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.

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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2011 Mustang 5.0 | 3.55's | Lethal Performance off road H-Pipe | Magnaflow Muffler Delete | JLT CAI/Bama tuned 417whp/ 404 ft/lbs

Forrest

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

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dirtrat

To me it comes down to three things. The Mustang is made by Ford, the Mustang doesn't look as good as my 370Z and the Mustangs are a dime a dozen and everyone has one! With that being said I recognize the new GT's are a huge improvement for Mustangs.

Rone

When the ZL1 comes out, it's gonna blow the mustang and 370Z out of the water. You guys are gonna hang your heads in shame when you pull up next to one on the street. lol

GZ3

Ex 370Z owner here and i can tell you that the 5.0 its completely on par with the 370z in the handleing dept and brembo beats it...its just a diff feel to the vehicle

i have no idea why this would be a "sad" thing, lol

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12' 370Z 7AT HANDED DOWN
12'+13' 5.0 SOLD

DJ-of-E

I've driven and auto-x the 5.0, I could concur.

I disagree about the handling beats the 370z. The Z has the edge. Disappointingly (for me), the advantage of handling for the Z is not very much (if you want quantitative, probably like 15%) where the only thing that gave the Z the advantage is probably the weight.

Brembo brakes, however, is by far superior to the Akebono's that the Z has. Despite having many sessions with the Z in Auto-X, the 5.0 GT, after a few runs, were able to pretty much surpass my time on my stock Z due to its brakes (both cars have potenza tires, the GT has pole positions).

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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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2010 Base+Sport 6spd: Stillen G3, FI Non-Resonated CBE, FI Non-Resonated Test Pipes, UpRev Tuned, Custom 24R Oil Cooler, JDM Rear Fog-OEM Harness.
???Whp ???WTQ (Will find out come spring time)

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

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"

kenchan

woaah, not fair they brought up miata door.

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?