370Z as my only car? Owners please chime in.

capo190

I'll be getting a 370z as my daily driver and I don't see any problems in doing so. Except for driving in the snow. But most RWD's aren't gunna be good in that case anyway.

The guy at the dealership i went to owns three different Z's and said he has never had any problems with it being only a 2 seater. In fact, his passenger seat has a child seat hooked up to it where his daughter sits.

Zerafian

I live in FL and my 350 is my DD. The only problems I have run into are hauling more then one other person around. In other words no real problems.

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Zissou

that is my biggest issue with trading my RSX in for a 370Z lol; my 300ZX TT is rather bad at hauling ANYTHING.

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Robert_Nash

Things are a bit different in Washington D.C. than in Atlanta weather - wize. Weather conditions you have to face has to be a significant consideration when you are talking about any vehicle as your ONLY vehicle...I went through the winter of '73/'74 in Chicago (Great Lakes) in a 1973 Trans Am; I made it through but it wasn't much fun and I'd never do that again!

I agree, if you are willing to put-up with what a sports car can't do in terms of capacity, etc. then you can certainly live with one year round as a daily driver but a rear-wheel drive sports car with wide summer-compound tires (or even all-season for that matter) is not fun in snow/ice. and DC gets its share of both.

Just my $0.02

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Robert
-My Basset Hound Is Smarter Than Your Honor Student and Barack Obama -

sprix!

Great point, and I am glad you brought it up. I know a thing or two about adverse weather conditions. I am from Denver, Colorado born and raised. We sometimes have more snow on one day there than DC will have in an entire season. The funny thing about that is in the right (or wrong) conditions ALL vehicles, not just RWD sports cars, are rendered useless. The only means of transportation is a snow plow. Everything else is useless. That is, unless you can drive your vehicle through 6 feet of snow, you are stuck at home like everyone else. And when the city's snow plows come out to clear the snow, everyone is able to get back out on the road that chooses to do so. People always talk about how unsafe driving in a sports car is in snowy conditions, but the truth of the matter is that driving anything in snowy conditions is risky. Don't forget that driver experience and skill comes into play heavily with how well one fares driving in wintry conditions. I have seen people in vehicles of all types have accidents under all kinds of circumstance, but accidents normally happen because of a mistake on part of the driver of the vehicle.

There will always be unknown risks that we undertake when driving, but **** happens to everyone. Even those who are "prepared" and in the "proper" vehicles for such conditions. While living there in the snowy conditions I had a four wheel drive Ford Bronco that most would consider quite capable of handling the conditions. While driving one morning, I stopped to make a right turn onto a main road from a side street. I made a complete stop and started to turn, and after getting onto the main road, found that I didn't stop turning. I slid out into the intersection going about 7-8 mph because there was a patch of ice there. Guess what? Not all of the 4wd or FWD or RWD technology in the world can give a vehicle grip when there is no grip to be had. Everyone else in the area saw what was happening, and just stopped and waited until I coasted to a slow and safe stop against a curb, and no accidents were had.

My point- stop perpetuating the myth that RWD sports car + bad weather = horrible, grisly death. It just isn't true. Sometimes people don't know how to properly manage their cars, and sometimes the conditions are too unpredictable to be trusted. However, the fact that accidents happen to some RWD sports car drivers in bad conditions doesn't mean that RWD sports cars are not able to driven accident free in wintry conditions. Accidents in adverse conditions can be had in FWD, RWD, AWD, 4WD and any other setup that exists. Besides, I always find it funny when people blame accidents on the cars they drive as opposed to accepting the responsibility for losing control or perhaps driving too fast for the conditions. It is almost as bad as blaming guns for killing people. Guns don't kill people- people kill people. Similarly, cars don't have wrecks, people have wrecks.

I don't think that any vehicle in any configuration can be driven without regard to caution in wintry and icy conditions. I don't know about other drivers out there, but I found that driving my 4WD equipped Bronco in icy conditions was every bit as harrowing as driving my S2000 in icy conditions. Call me crazy, but I don't think driving any vehicle is fun on ice.

And on a somewhat side note, Atlanta gets ice, well below freezing temperatures and even an occasional snowfall just like DC and most other places. We have been having lows in the low teens all this week, so Atlanta is not the paradise most people think it is in the winter. As I make this response, the temperature is 19 degrees Farenheit. Its cold here too!

Robert_Nash

I'd just add two things...

The weather we've had in the south this year has been much colder/snowy than normal; our daily highs and lows have been half of NOAA normals for the winter (I've lived in Tennessee since '96; grew up in Ohio and have lived in several states over the years; including areas of the country that in the winter, often require even 4x4s to have chains on). Yes, the south, even Atlanta does get snow/ice on occasion but it's usually very short lived...it's usually a matter of a few hours before temps are back above freezing.

While it's true that all vehicles are affected by snow/ice; there is no doubt that some vehicles are far more affected than others...I have an all-wheel drive M45 which I've had occasion this year to substantiate that it is much more sure-footed on snow than a rear-wheel drive only model...I've had many 4x4 Trucks/SUVs over the years and they all are far better (although not invincible) in snow/ice.

If I wanted a Z (or any other sports car) badly enough then I can certainly live with it as my only vehicle; but it's not an ideal situation.

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Robert
-My Basset Hound Is Smarter Than Your Honor Student and Barack Obama -