Is touring worth it?
 

Well tomorrow might be my big day in buying a 370z. not sure if i want to get touring or not. Two questions:

1. Do the non touring seats still hold you in nicely? Not sure if they are as bolstered as the tourings seats.

2. How is the non touring stereo system? That is a MUST for me. After having a HORRIBLE sound system in my MINI, i can't have a bad one ever again. I need to be able to jam out to my music with some good clear mildly powerful bass, that sounds good when turning it up loud.

Thanks before hand!

I figured if Im going to get a fairly expensive sports car it had better have leather and cool things to play with ie --stereo-- navi-- ipod interface


I love my touring the only way I would get a base is if it was going to be for track use only


DAN

I like cloth seats.

I dont see the pro's to a leather seat.

I use to have to sit in a old *** buick regal when i was younger. It has these green seats that was either leather or Plastic, i suspect plastic and they was HOT HOT HOT HOT. The smell, the burning feeling on my legs and ***, back. Im still tramatized hehe.

If i remember correctly some one did a side by side picture of the leather/cloth seats and they looked the same just different material.

ok so now i'm sure that i'll be fine with cloth seats. i have them in my mini and they don't bother me at all.


how about the stereo?

Have you actually sat in the touring seats? The problem you mentioned isn't a issue at all with the Z's touring seats because half of the material is actually suede.


As for stereo, I'm not a big audiophile so they're good enough, though the bass isn't as strong as I want it to be.

Look here for exact specs.
2009 Nissan 370Z Coupe Specs - Nissan USA

If your into sounds, either systems are pretty (crap) weak. Sounds systems aren't Nissan's forte. Best to go aftermarket. ;)

I am very happy that I got the touring model. I like the leather seats a lot and dont' find them to be hot at all. They have quite a bit of suede where your body makes contact, but even the leather is cool to the touch under hot conditions. Due (apparently) to modern treatments applied to leather, gone are the days of the scalding leather seats in summer!

As for the nav system, I think it is a well designed and well integrated feature that complements the touring sound system. I think this Bose system is hands above the old 350 one and I am quite satisfied with the quality. I suspect true audiophiles will always want to install an aftermarket system, regardless of what was placed in stock, so I suspect the choice will depend on how picky you are on sound quality. I had an aftermarket Kenwood head unit/nav system put in my 350 and I have to say that I am very happy with how well the nav option is laid out in the 370.

No sir i never sat in the touring.

I am also not a audiophile, the bass for me is to loud i turn it down to 1 but i am not a freak about audio. But after looking at the audio/video section. One user had a backup camera and posted a utube video with it working. I really want a back up camera.

I rather get my own unit aftermarket, i believe i am going to attempt to do it my self.

HK on mini is decent...yes it's missing a bit of bass, but can't really expect too much from a car as small as mini. to be honest, i was very surprised by how good they were when i had one.

Bose in general hasn't been very good in recent years. They focused way more on marketing than engineering better sounds (which is prob why mercedes and audi both ditched bose). bose is like an average car sound system that you can find in less expensive japanese cars now. sad reality considering how I used to love them so much. aftermarket is the way to go!

Touring owners will tell you to get the touring model.
Base model owners will tell you to get the base model.

IMO, leather doesn't do much but add the "luxury" look & feel to the car. For me it does nothing. It's hot when you want it to be cool and cold when you want it to be warm. Although there are seat warmers and there is suede on most of the surfaces. Nissan's trying atleast.

I haven't heard the bose system but in the past they haven't been that great in Nissan's. It might be OK enough for most people. The base stereo is OK, but I plan to completely redo the stereo like I do in every car I've owned.

R56 models (07+) don't have a HK option. Its base stereo or "HIFI" which according to people with HIFI is just as sh!tty as base.

Guess i'll go in today and listen to both so i can decide myself!

While true, and, I'm not a fan of Bose at all, but I have to say the factory system surprised me a bit - better than a good margin of OEM systems.

Truth be told, I bought the car without even turning the radio on...but when it comes to covering up road noise - it does the job :)

I got a base and the cloth seats were surprisingly nice and hold you well. Granted, take it for what's it worth cause I upgraded from a 01 honda civic. When I was deciding between touring and base, I was kind of disappointed with the touring not being full leather. Navigation would be nice, but I have an Iphone and was planning on upgrading the sound system anyways. The only thing I wish I had were the power seats. For some reason, that was an attractive option for me. As far as the base sound system.....it sucks. And this is coming from a honda civic system for comparison. Never heard the touring sound system so can't compare there.

I don't know number one, I have a Touring because I wanted nicer seats as well as the Nav.

As per question two I'll answer you in as wishy washy as possible.

I got the Touring largely for the nicer upgrades, if you're going to spend over 32k you may as well get a NICER upgraded car in general since you're obviously paying for it. The sound system is great, my old car had crappy speakers and you can tell the difference with this new sound system.

That being said, a car is not the place to fret over a sound system. The inside isn't built for audio quality, if you're hypercritical you may as well go cheap and realize you wouldn't have been happy getting a more expensive model anyhow.

:iagree:
I am an audiophile...I love my tunes but the Bose is just fine for me. Yes, it's not something you're going to tell your friends "Hey, come listen to my awesome stereo!" but none the less I think it's quite good for what it is. Personally, I decided to spend my money on exterior upgrades (Berk HFC's, Stillen Exhaust & Intake) because I'd rather people hear my car coming down the street instead of my music! ;)

I got touring because I liked the navigation system. I've had bad experiences with aftermarket stereos, and I'd rather have a factory integrated system that WORKS instead of one that has a whole bunch of bells and whistles, but I have to punch in order to make it work (yes i punch my car daily XD)

The seats were nice and all, but I was thinking of swapping out the seats, anyway...

I see a lot of chatter about the seats and audio, but there's more to the Touring pkg than just those two items. Here are the rest of them:

Bluetooth
Homelink
Auto-dimming mirror
Passenger seatback pocket
Rear cargo cover
Heated seats (not just leather)
Power seats (non-touring are not power adjusted)
Lumbar support
XM available in Touring only

These items aren't must haves for everyone, but they do contribute to the value of the Touring pkg. In other words, the Touring pkg isn't just leather seats and Bose stereo is all I'm saying. There are other goodies too.

Go to this url for a comparison chart: 2009 Nissan 370Z Coupe Specs - Nissan USA

:iagree:

I guess I just take them for granted XD

Touring is a must - well at least here in Canada if you want a 370Z since it ONLY comes with Touring ;)

I personally would have gone for the Base with Sports if I had that option BUT since I didn't and I had to go with Touring I was pleasantly surprised by the extras. I'm a bit of an audiophile and I've had the $4K+ custom stereo system with the custom fiber glass speaker pods, MB Quartz and JL speakers, etc, etc. The BOSE system isn't something I'd got out and buy but its surprisingly decent - in fact its good enough that I haven't planed on replacing it yet (but although I'm an audiophile I'd rather listen to the note of the exhaust instead of the stereo - I love driving under overpasses and tunnels!) The rear sub moves enough air to shake the mirrors. This isn't any high end system but its definately useable.

The bluetooth voice command is awesome - I love not having to take my phone out of my pocket when I'm in the car. Half the time I would be driving in my other vehicles and forget it then trying to dig it out when its ringing or not hear it ring at all... such a pain. Now I don't have to worry about that. I also find the voice command to call out, etc very handy. It would be nice if I could use the voice command built into my phone but this works - just a little extra set up.

Lumbar support is great - esp when you are going on a long trip I find I need to adjust it to a softer setting so its nice that you can configure it to your driving style. The leather seat are fine as far as burning yourself goes - my 280ZX had full on leather and it got nasty at times. No problems so far on the 370Z.

Homelink - super handy - get rid of those remotes. Auto dimming mirror - very nice feature as well. Kinda skipped that info when I was looking at the specs but I tend to flip at night with the old school mirrors between day/night to get the best visibility and now I don't need to - very nice.

Are the aluminum pedals touring or sports - regardless not much function but nice bling bling.

So now that I was forced into these features I would strongly consider getting the touring if it was an option....

No.

Base interior is only black. Touring has 3 colors
 

One thing I don't believe has been mentioned is that with Touring you can get in addition to black, a gray or persimmon interior. The real sleeper of the Touring package is the metal pedals, which look great.

Was at the dealer earlier, and the base system sounds fine. One downside is that the stereo looks cheap if you don't have navigation. I'm not sure if it looks any better on the touring, didn't look at one. Cloth seats don't really bother me.

As long as i have an LSD and Synchro RevMatch, i'm a happy camper.

The stereo is worth it in the Touring, but if you only want the base go for it.

i see, i didn't realize that. my bad! looks like it's another strike for the R56 MC JCW (in addition to the ugly front with fake hood scoop, body roll, ugly interior...etc). man...what has bmw been doing...they're making mini coopers worse! (well, except for mpg and maybe a bit of torque) i guess 370Z still the way to go~ :tup:

i took the grill out of my hood scoop, and the grill that was on it still had holes in it. i liked the interior, and i love the front! lol, to each his own i guess!

body roll was present, but it still handled very well. 370z will be much better all around though.

I changed my mind, i'm getting touring. I should be getting it either tomorrow or within the next week

True! Bose w/ touring claims to have "two subwoofers". These are actually 4" cones in the spare tire well.

If you play music with deep bass, you'll notice the whole bottom is missing. I don't think these speakers go below 1 kHz. (A good home theatre can go down to 10, 12 Hz ... an average home system down to 50 - 100 Hz. Even Radio Shack cheap shiite s/b good down to 200-500 Hz or so. So, to have the bottom at 1000 Hz is to say you're buying the quality of an AM table radio, basically. Yay Bose!)

OTOH, you can easily remedy the problems of a lousy car audio with your own iPod, Zune, or other device with earbuds.

Please don't do this.

^ +1

1 KHz - I don't think so.... while 100Hz may be a bit of a reach it is way closer to 100 Hz than 1 KHz....

They may be two 4" cones but they are not 4" cones hanging in free space - they actually sound quite good and deep for the physical dimensions of the cones.... the actual complete sub is proably 12 inches across...

These are by no means a replacement for a speaker like a JL sub in a ported enclosure, etc but they are quite decent for a stock system. Have you listened to them yet or are you assuming based on their specs? I just confused where you get 1 KHz from - thats in the normal vocal ranage...

Is touring worth it?

I choose no, I took all items listed (check Semtex's post as he has the complete list), and ranked them on a scale of 1-10. 10 being will use daily or at least every other day, and 1 being used very rarely. The list was very bleak for touring as it seemed only a few items made it past 7 on the list for me, so I found the need for touring to not be a best buy.

The only option I wish I had gotten, but could not, was the stock navigation, but paying the extra price for touring just to get navigation was not worth it.

I've been considering the whole sport + touring vs. sport base. I am also an audiophile and for this reason I think I have decided against the touring just because of the Bose stereo. My plan is to get a 2010 sport model and then get some Cover King leather seats covers (I love the ones in my Xterra) and then go aftermarket for the whole stereo. I figure I'll save a lot of money vs. getting the touring and still having to upgrade the speakers/amps.

Get a copy of Azzido da Bass' "Doom's Night" -- any random mp3 is probably fine, as long as it's coded 160kit/s or better. (320k if you care.) Listen to it elsewhere. Then pop it in your Bose drawer, or put your CF card in if you use nav, etc.

See?

The tune is only moderately bass-heavy. But what the BOSE system is doing is flattopping all the lower notes. As hatchet jobs go ... this is a pretty gruesome spectacle.

Your audio controls allow you to "boost" the bass. but they don't give you back that whole bottom octave. Instead of do-re-mi, it's do-do-do-do...

Incidentally, on "specs", good luck finding Bose puttting out comparative data like Klipsch, Paradigm, etc...

When I said (in another thread) my PC speakers were better, I was referring to Logitech Z-680s. That's the forerunner to the current Z-5500s (about the same).

But after listening to my Bose system in Pearlie for a while, I'll go further and say the Harman/kardon built-ins in my Toshiba Qosmio LAPTOP are probably just as good as the car Bose thing... and it's incredibly easier to hook the laptop up to ext speakers, too.

I'm not sure what you mean by flattopping - are you refering to clipping or roll off? If you are trying to tell me your built in laptop speakers are better than the 8 speaker system in the car that is actaully driven by amps I'm not sure why we are having this conversation.... clarity maybe but if you want more than 20dB of audio out....

Here in Kalifornia, that's illegal and will get you a ticket...

It's just a matter of time before you'll get a ticket for farting in Kalifornia. Methane contributes to global warming, after all. ;)

I thought earbuds while driving is illegal in every states?

It definitely ought to be if it isn't.

cows are producing quite a bit...lol...stop eating beef......

even though i just bought a BBQ....ha

You laugh, but the EPA has just proposed taxing farmers $175.00 per cow do to the fact that the EPA believes cow farts contribute to global warming.

Next thing you know we will need a fart czar.

Hmm ... laptop with 4 speakers plus an actual, separate subwoofer? The Qosmio line was designed for gamers. If I need personal +loudness+ I put on a set of Sennheiser 'phones without bothering neighbors. But here on the Jersey shore, where everyone thinks they're supposed to like (or be like) the Boss, I'd rather have accurate than Pontiac blow-it-out-yer-paper-cones NOISE.

As to the comments about driving with ear buds, etc. -- well, I don't do that. But most of the time driving I don't even listen to the radio, because it's (b)anal and because I'd rather hear traffic around me. There are parked times, when one really wants to hear music, and the Bose shortcomings are just too much in the way of it to make for an enjoyable experience.