New Car and Driver review of the 370z... oil temp fail!

kent370

The new Car and Driver has a "Best Handling Car under $40k" article. Out of 6 cars, our 370z came in 4th place, mostly because of poor braking performance according to the article (yes it had the Sport package).

To add insult to injury... the 370z's oil temp spiked to 290 deg on the test track and sent it into low power mode, the *only* car of the test group to overheat.

How embarrassing for the only purpose-built sports car of the test group to overheat on the track and have to limp back to the pits...

C'mon Nissan...

RBR

I bought this issue because it had a Z on the cover. Was very disappointed when I read what happened during their test. Then I found out the brakes failed on a NISMO they were driving last year or something.

Are the brakes and oil temp issues really that bad? Seems like even during spirited driving the Z would falter. I'll have to test drive to find out.

xray

What's even sadder is the Mustang GT besting the Z.
If you look at the final results, they are just so subjective. Having driven a GT, it's nowhere near a Z let alone better in areas such as "chassis balance".
The EVO, while fast, is still not a sports car.

This entire article feels like it was written by a forum troll.

red6spd

I should be getting my issue soon, but did the Z lose because it truly did not handle as well or was it just becasue of the oil and brake issue?

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DLSTR

Z Meets Wall: We Investigate Why the NISMO Z's Brakes Failed at Lightning Lap - Feature - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver

Nismo/Sport brakes analysis - Its a cooling problem

Red370

Why so much hate on the Mustang? I traded my 370 in for one. While it doesnt "feel" like it handles better, the Brembo equipped 5.0 handles just as good, if not better than a 370, ask M1AMustang, he has one. I still miss my Z every now and then, loved the car, but leave the biased comments out of it, having owned my Z for a year and now the Mustang for a year, the car is faster, handles like a champ, is FAR cheaper to modify and can make more power for less. I had the oil temp problem with my Z, which is why I traded up. And for good measure, look up "Boss Mustang beats Audi R8", watch a "supercar" get owned by a $42k weekend warrior.

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Forrest

If the 5.0 was out when I was buying my 370z. It would have been a tough choice.

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UNKNOWN_370

The rehashing of the mustang Vs. Z thread continues. It was only a matter of time.

Red__Zed

Do you have access to a PDF of the article?

kent370

The sad part isn't that the Z lost to any particular car -- the sad part is that it lost because of such easily correctable flaws. A quality set of brake pads (instead of the NISMO pads mention in the article), and an oil cooler would have made a huge difference in its standings.

Quotes from the article regarding the 370z:

"The Nissan's exceptional ability (at least in short spurts) secured it a middling finish. But it's shortcomings kept it out of the running for the win. If its brake feel, response, and reliability were similar to the Miata's or Evo's, the 370z would have been on the podium"

("short spurts" jab refers to its overheating oil problem)

"The 412hp Mustang GT ran the hottest lap of the group. The Nissan 370z simply overheated"

Zaggeron

I'm thinking the real question here is whether NIssan's 370z sales suffer at all because of these sorts of reviews. If sales suffer, is it because Nissan just misjudged the American market -- Would an increase in price of 500-700 for the addition of an oil cooler really made that much of a difference to the number of units sold? Or was it just bad timing that right after they released the car there was this upsurge of moderately priced performance cars?

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kenchan

woaah, not fair they brought up miata door.

Red__Zed

Posting what I have.





Seems to be some notable exclusions from this test---wonder how bad the results would have been had they used a GSR...

kenchan

that Z on the cover looks great.

SPOHN

None of this means anything to me but it needs better pads and there are some oil cooling issues when being push hard (mostly on the track). Easily altered in my eyes. Though I know Nissan should address and they will but that's no reason I still wouldnt buy the car ten more times. Most Z owners don't push there cars like a good bit of us here. Most probably don't even know what is considered high oil temps. So even with the majority of Z's sold the car is perfect for the average driver.

Also( just thinking out loud) I wonder if Nissan made a bigger block itself with bigger oil passages but with the same displacement would that help. Whatever happens it's probably going to be easy for the pros to figure out. Nissan made a lot of improvements over the 350 and keep it the same price so next time around they'll improve more. Maybe a little more money but will be well worth it.

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