2010 Consumer Reports Owner Survey says Z is 45% below average in reliability
 

Consumer Reports has published the results of its 2010 owner survey. The 370 has lost reliability points. It is now shown as solid black (much worse than average). The survey shows results for the 2009 Z. The 2010 hasn't been around long enough for them to rate it.

Engine Minor and Engine Cooling rated worse than average
Paint/trim, squeats and rattles, and body hardware all were rated (by owners) much worse than average.

Everything else, except for audio were rated much better than average.

None of this is a surprise to readers here. The ratings pretty well mirror how people here have discussed their cars. What is concerning to me is the worse than average rating on engine cooling. According to Nissan and backed up by forum members is that for normal driving the oil temps stay below excessive heating. The readers of Consumers Reports are not likely to be tracking their cars. That means a significant number of poeple who use their Z's on public roads are experiencing oil temperature problems. I am assuming it is oil temp, since I haven't seen any reports of water temp getting too high.

They rated the 370 as expected to be 45% below average reliability. The Infiniti G coupe, on the other hand, had much better than average reliability for engine cooling. With an overall reliability rating of average.
The overall rating suggests that G owners will have cars that are 42% above average in reliability. I don't understand how the same engine-transmission combination (7 speet AT) gets such vastly different owner ratings.

Perhaps the Z drivers go a little harder on their cars than the average G owner?

Aside from transmission problems with the 6MT, I think the Z is very mechanically sound. But I agree that the paint was terrible. It's the worst I've had on any car. I know some people had some chipping issues on the front and rear bumpers (I didn't) but my Z was riddled with squeaks, rattles, and of course, ECU whine (2009).

But as far as I'm concerned my issues were all quality issues, NOT reliability.

Probably because the average G owner doesn't push the car to the point of high oil temps. As a new Z owner, ( haven't even taken delivery on my used 09) the fact that these issues are surfacing are a bit concerning to me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking twice about my purchase.

I did notice that the auto consumer guide rating was rather low. Thankfully my car still has the factory warranty, but still I'd hate have to be in and out of service as soon as I start driving it.

I guess only time will tell.

Well, if you find that you run into cooling issues with your driving style it's very easy to put together an oil cooler to fix your problem.

With regard to paint... I think everyone just kind of learns to live with it. You have to be extra anal about keeping the paint and clear in good condition. Keep it protected and stay out of automatic car washes (unless they're brushless!).

My only complaints are oil cooling (we really should have oil coolers), and paint.

We really should have factory oil coolers, or at least not be 'penalized' for having them installed. And the paint is lame.

I agree. I'd say if you have a cooler installed by a Nissan dealer and documented, it should have NO implications on your warranty at all.

"Owner Survey", sounds like a lot of unhappy owners.

Is the issue with the paint just from chips? What about fading or peeling clear coats?

The paint on my STi was really thin and over the years the silver started to fade pretty bad.

The paint and clear quality that Nissan uses on the Z's is very poor. The clear is ridiculously soft so it will chip and etch very, very easily.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

Does that count for me? :stirthepot:

Well apparently a supercharger had no implication on your transmission warranty status. :rofl2:

You can't put a warranty on Awesome.

After seeing the title of this thread and being bashed by people here because of my Z complaints, sorta does the following to me...

Probably the G gets better ratings in the "squeaks and rattles" dept. Also, I agree that G owners probably aren't beating up on the car quite as much, and thus not as likley to deal with oil temp issues.

I'm just disappointed that my fuel sender is bad -- it's a minor problem, but on a brand new car? Nissan should really find a better unit and issue a recall.

They should also extend the oil consumption TSB to the Z.