Gotta say, with the Z, the 86, the Lotus Emira, the CTV-4/5 Blackwings...there's a bit of a resurgence of nice cars for the manual-loving enthusiast before the onslaught of electric robots take over.
The rear looks awful in that shot, like it has tiny rear wheels.
The Z looks pretty great. I worry now though that it's going to be Supra priced.
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Originally Posted by edslunch
The rear looks awful in that shot, like it has tiny rear wheels.
The car has grown on me, but the rear is the worst part of the vehicle. It makes it look tall and narrow, not low and wide like a RWD sports car should.
Kind of like the Civic coupe from a couple generations ago
Man... I like pretty much everything about that. Will be interested to see what the Nismo looks like in a couple of years, combined with what tuners can get out of the stock setup. Sounds like the base version will be pretty reasonable with the performance version potentially being a solid step up in price which is totally reasonable as an approach.
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The car has grown on me, but the rear is the worst part of the vehicle. It makes it look tall and narrow, not low and wide like a RWD sports car should.
Kind of like the Civic coupe from a couple generations ago
I kept trying to remember what the rear reminded me of, and that's a great comparison. Also reminds me of the current-gen Chevy Volt or Acura TL from a few years back. Neither is something you really want to be compared to if you're a sports car.
Spoiler!
We'll have to see how it drives, but the Z is definitely the looker of the two.
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I want that Z. Badly. So bad. If I had 120-150k I'd go all in on a new Frontier and Z performance.
Nissan has made a proper comeback from the Abyss.
Wonder if they're going to make the GT-R the first EV sports car. It's feels perilously close to the end of petrol performance for a proper ICE remodel.
I want that Z. Badly. So bad. If I had 120-150k I'd go all in on a new Frontier and Z performance.
Nissan has made a proper comeback from the Abyss.
Wonder if they're going to make the GT-R the first EV sports car. It's feels perilously close to the end of petrol performance for a proper ICE remodel.
Not sure about that. The 370Z is kind of a forgotten car from years past so it's hard for me to get overly excited about the same car being rebooted with new body panels and Infinity engine. I'm sure it will be a decent performer but it's rumored to be in the range of $40k USD and I would have a hard time spending near 50 large on such an old car.
I would have a hard time spending near 50 large on such an old car.
I have no issues with it being an older platform if when all is said and done, the outcome is a fun car. The formula for a sports car isn't that hard, and doesn't need to be re-invented every time. Besides, newer doesn’t always mean better, especially in the world of tightening regulations. Compared to previous generations, newer cars tend to have smaller soulless engines, feel disconnected due to drive-by-wire and other tech, are generally heavier and bulkier, and are often harder to see out of.
I would say the funnest cars these days are the ones that look to preserve the qualities of older cars... ie. more connected handling, a simpler/analog driving experience, better visibility, fun sounds etc. If it sucks it sucks, but if Nissan kept what already worked well and improved the rest (which a big part was visual), I'm ok with the Z not being entirely "new". The Supra is new, and everyone seems to hate the thing.
I have no issues with it being an older platform if when all is said and done, the outcome is a fun car. The formula for a sports car isn't that hard, and doesn't need to be re-invented every time. Besides, newer doesn’t always mean better, especially in the world of tightening regulations. Compared to previous generations, newer cars tend to have smaller soulless engines, feel disconnected due to drive-by-wire and other tech, are generally heavier and bulkier, and are often harder to see out of.
I would say the funnest cars these days are the ones that look to preserve the qualities of older cars... ie. more connected handling, a simpler/analog driving experience, better visibility, fun sounds etc. If it sucks it sucks, but if Nissan kept what already worked well and improved the rest (which a big part was visual), I'm ok with the Z not being entirely "new". The Supra is new, and everyone seems to hate the thing.
I don't confuse analog with being good. Most of the worst cars I have ever driven are older cars with simpler/analog driving characteristics. I feel people throw these words around on the internet after reading too much Car & Driver or other rags that pine for simpler times. I can't remember driving a car that I was less impressed with than the 370Z. It was the rare enthusiast car I have driven that had no redeeming qualities. The manual transmission felt like an early Hyundai effort, the suspension was as crude as an old EVO, the interior was 15 years dated, the VQ37 sounded like it was going to self destruct when you got near 6000 RPM, and it was tin can noisy. I'm just not sure that slapping a new engine in that car is going to make it all of a sudden a very compelling option.
As a person that's been driving cars from the the 80's to today I can say with near certainty that todays cars are far superior than those of generations past. Lamenting the the old analog stuff is largely just loss aversion. I don't always agree with Chris Harris but he's bang on here.
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As you can tell I rather dislike the older-is-better mantra. In my experience there are very few performance cars which are replaced by inferior products, because the companies that make them are very good at what they do, and the engineers that define them are talented enough to know what is right and what is wrong.
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370Z is a bloated POS. Hopefully this Z will honour the tradition and be a simple, fun car. Looks promising.
It's the same car so if you didn't like that the 370Z this re-skinned version isn't likely to change your mind. Supposedly it will weigh only a little more than the 370Z but the if they can keep it around 3500 lbs that's not terrible by today's standards. I'm glad they are still making the car as it's always a good thing to see automakers sticking with a RWD car like this. I just don't think this is going to be some game changer or anything as it's going to satisfy the people that enjoyed the previous Z cars and maybe the people that want something faster than a BRZ but can't afford a Supra or M2.
Not just the same platform but the exact same car (body, chassis, interior, etc) with the Infinity 3.0 TTV6 engine, new sheet metal, new interior plastics, and likely some tweaked suspension bits.
Last edited by Erick Estrada; 08-18-2021 at 03:07 PM.
I assumed this will be on a new platform or a highly tweaked one, sounds like it's pretty much the same chassis. Disappointing. At least it looks much better.
I have a 5-year old half ton that I really like. Just a whisker under 100k on it right now.
My thought is that this will be my last gas vehicle, or is it?
Should I sell now (hot market) and buy another gas truck and keep it for 10 ish years until the electric revolution, or just hang onto this truck for another 5-10 years and get a good reliable electric.
As a person that's been driving cars from the the 80's to today I can say with near certainty that todays cars are far superior than those of generations past. Lamenting the the old analog stuff is largely just loss aversion.
Clearly there have been many positive improvements over the years, but there are plenty of instances of cars that have regressed with the newer models too. Porsche going to 4-cylinder engines with the 718 was not a good thing to anyone but bean counters, nor was the countless of other 6's that were turned into 4's, or 8's into 6s. Cars having to pipe in fake engine sound was a clear regression. Most of us agree that BMW has totally lost the design plot over the last decade, never mind its former "ultimate driving machine" status. Go to a Tacoma forum, and ask owners if they like the current engine compared to the last gen still found in the 4Runner. Mercedes used to build "forever" cars... now they build lease-specials that turn into value-plummeting paperweights after a decade. Even Ferrari moving away from glorious sounding NA engines cost it a bit of its soul (just look at used prices for 458s). Etc. etc.
It doesn't mean that old is great, and new is bad. My point is that just because something is all new, it doesn't mean it will result in a better car. The Z may still be a piece of crap in the end, but I'm not going to knock it because of that (at least until I drive one). For all we know, an all-new version would have been FWD and shared a platform with a crossover.
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Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I don't always agree with Chris Harris but he's bang on here.
Chris is also the guy who drives the one model of BMW (the 2, with a manual) that best embodies the BMW of old, and also just bought himself a Mondial for the #####s and giggles.
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^ I'll add to this that cars have gotten heavier, and a ton of innovation has gone into how to make the heavier cars overcome the pure physics penalty incurred by being heavier.
You can throw all the suspension advancements at a car that you want, 4000lbs will never feel like 2000lbs.
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Yup. It really depends on how you define 'better'. An analog car that gives you more feedback can be more rewarding to drive, but a modern performance car full of cutting edge technology can turn a chubby, talentless executive with money to burn into what feels to him like being a driving god around a race track without him also putting the car into a safety barrier.
Better is a subjective yardstick.
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