and brakes are also well worth it.

As for the BM I just don't know how reliable they will be. With the Z we know what the issues are and how to mitigate and avoid them. Honestly the only real $ issue is with the Z is the CSC failing. Which if you are going to fix you might as well upgrade the clutch and flywheel so it will be over 1k in parts to do.

Remember to compare warranty and maintenance costs too.

I've owned both and have to say the Bimmer's reliability was atrocious. I've had the Z now for 5 years and other than normal maintenance have had no problems. Knock wood. Since the Z is a proper sports car and the Bimmer a sports sedan you can't really compare. I love the handling of the Z much better. I wanted a real 2 seat sports car and have no use for practicality. I hardly ever used the back seat in the Bimmer. God know how often it would have fallen apart if I hauled around 4 people instead of just one. German engineering my ***.

if its going to be your only car, i recommend u get the 328i... have u checked out the audi S3? i like those better than the 3-series if going euro.

apples to oranges ?

been in a 328 (last gen 6 banger) and it was okay. the new ones with the turbo 4's uhh can't talk about how it goes.

a more reasonable comparison although still a bit different would be the 2 series as it's a coupe. heck even the z4.

there are some good points above that you should take into consideration as well.


active maintenance will help reliability. if you're going to thrash the track every weekend don't expect there to not be problems.

fuel starve really only happens if you are taking hard rights on 1/4 tank or less. and usually that requires a speed that is not 'street legal'.

steering lock on the older models solution = pull the fuse. bang it out. blow up the car np.

csc failure... buy the auto since you know... the 3 series is also auto.

http://i.imgur.com/kYKI5Xl.gif

Wait until the warranty is up on the Bimmer. :eek: