Winding Road Comparison: 370z vs. Hyundai Genesis Coupe vs. Ford Mustang GT vs. BMW
 

Winding Road Magazine | Issue 46

^^ Enjoy. Sorry if its a repost.

Wow, they're even bigger BMW fans than C&D. Gushing about the 128i, makes you wonder how most every other publication puts the 370z ahead of (or equal to) the 135i. Granted this was a purely road test, so handling differences were largely moot. Also, the acceleration trouncing handed out by the 370z didn't account for much. In fact, they heavily played it down.

Interesting what they said about the interiors. I like the Z's interior, but they placed it a distant last. I believe that the BMW has an arguably better interior since a friend of mine has a 335i and it's pretty classy. Not necessarily better than the Z's sporty interior, but I understand how someone would prefer the BMW interior. Does the 2010 Stang or the Genesis really have a better interior? Anyone know?

I saw the Genesis interior and thought it was crapola. As for a Mustang...can't remember ever seeing one with a decent interior.

Edit:
Just read the article. They must be sleeping with the BMW CEOs. How you rate an underpowered 128i (compared to the rest of the group) best among the four cars invalidates the whole article. Hell, they even said it's a full second slower than the Z. Maybe they should have put the Tata in the group and then said "the Tata wins hands down since it costs only $2000 and gets you from A to B just like all the other cars do but cost 15x as much money".

They're smoking crack. Mustang interior is ok (the retro gauges are freaking ugly) and the Genesis interior is plastic laden.

Yeah, I saw this article too. I was surprised that the BMW won, but a lot of car editors are butter in the hands of Euro-manufactured cars.

It helps when they dismiss one of the Z's biggest advantages over the Beemer: straight-line acceleration. They're more concerned with "usable power"... whatever that is.

What concerned me was here was yet another article that mentioned the Z engine's unpleasant symphony at higher RPMs. I know some of you say "whatevs", but I've seen this too many times for it to just be a one-off.

Also, they complained about the overall interior noise and the handling over rough pavement, also complaints I've heard before.

As someone who wouldn't be caught dead in a Beemer (or maybe would ONLY be caught dead in a Beemer!), I'm gonna have to just ignore their choice in this contest. But I do take their point to heart that the Z is not a perfect car by any means and that there is room for improvement.

I'll translate the noise complaints from magazine-editor-speak for you: I'm a pussy and the sounds of a real car make me uncomfortable. I'd much rather they add 200 lbs of weight trying to damp out all the noises and vibrations so I can enjoy my Vivaldi CD along with my 45-word-long starbucks order during my daily commute in dead stop traffic that could easily be done more efficiently in a Toyota. The last time I attended a real race event, the exhaust sounds made me cry, and I think the fumes exacerbated my asthma.

Heh. Indeed that may be true, as a lot of these reviewers are reviewing cars from the standpoint of them being used as daily drivers.

For a daily driver, I would think the Z's allowance of road noise to penetrate the cabin, especially from road debris hitting the rear wheel wells, would be less than satisfactory to a lot of people. It kind of depends on your tolerance for road noise in general, as you imply.

Also, the Z's din is probably more noticeable when driving other cars back-to-back. I would think most Z drivers have just gotten used to it and are having too much fun driving this little pocket rocket to worry about a little road noise.

Regardless, it's good to know what people see as the "issues" with this car before I go buy one, even if those issues are not particularly important to me.

Yeah, it's not a car for commuters that occasionally want to beat their co-worker from a stoplight. It's a driver's car, and a fun one at that. I pretty much only turn my radio on when I'm cruising at constant speed on the highway, or when the girlfriend is riding along and I'm taking it easy. The rest of the time I'd much rather be listening to the car.

I've even grown to like the loud fenderwells. It gives me an extra point of data to drive by. On most of the streets around here, the strip of pavement between the usual driving line and the curb has more accumulated dust/rocks than the center of street does, getting markedly worse as you approach curb impact, so hearing the sound of a small amount of dirt kicking up into the fenderwells helps let me know how close I'm carving towards the curb.

Ehhh . . . personal opinion. I learned long ago that Winding Road doesn't have the best crew. Let's stick to somebody credible like Car and Driver. I would like to say Motor Trend but after the recent muscle car fiasco I feel let down.

They each have their own agenda to push... its our jobs to take what we need / is viable from all the reviewers... Just like anything else people will always have preferences...

Regarding noise, I'll also add that it's primarily an "issue" in the MT cars from what I've heard. I have an AT, and don't hear anything objectionable at all. Sounds like that article is suspect at best.

I don't understand when they mentioned that it didn't "feel" fast when they were comparing it to a genesis and a 128, can someone elaborate on that?

the problem with the mustangs is that they brought the 67 styling back, which is cool and then they brought back the interior styling also....which is stupid...it should be a new up to date interior with and an exterior from 67.

Actually, I think a modern Mustang with an old-school interior would be hella cool. Where's my vinyl, dude? :)

The gauges may be "old school", but really nothing else about the Mustang's interior could be considered old school (and certainly not all that black plastic).

I have no idea why they were saying that. To be honest I have a guy I work with who owns a BMW 135i and it chipped it already so its pushing like 380hp and 340 Ftlb=tq, and to be honest I really like the 370Z better. I think in the long run the 370Z's NA engine will have less problems with mods than the twin turbo'ed 135i.

Stock for stock the 370Z is a much better car because its focused on the sports aspect where as the 135i is more of a luxury/sports with less focus on sport and more on luxury.