First impressions of the 350Z; dinner w/the local 350Z Club
 

Had two local 350Zs join us last night for a joint Austin TX area S2000/350Z Club dinner.

These are the only two 350Zs in town that we know of, since delivery has just started. Two other 350Z Club members are future owners - both with scheduled deliveries before the end of the year. Neither of the Zs were Track models, the first track model being delivered locally is next month (unfortunately too late for a TWS event). One had 17" wheels, the other had 18" wheels.

Also present were several S2000s (which at a few 000's of cars built per year x 3 years is an excellent turnout - but in the first year Nissan will build 42,000 350Zs for worldwide use - they will outnumber S2000s by far); 3 BMW M3s; a Corvette, and a heavily mod'ed turbo MR2. All of the S2000 owners autocross, most Open Track. All 3 BMWs do both. Almost 20 people in all!

Dinner was very late - because when the 350Zs arrived everything else stopped. The new Zs were *impressive* in presense, appearance, personality.

Getting into the car, first impression is of the really great seats: very supportive, large bolsters, very narrow in the butt pocket compared to most cars, good shoulder "wings". The seats are asymmetrical: the drivers seat is more heavily bolstered, while the passenger's allows easier ingress. The door panels are also asymmetrical - the passenger side door has a large aluminum handle while the drivers door only has a small pull pocket behind the window switches.

One car had a black interior and a dark metallic outside, which was very nice. The other was silver with perforated clamshell color leather seats & grey interior, again, very nice. Very short throw shifter (but longer/wider throw over an S2000s shifter - which probably is the best in the world), but hard plasticy shift knob. The shifter imparts a feeling of solidity - the impression is of a very strong transmission underneath (by contrast, the one in the S2000 feels delicate). Hard plastic console, no padding for your arm - aftermarket help needed here!

Underneath the car, several good things were obvious: the aerodynamic work that went into the car, the extensive use of aluminum everywhere, and the tight packaging. The underneath of the car was as flat as possible. The exhaust pipe is fairly low (this car is not going to down very far). The long tube headers were not visible from below or above. Two dual-bed cats are used, there are no light up cats. After the cats, the exhaust goes to a single pipe to the rear transverse muffler (see the latest Sport Cmpact Car for an intriguing pic of the air dam on the muffler - !). The Z has a kevlar-reinforced plastic driveshaft, but it wasn't visible.

One potential problem for some drivers may be the height of the roof. It's a bit low - although none of us felt we would have any problem wearing a helmet and remaining comfortable. Height adjustment is apparently not standard. Plus, the front and rear windows (particularly the rear) are "slots" - very narrow. The side window is just at or above shoulder level (higher yet than in the S2000). And, while magazines said the pedals were "ideal for heel and towing", they were actually very poor - all 4 pedals (incl dead pedal) were on 4 different plains, with a large distance between the brake and gas).

Tons of great little features. Lots of detail things that make it a really special car - like a programmable shift light on the dash. The windows automatically go down a small amount when you open the door (the glass is normally right up tight against the top). The large brace across the rear shock towers is very impressive. The front shock towers also have a brace form the factory - again very impressive - but it would cover where an adjustable shock adjustment would be located. The underside of the hood doesn't have a blanket, but it does have two little rubber pads that touch the shock tower brace.

Lots of obvious and subtle details show the care taken in the development of this car. All in all, if you are looking for that type of car, the 350Z is very worthy of your consideration!

Cool...were they broken in? If so, anyone get a good race with either 350z?

The MINI has this feature too and it provides a great seal :thumbup: :thumbup:

yeah, I was think BMW came up with that a while ago... and it's a really cool gizmo...

I wish I had seen them. I just started grad school at UT. In the last week I have seen two 350's. One metallic blue on campus and one silver on the way home today (around lamar and 9th). I think the blue shows the curves of the car better, but the silver was very pretty as well. I've also seen a number of S's around town. A red on parked on nueces today, a white one on guadalupe and a silver earlier last week. Anyone here?

why did the windows go down when u opened the doors?
what's that feature for?:confused:

so that when the car is moving, the window is pressed into the moulding as far as it will go. Then it has to go down a tiny bit so that the door will open.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Phantom
[B]Cool...were they broken in?

Yeppers.......My old 95 325is had that feature.

I just saw a 350Z myself at the dealer, too bad it was sold already. But yes, it is definitely slick looking car. That rear cross brace in the back seems to take up too much space though. They have sold 4 so far, and are selling them as soon as they get off the truck. They didn't want to take orders on the car, sort of first come first serve I guess. The salesman is going to call me right when the next one comes in so I can test drive it before someone else tries to buy it. This one was black, Touring model, which seems to be the only way they're coming in around here. Had navi, rear spoiler and some others bumping the MSRP to just over 35,000 and they aren't charging any "market adjustment" prices. If anyone is interested in working with the dealer in the Chicago area just PM me and I'll pass you the information.