370z sports car?

edeeZee

I see, you start your thread with a sensationalistic title to draw attention and responses, but there are many misunderstandings among people. Some might view it as you denigrating the 370 while implying it is subpar relative to other "sports cars."

But "sports car" is an equivocal definition to many. A Porsche 911 is a "sports car" though it has 2 impractical seats in the rear. The reason for the 2 rear seats is to lower insurance costs. My friend who works at an insurance agency told me this; because a GT3, a car I once considered, is noticeably more expensive to insure than the run of mill 911.

FricFrac

You could spend double the money and get a Cayman S - this is the exact circumstance where the Cayman will outshine the Z. Or you can adjust your suspension to make the car work better in those situations. You'll have to ask one of the real racers on here but swhat I know from other racing we would adjust the rear droop for better contact on rough surfaces. The downside (and there is always a compromise in most of these situations) is that your car will not transition as quickly say in a chicane where you need to go from left to right quickly (or vice versa). I don't know what adjustments are available from stock (likely not much if any) but if you are tracking the car you are likely going to want an adjustable suspension. Toe and caster are going to affect tracking, turn in, etc but I don't think they will have much of an affect on the rough surface. The spring rate and the valving/rate of your shocks as well as the suspension travel will affect how it handles the bumps.

Other than the other blazing hints that this is a sports car the ability to feel the road and feedback as to when you are close to loosing traction is a good indication that this car is a sports car....

Maybe the question would be how to get my car to handle rough surfaces rather than is this a sports car.....

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

ZKindaGuy

Well considering that 2 objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time then it stands to reason the pavement under the Sentra must not have been exactly the same "roughness" as the pavement that was under your 370Z.

zilent_jay

I had a 350z for 5 years and tracked it. (entirely stock suspension down to the tire)

The 350 handled bumps in the twisties leaps and bounds better than the 370. No questions asked, no room for debate.

Bumps that you wouldnt even notice in the 350 send my 370 sailing.

I guess it's a result from the changes in the suspension... it feels more like a buick than a sports car, and the wider tires probably contribute as well.

Forrest

first thing that i noticed with the 370z was its "soft" suspension.

in the 350z i had more left and right "body roll" but no bouncing up and down over bumps, i would feel like a go cart stifness.

with the 370z i have like no body roll but on bumps for its soft and bouncy for the average user to feel comfortable.

This is what i would attritube to the unsettling of the car over rough road, but i could be wrong. I perosnaly if i could would switch my suspension to something a little bit more stiff or 350zish with out lowering the car. I have no need to lower the car its 100% street driving, going lower wont help me to much.

FricFrac

So while you're mentioning that you should also mention that the 370Z on a smooth surface will out corner the 350Z. Its all about configuration. Do you want handling over rough surfaces or smooth. Do you think every racer uses the same set up for every track? Not a chance! You tweek to optimize for your conditions and when you optimize one thing you comprimise another but its a matter of the overall benifit.

I personally would love to see the pickup truck at 110 MPH in the rough corner... should be entertaining....

Forrest are you confusing the 370Z being "soft" in the bumps as loosing traction rather than being soft? Typically a car with little body roll is stiffer than the one with more body roll. The 370Z is stiffer and more like a go-cart as you were describing than the 350Z.

Anyhow this is all pit racing - we need a real racer to chime in here....

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

zilent_jay

True, but the Z is not a race car, and never will be. It's a street car. Unfortunately the street is not smooth, nor some tracks for that matter. I'd rather have a car that handles well all around like my old 350, than one that only handles well on smooth surfaces. Then again, that's just me.

GingaBreadMan

That's a great point. With that said the 370z is utterly outstanding on smooth surfaces.

FricFrac

... and what exactly is a race car? This car is definately built to take onto a race track.... in fact that is where we would recomend people take this car - people who want to drive this car to and within its limits...

My son said to me last week - "Dad why would they make a car that can go over the speed limit?" I think the responsible answer is a car that is also able to be driven on a race track - that's what my reply was.

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'09 370Z - '93 300ZX Vert - '83 280ZX - '83 280ZXT -'81 280ZXT stroker - '72 240Z - Stillen CBE, HFC, G3, Grounding Kit, Sways // Swift Spring // H&R 15mm // 5% Tint // Clear Bra //

Forrest

I know this is hard to explain, but if i went over a bump in my 350z, it did not give me a soft bounce, it would shudder like the car did NOT LIKE THAT BUMP. I would assume thats a hard suspension.

In the 370z i admit it has no body roll compared to the 350z, BUT why do i feel like when it goes over a bump its soft and gushy like my previous altima?

And no i dont mean loseing traction as my previous post about the traction light going on, ironicly enough when that traction light went on, i felt NO bumps what so ever which confused me as to why it lost traction. But that could be due to the suspension is so soft i didnt feel the bumps and didnt even know i was losing traction. Maybe in my 350z i would have felt the crappy road due to that hardness; I feel the 370z does not have.

My 350z was 05 PPW Enthuisast AT 100% stock.

spearfish25

My wife has an Altima which I drive regularly. The 370 and the Altima suspensions are COMPLETELY different. The Altima floats and doesn't have much feel for the road. The 370 lets you feel every bump and I've certainly found plenty that jar the teeth out of my head if I don't avoid them.

Doesn't sound right if you think the 370z has a soft ride over bumps in the road...it doesn't.

spearfish25

I've been suspicious for a long time that the sport Bridgestone tires have some issues. First I thought they needed to be broken in a bit. Then I thought they needed to be warmed up more. Finally I'm thinking they just plain suck for street driving.

They don't have the grip during daily that I would expect. My best guess is that they just don't reach the critical warm temp needed to get nice and sticky. When I had the car on a track a few weeks back, they performed great once I had them nice and warm. On the street, they stay so cold that I usually spin them like I was driving on hockey pucks.

Granted the suspension setup is quite stiff so bumps are not the Z's friend. I too had read that the Cayman is much better in this respect, but I don't have the automobile acumen to explain why the Cayman setup is better. It does seem the Z suspension could be loosened up but likely at the expense of road 'feel'.

UNKNOWN_370

This, but add in sways and a coilover/springs and you're golden. There were a lot of tittie hurt peeps back then. lol

355890

Well, what the heck, time to jump in....

Original question was: Is this car a Sports Car.

Well there is pretty simple answer to that question and this answer is " Absolutley "

2 seats, 2 doors, pretty to look at, spirited, rear wheel drive, low to the ground.

The question really should be..... " is this the best handling Sports Car you have ever driven".

This answer is " NO, but it sure is engaging "

As in any SPORTS CAR, each has it's own characteristics, you've just got to learn what each car is capable of doing and keep it within those paramiters.

Simple. I love the Z. I loved my MG. I loved my Lancia. I loved my Jag E-type ( the brakes SUCKED ) there all sports cars, they are all different.

So go out and enjoy it !!!

I did not spell check my work...thank you.

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370Z Purist

The only thing really wrong with the above statement is that the ideal of a "true" sports car has very much changed through the years. Especially when you consider how many sports cars have gone the way of steel bodies (well, aluminum got real expensive in 2007-08 here in the states), gaining lots of weight, having more than two seats, weight-to-power ratios, etc.
Then you have to consider what truly separates a good sports car from a "supercar." In more ways than one, those names have not become what the cars are, but just general terms to separate different target markets.

For example, the Z is for the sports car market; an affordable, fast, stylish, long standing race heritage that can make it on the street without a single hitch and probably take to a track stock (for a little) or mod it for the track. Then you've got the GT-R, which went from a high end tuner as the R34 to a complete purpose change, as a higher end sports car that could arguably compete with low end super cars and the race/track bred cars, specifically like the 911 GT3. Then you've got the Spec V (no idea why they flipped it from VSpec, lol).

Now, my opinion varies greatly from other people, and there is not a single doubt in my mind that people on this forum could argue the specific meaning of "sports car" for years on end.

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