RE: PH 370Z Breathes Fresh Northern Air
Discussion
goron59 said:
I've driven one of these with a crash hat on and I'm 6'2" - Didn't recall not having much headroom (except when exiting).
V envious of your locale though for driving - I'm stuck in London most of the time
In defence of the 370 I have a long back being 76" tall with only 31" legs and always test a cars headroom, when driving the TVR with the roof off (always V envious of your locale though for driving - I'm stuck in London most of the time
) the top of my head sits an inch above the top of the windscreen and therefore perfect for fly head butting practice! The roads up here are brilliant especially out of caravan season, which is back for a week at the moment due to half term
I've been into Jap cars for ages and always liked the 350z and now the 370 looks a lot sharper.... BUT, I think like all good japanese cars they are meant to be tuned. The standard seats are awful, not supportive enough for sporty driving yet not really that comfortable for long journeys, then theres the road noise stopping it from being a relaxing cruiser yet conversly the exhaust is so quiet... I mean come on Nissan, its got a wacking great V6.. we want to hear it!!
Its also unforgiveably heavy. Over 1500kg is just too much for a 2 seat coupe. Safety regs or not.
Perhaps it's just too American to really be appreciated on these shores as standard. Perhaps they're not wanting to canabalise sales of the GTR too much either.
I can see myself buying one for ~10k in around 5 years, strip the interior out, fixed-back seats, lightweight battery, louder-lighter exhaust and light weight cats, new wheels, possibly a lighter rear hatch and window.. probably loose 150kg from it before doing anything too difficult.
Hurmmm
Its also unforgiveably heavy. Over 1500kg is just too much for a 2 seat coupe. Safety regs or not.
Perhaps it's just too American to really be appreciated on these shores as standard. Perhaps they're not wanting to canabalise sales of the GTR too much either.
I can see myself buying one for ~10k in around 5 years, strip the interior out, fixed-back seats, lightweight battery, louder-lighter exhaust and light weight cats, new wheels, possibly a lighter rear hatch and window.. probably loose 150kg from it before doing anything too difficult.
Hurmmm
What a dreadful write-up, I should be available for the Veyron Supersport piece though when that comes along
Seriously though, very good write up, did you worry more about that or putting it a ditch over the week? Lovely roads up there, you are blessed.
A worthy winner. This summarises all that PH is about.
Andy
Seriously though, very good write up, did you worry more about that or putting it a ditch over the week? Lovely roads up there, you are blessed.
A worthy winner. This summarises all that PH is about.
Andy
Edited by zakelwe on Tuesday 26th October 15:57
The Porsche only gets sub 200g/km in the PDK model though doesn't it? Mainly down to the dodgy test criteria for auto vs manuals.
The engine it has seems fine. What it seems to need is less road noise, and more exhaust noise, an easy fix. More exhaust noise will make the road noise seem less bad, so the road noise fix won't be that big any more
40mpg? Why? Who cares? Car gays?
The engine it has seems fine. What it seems to need is less road noise, and more exhaust noise, an easy fix. More exhaust noise will make the road noise seem less bad, so the road noise fix won't be that big any more
40mpg? Why? Who cares? Car gays?
Mr Whippy said:
The Porsche only gets sub 200g/km in the PDK model though doesn't it? Mainly down to the dodgy test criteria for auto vs manuals.
The engine it has seems fine. What it seems to need is less road noise, and more exhaust noise, an easy fix. More exhaust noise will make the road noise seem less bad, so the road noise fix won't be that big any more
40mpg? Why? Who cares? Car gays?
It seems to be a bit fat, the same way a Nissan GT-R seems a bit bulky.The engine it has seems fine. What it seems to need is less road noise, and more exhaust noise, an easy fix. More exhaust noise will make the road noise seem less bad, so the road noise fix won't be that big any more
40mpg? Why? Who cares? Car gays?
It neeeds to be done like those vacuum packed luggage thingies that can fit clothes for 2 weeks away in the Algarve into a small handbag.
Andy
havoc said:
Out of interest, how did you find rear-viz (rear-quarters especially) when driving it? I sat in one at Goodwood last year and was horrified by the virtual lack of any visibility between the B-pillar and the (narrow) rear-window.
I would say that it is down right dangerous, despite having little windows there they are blocked by the head rest. If you have to come out of a junction at a certain angle you really struggle to work out if the road is clear.The road noise is bad (and ironically it comes with a bluetooth phone kit that is pointless at anything over 20mph).
Though I do love this car, and am missing it - the Japs always get the seating position right in cars, and despite some comments above I found long distances in the car (drove to Scotland for a wedding) not an issue. Though the car has a different driver's seat to a passenger one.
abarber said:
That engine really has had it's day. What it really needs is a new six with about 280bhp, 40mpg combined and < 200g/km. Something like the BMW 3ltr or Porsche 3.4/3.6 units. Plus drop 100kgs from it's weight.
Now that would be interesting, something as fun as the 370 with an achievable 40mpg that is not a diesel... if I have missed such a car let me know and the 5 can go next change.Pete, you can eat great distances in this car and emerge with a smile on your face and not be tired, but you just can't talk in the cabin person to person or on the phone unless doing horsebox speeds, who cares about the passenger seat comfort
ANS2vrs370 said:
abarber said:
That engine really has had it's day. What it really needs is a new six with about 280bhp, 40mpg combined and < 200g/km. Something like the BMW 3ltr or Porsche 3.4/3.6 units. Plus drop 100kgs from it's weight.
Now that would be interesting, something as fun as the 370 with an achievable 40mpg that is not a diesel... if I have missed such a car let me know and the 5 can go next change.Pete, you can eat great distances in this car and emerge with a smile on your face and not be tired, but you just can't talk in the cabin person to person or on the phone unless doing horsebox speeds, who cares about the passenger seat comfort
I'd love toyota to build these, its basically everything petrol heads want out of the 370z with none of the things we don't. Only trouble is, will they make it?
tonym911 said:
I've only driven a 350 but I was surprised at how the engine felt, almost like an old Jaguar straight six, not really a 'light' engine and possibly better suited to cruising with an auto box.
Indeed, I test drove a late model 350z.. think it was the ~300bhp model. Don't get me wrong, it wasnt slow- but it wasn't dangerously, hair-raisingly fast like I was hoping it would be.TheRoadWarrior said:
tonym911 said:
I've only driven a 350 but I was surprised at how the engine felt, almost like an old Jaguar straight six, not really a 'light' engine and possibly better suited to cruising with an auto box.
Indeed, I test drove a late model 350z.. think it was the ~300bhp model. Don't get me wrong, it wasnt slow- but it wasn't dangerously, hair-raisingly fast like I was hoping it would be.Felt very reminicent of my mates old RS3.1 Capri; all the weight appeared to be somewhere in front of the headlights, and the back just skipped around doing it's own thing regardless of how you drove it. A doddle to control when it did let go, but like the S14a 200sx I had at the time, after three days it got very wearing constantly having to correct it.
TheRoadWarrior said:
tonym911 said:
I've only driven a 350 but I was surprised at how the engine felt, almost like an old Jaguar straight six, not really a 'light' engine and possibly better suited to cruising with an auto box.
Indeed, I test drove a late model 350z.. think it was the ~300bhp model. Don't get me wrong, it wasnt slow- but it wasn't dangerously, hair-raisingly fast like I was hoping it would be.I have got 12 months left on the 5 I hope Toyota get their finger out and get that to market quick!
Whimper - I'd say it's relative - the car still has c.200bhp/tonne and a 3.5l V6, which makes for sprightly overtaking wherever the power happens to be delivered. What the write-up there revealed to me was that it has a very linear power delivery with the fireworks reserved for the top-end - great for smooth driving, not so good for the lazy who can't be arsed to use the gearbox!
350Z engine - only drove a 276bhp version and it left me underwhelmed (vs the size) too - very mid-rangey, not at all a 'sports car' engine. I thought they'd fixed that with the later ones, though.
350Z engine - only drove a 276bhp version and it left me underwhelmed (vs the size) too - very mid-rangey, not at all a 'sports car' engine. I thought they'd fixed that with the later ones, though.
havoc said:
Whimper - I'd say it's relative - the car still has c.200bhp/tonne and a 3.5l V6, which makes for sprightly overtaking wherever the power happens to be delivered. What the write-up there revealed to me was that it has a very linear power delivery with the fireworks reserved for the top-end - great for smooth driving, not so good for the lazy who can't be arsed to use the gearbox!
Well relative to mine (linear to 8000) it seems narrow. It read to me that both 2nd and 3rd seemed the wrong choice. 3rd doesn't have enough grunt at lower revs and 2nd runs out of revs mid overtake.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff