Well I just returned from vacation in Miami. While down there I rented a 2007 automatic 350z convertible so I thought I would write a little comparison. Sorry for it being so long but i wanted to try and cover everything.

I definitely like the looks of the 350z much better. I got a bright orange pearl one with a black top. It came from the rental company with aftermarket black Tork rims with a big chrome lip. Just seeing it sit there made me want to trade in the tc.

Performance wise I was kind of a little disappointed. I guess it had plenty of power but was much much slower than my tc. It was an automatic, which I found to be very very sloppy. Everytime you touched the gas it seemed like it was "hunting" to find what gear it should be in. While using the tiptronic, or whatever nissan calls it, the upshifts were really slow. When you would tell it to shift then hit the guess again you could hear what sort of sounded like slipping then would shift into the next gear. But for average daily driving the car wasn't too bad. Had enough power for passing and getting around in heavy highway traffic in Miami. The exhaust note was incredible. I would pay almost any amount to have the tc sound like that. I found myself often using the tiptronic to keep it in a lower gear just to hear it while decellerating.

The traction control was also disappointing. The first time i really got into it the traction control stopped the tires from sliding. So it did it's job. After a little hunting I found the button to "disable" it. Well it doesn't completely disable it. The car was unable to do a "line lock" burnout. It would let the tires do about 1 or 2 revolutions and then it would stop them. No matter how much I let up on the brakes or pushed the pedal farther they would not spin. I noticed there also was no change in exhaust note. Almost like it was a limiter? But once you were moving it would let you spin them, like going through a turn.

The handling on this car is incredible. I could take turns at almost any speed and not hear a peep from the tires. The steering was really tight and predictable. Even while sliding the car around doing u turns and such Wherever I pointed it that's where it went.

The last thing I will review is the navigation system in it. Several times I wanted to tear it out and throw it along the highway. It was terrible. There was no touch screen. Instead it used a little joystick that was way to sensitive and hard to use. It would constantly move to another a letter with the smallest tap and was very inconsistent. The navigation itself was slow and took some time to plan a route and to recalculate it if you missed a turn. Compared to the Panasonic strada I have in my tc, the nissan unit was a complete piece of junk.

Although I was sad to give it up at the end of the trip I was glad to have the power back of my tc and the bov sound :p All in all with some mods the Z would be a great car and most likely will be my next purchase. I think I'm just gonna stick it out and see what they have in store for the 370z when it comes out.

 

Should've let someone know in our regional section that you were down here. I wouldn't mind seeing how the Z stacked up against my brothers G35.

 

i let soflotc know. i wanted to find a car show or something to do while i was down

 

my friend has a stick 350z
it feels a lot faster than my car haha

 

I drove an automatic G35 not to long ago. I was disappointed with the performance. Plus the ride was rougher than my tC.

 

First, it was a rental... it was probably abused... so the performance can suffer...

Second, it's an automatic... autos are always sluggish to the sticks...

Third, it was a convertible, therefore a heavier car... which adds to the sluggishness...

If you drive a manual hardtop 350z, you'll need to change your underwear...

 

agreeed ^^^

my buddy got his Z when i got my tC and i drove it and it was great. way out of my budget, but i would trade my tC in for one any day...his was a stick tho...

 

agreed. hard top stick Zs are so amazing. my next car for sure,

 

I love Z's and the first time I rode in a Z it had all the basic mods. It was great and very snappy, but it won't compare to the ride I took in a Supra MK4 with a single turbo swap. Not sure of the exact year.

I about screamed like a girl. And I never get nervous in cars.

Now that theres alot of used Z's I see them more than our scions... from 16yr old drivers to 65. Terrible. Just figured i'd throw the idea of a Supra for the OP, since he was beating on his rental trying to find performance. lol

 

Exactly...
Especially if you turn off the TCS button on the dash!

 

i have test driven a manual hardtop 350z before i bought the tc. it was quick, but i wasn't overly impressed.

 

I like the way they look...and am pondering my next project....

 

Not that I'm selling the tC....just taking suggestions for a good base for the next "money pit"

 

well you drove an automatic 350Z..over all the 350Z is a much better car. Maybe fatter but Its more powerful and saves more gas. The engine in the 350Z is a v6 that has been voted top 10 best engines of the century.

 

Ughh, everybody note that he is running
282 whp
276 ft/lb on the tC, so that's why the auto Z felt slow.

 

350z > tc

 

300z>350z JMO

 

^^^300zxTT!...

 

a few of my friends have 300zxTT, 12 second cars with very few mods.

 

My buddy Eric has a 03 350z that has a built motor and the APS TT kit , but its not the regular one.. He has the extreme kit and omg is it crazy fast.. and to disable traction control on it you have to pull the fuse. I would say the 350 is up to par with the supra when its block is sleaved..