How to Keep with the Jones's

sonic370

This is not meant to beat a dead horse. It has been talked about before but worth noting about the next Z car.....

When the new camaro ZL1 has 550 hp and the Charger SRI8 has 465 hp...
come on now! Not to even mention the mustang......

Some will say not in the same class one is muscle and the Z is a sports car..
But the Z imo has to compete against those cars for that market...

Nissan has to step up next time are our cars will feel like 4 cylinders against
the others... Like i said imho...........

ImportConvert

The VQ series is about done I think. It's time for something new. No telling what Nissan will pull out of their hat when that happens, but I agree. If it has less than 400 horsepower, it's one stillborn rabbit.

Jordo!

The Charger weighs quite a bit more, so performance is still on par even with more bhp.

The ZL1 starts around 47 grand allegedly; that's waaaaaay more than the Z, which starts around 29-30K.

Get the Z blown/turboed and you have a competitor for about the same price

Also, I think the new Camaro looks as ugly as dog balls, but that's me. Kind of partial to the Charger, but very happy with my Zed

Speed, as always, is just a question of money. Ante up and buy the fastest car you can afford and not be embarrased to be seen in

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ImportConvert

You forgot one...
*cough* mustang gt *cough* 412 horsepower, low 30's *cough*

shadoquad

To be fair to jordo, OP didn't mention the Stang. Even then, I prefer the current z to the stang. Just personal pref.

ImportConvert

Yes, OP did mention the mustang.

I have not driven the new 2011, but I liked driving the 370Z way better than the 05-09GT. It's faster, as well. I like the engineering and design of the 370Z better than the mustang, but it is down on power a bit.

I wonder if the technology that the IPL got (348bhp) will get into the Z somehow? That would be a nice thing for 2012.

shadoquad

The nismo z gets the same power as the IPL. Just has different exhaust, tune, few other goodies.

370Z Purist

While I believe the Z has to fight those cars for the market share, they all offer completely different things, in my opinion.

All the cars OP mentioned, as well as the Mustang, are very heavy, and they're four seats. They, while catering to the same market, cater to different buyers. Loyal Mustang drivers tend to continue to drive Mustangs (hence buy Mustangs) for as long as they can for as long as they want. Brand loyalty means a lot. I think we're starting to split hairs as far as the "market" goes, we don't know how the current market will turn out as we get a decade in. Lighter weight and better power to weight ratio and high hp/lower displacement will probably win out over high displacement/high horsepower. Turbocharging is the current trend, although I'm not sure if anyone feels like lowering the reliability of a car just to provide lots of power (wait what am I saying of course people feel this way).

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Matthew

Don't blow me up but I read somewhere that Nissan was teaming up with Mercedes to build the next Z. It would have a Mercedes motor and Z styling.

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Jordo!

I missed it, but you are right.

The Mustang GT, strictly in terms of $:hp is a better deal.

Speaking only for myself, I wanted a 370Z and I really don't want a new Mustang, so I can live without the extra power if it requires owning a Ford.

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SkyZ

i heard that as well, and i dont know, a merc engine would be pricey to maintain as well as not too reliable looking at current trends, so i actually prefer a performance engine from nissan.

sonic370

The point of my post IMO was to make the statement that more people who
Would at one time only consider the Z are now considering these
other cars. Weight, four seats or not. Styling and pure power sway alot
Of people. also I think most people looking at those other cars don't
even have the Z on their shopping list. the next Z IMO has got
To have some big time HP increase to keep up.
Even cadillac is doing it

ProfessorDave

I have no idea if my comments are on topic, but here goes:
I have some friends who are die-hard fans of American muscle. They would not consider a Z no matter how much horsepower.

I have some friends that are die hard German engineering. BMW, Audi and VW for them. They think the Z is cheap (I know, some of my friends are idiots).

I suspect some of those drawn to the rebirth of muscle are like me - they get obsessed with a new model, and whatever they are currently driving starts to look like the gangly girl with braces and acne at the school dance (so far my Z still looks like the prom queen to me...no, more like a stripper...I mean exotic dancer...you know, a classy one).

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m4a1mustang

The Z doesn't compete with the cars you listed based on class (2 seat sports car vs. 2+2 sport coupes) but it does compete a bit with the Mustang 5.0, Camaro SS, and maybe the Challenger V8s on price. But I really don't think Nissan has their sights set on these cars. They were very clear in the beginning that they targeted the Cayman. I think they are more concerned with how well the Z stacks up against similarly classed 2-seaters over a wider price range.

I'm a little skeptical that Nissan would give a future Z much more power than the 370 already has. I think it's more likely that the Z either goes away (poor sales) or gets reinvented as a smaller, more efficient sports car (think 4-cyl turbo), or even some sort of hybrid sports car. It really depends on where they want to take the brand.

Consider that Nissan originally planned to sell 30,000+ units a year when they rolled out the 370. They only average a third of that a year. From a purely financial standpoint, I'd be more concerned about whether or not the Z program gets dropped moreso than I would be about it getting a power increase for the next model.

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Econ

I dont see the Z around much longer. They aren't profiting from this car. I believe they'll make some minor changes, reinvent the car a little, however if the car continues to only sell ~10K cars a year, it wont be around much longer.