Oh, that and nobody knows what the hell it is. I've had people ask me if it's Italian- no joke!

saturn, that is one of the greatest commercials ever. only because of the crabs accent.

Welcome!!!

As you can see from this thread, we're very refined and mature. So be careful because it may rub off on you.

rotor_head, I hope you will please ignore the riff-raff non-related crap that seems to have taken over your great post! It is a pleasure to have you join us and I hope you will ignore the BS. If you find you don't want to put up with crap like this then post in the SE forum and the Georgia gang will not treat you like this.

When researching sports cars, I had my mind set on a silver 350z. I told the salesman "this is the one I want" and asked him to go get the key and let's take her for a drive before I sign the papers. He told me I could not drive a 350 unless I purchased it first! :Eyecrazy: I walked into the dealership and asked the manager for the key to test drive and he told me the same thing. So I told them where to put his key and walked. That extended my search for a car and I stopped into a Mazda dealer and fell in love with the 8. I have been forever grateful to the losers at the Nissan dealer for their nudge out the door.

Welcome to the RX8 Club and to the world of ZoomZoom.

grats on your purchase OP.

I love the Z but you're absolutely right. I was coming back from VA the other day and while sitting in the passenger seat, I started to count sports cars I saw on both sides of the highway. It's about an 45 min ride and I swear to God, I saw at least 9 or 10 Z's. Its the same thing for G35's. My buddy says the same thing as you, he's tired of seeing them.

Congrats on the purchase. I know how loosing that much power feels like.

Welcome and congrats!

A few notes:

First off, congrats on the new car, I think most car buyers looking for what RX-8 buyers are looking for also look at the 350Z... I did too, but two things kept me away:

One was price, I only paid about 22k for my RX8 brand new. No 350z would have been close new.

Two was the fact that the 350Z is everywhere! I see them at every turn, and doubly so once the infiniti G35 coupe is included. There are just way too many Z's on the road.

Enjoy the new car!!!!

I've had several people ask me if it's Italian, two people that told me basically that I had a nice Ferrari, and some approximately 12-year-old boy tell me it was the "sweetest Laborghini" that he had ever seen! Most people have no clue what we're driving.

Also, the last two times I have gotten gas (different stations) I've been asked by an employee if my license plate said "bony girl." LOL It says BNY GRL and there is a big stuffed bunny in the back seat. :rofl:

you know the added weight from the bunny throws off the blance of the 8, :mdrmed:

heh - just playing with you, i do however try to keep my 8 devoid of anything in the seats, trunk.... 1) for weight and 2) because i hate it when shit flys around all over the car during spirited driving.

I don't have a lot in my car extra. I've got the bunny and my sun shade in the car. In my trunk I have a blanket, a first aid kit, oil, and a duster.

Welcome aboard, sorry your 1st post took to the long and twisted road which some post fall into here. On the other hand these posts are usually pretty entertaining if nothing else. Enjoy the car.

I used it before for Ike, it's e-wang.
:bootyshak

Are you serious??? How could any dealer be so friggin short sighted?!? What maroons... :rollingla

I totally disagree with the Z being a sportcar; I wouldn't classify the 8 as one either, but it's more of one than the Nissan.

Did you know that the 350 chassis is shared with Infiniti sedans and also Nissan's Murano? It's completely compromised by that, its performanced totally curtailed by the fact that underneath, it's nothing but an average-everyday-truck.

Driving one, on two occasions, was nothing but shear disappointment for me. All it did was remind me of a Mustang GT, and felt like the Japanese version of the same. I wanted to like the car as much as the '90-'96 300ZX TT, but driving dynamic-wise it offered absolutely nothing versus the 8. The only areas where the Z edges the 8 would be in torque and a very slight advantage in gas mileage. Any other category, whether you're judging interior quality, handling, and the big one, ride quality, the Z doesn't hold a candle to the 8.

You might be surprised at the design pedigree of many Japanese sports cars. One of my favorites is one that was a throwback to MG - designed by Dave Jolly who left his Greensboro NC home where he was a chassis designer for White Trucks....Moved to Gardena CA as chief engineer for a certain Japanese car company on a new product about 20 years ago. Today Dave's back in Greensboro designing trucks (now Volvo-White). Any guesses which car that was?

The chassis of a Z and just about every other car on the road today is made from many stampings spot welded together. There are probably some common stampings and thats not a bad thing. The 350 does share most of the same running gear as the G35. The Murano has totally different suspension and centerpiece stampings.

I think everyone has a slightly different definition of a psorts car. To a purist a sports car never has a front engine, it's behind the driver.

The Z is not a bad car at all. I don't think the 350 has anywhere near the appeal that the previous 300 generation 300Z had for that matter.

However comparing the chassis of the Z and the 8 - simply no contest. The 8 has a superb chassis, suspension and brakes. The Z looks like what Porsche would have built if they deigned a front engined 911, but thats where any comparison between a Porsche and Nissan stops.

What kind of a maroon would think that???

I really don't care what other cars share the components. What makes a sports car is the way the components are put together as a whole. I agree that the current Z is a good car, but not a great car like previous Z's. I prefer the 8 by a wide margin.

Congrats on the purchase and good luck!

A deep dark red one. Also one who's been spoiled by a mid engined car. It's not just the balance of weight front-back, in fact a slightly heavier rear tends to have an advantage coming off the turn. Polar moment. But few people have driven a fine car like an NSX or a Ferrari or even a Boxter, much less an RX8 at speed.

No matter. For all intent and purpose, an RX8 is a damn nice street car and fun to drive at any speed. In the end it doesn't matter what others like to drive, every other RX8 owner I've asked said they love the way their RX8 drives and thats what counts.

:rofl: !

"To a purist a sports car never has a front engine, it's behind the driver."

^?

good move, i had a pearl white 2003 Touring 350z, let's just say i don't miss it.

Just because the Z somewhat resembles a 911 from the side view doesn't make it anything more than a wannabe. What's the 911 anyway, the holy grail? Seriously.

I didn't know any previous Zs were truly great. The last generation was a very good car, but other than that all I remember were POSs or nothing special.

^ wow.... those old Z's were probably the best nissan cars ever.

Gee, I guess that I have to cross all the sports cars I have ever owned off my list of sports cars I have owned.
MGB, Triumph Spitfire, Austin Sprite, Austin MK3000, Jaguar XKE, Jensen, Gen 1 RX7, 240Z, Corvette...

i guess front engine ferraris are just ordinary cars isntead of sports cars.

Love both the Z and the 8, was thisclose to buying one but I got the 8.

...well they are technically GT cars, :mdrmed:

The 240Z was a great car, the 260Z and the 280ZX weren't bad either. After that, I think the move to the 300ZX is when the car started to really gain some weight and become constrained by a lot of luxury items.

Yes it is - the holy grail of oversteer. :D:

The 240 and 260 Z's were great cars in their time. Since then it seems almost that the Z line has been "dumbed down" to suit US consumer tastes. :(

so its technically a pure sports car... BUT! accoridng to kartweb's post, its not a pure sports car! lol.... that "if its not mid engine its not a pure sports car" thing i just plan bullshit.

"Just because the Z somewhat resembles a 911 from the side view doesn't make it anything more than a wannabe. What's the 911 anyway, the holy grail? Seriously."

im not sure if it was on top gear or a show i was watching about the 350z. But on this matter the team that designed this car are from cali, and that they liked the porsche look alot. That they wanted to make the 350z around the look of a porche so they can compete. Any ways maybe somone remember seeing that on top gear if not it was on some documentary that i seen about the 350z and the designers of the car.

Touring or Grand Touring cars are built for high speed road trips.

Sports Cars are built for sport. Thats my definition.

A purist has more discriminating definition. If it's purpose built for sport the motor is in the middle.

For that matter some people consider a Camaro or even a 68 Pontiac GTO to be a sports car. An insurance agent considers anything with two doors to be a sports car. So in truth the term sports car really has no relevence. What has relevence is what car best suites your desire? I like my RX8 just fine.

The 350Z is a fantastic car in my opinion.

Muscular stance, muscular exhaust note, lots of torque, and now they improved the interior fit and finish, too.

The shifter is a little rubbery, but I find 3rd gear imprecise as hell on the 8, so...

That's funny, I find 3rd to be the most satisfying gear to go into for me. 2nd is the pain for me because I just can't get it in smooth and it feels a little rough.

I've now seen you praise 3 cars besides the RX-8 in the last couple days, including the STI. Are you feeling alright? :cwm27:

Congrats on your trading the Z for the RX8. I may join you in that endeavor at some point in 2007. I could use those extra seats for my little ones.

Plenty of hate for the Z here. I think that lone speaks for itself.

The old 90's Z32 is not superior to the Z33. It's over 200 pounds heavier than my 2003 Z, and considerably less nimble. It might get the newer Z by one or two tenths on the quarter mile, but that's it. I believe people confuse the straight line performance of a stock Z32 to that of all of the modified ones that make a zillion horsepower.

What makes a sports car is purely subjective. The opinion of Enzo Ferrari and his ilk obviously holds more weight than anyone here, but in my estimation a sports car has a manual transmission, RWD, 2 seats and isn't very comfortable on a bumpy road. EDIT: Having said that, I still believe the RX8 to be a sports car, so that proves yet again that any definition of sports car can be compromised by automotive development. So I guess what makes a sports car is in the eye of the beholder :)

Ignore the retards.

Enough already... kartweb simply pointed out that different people have different definitions for a sports car. He's correct in that there are people that think a sports car must be of singular purpose. To some purists going by old traditional definitions, that can mean mid-engine, 1 seat, open wheel, no amenities, etc.

Both the Z and RX8 are compromises, just like every mass-produced car out there. They're both sports cars under any meaningful contemporary definition, and each have advantages and disadvantages compared to each other. What matters is that we have so many awesome cars to choose from today!

But then who will be left? And how am I supposed to ignore myself...

Congrats on the 8. We require a stock picture like every other person who buys one posts.

Insecurity does that to people. :p: The Z is a nice car, but with it's (reportedly) harsh ride, skittish cornering and only two seats, I prefer the 8. I also agree that there's too many of them on the roads around here. I prefer a car that's different. :)

I gave you about an hour to enjoy that post.

The one that was in French. :naughty:

But it was an 05 Evo I was in, and not an STI. I had mispoken.

Truly great car.

I take back everything bad I ever said about it.

Exotic car maybe?

One thing to take note... look at the engine placement in a 350z and compare it to the engine in a rx8. The rx8 engine doesn't start until after the front wheels, hence the term mid-ship layout. The 350z engine is more than 1/2 half past the front wheels. This alone makes a big difference in handling.

As cited, you really don't see many RX-8's on the road, which is a nice uniqueness thing ('what kind of car is that?'). Plus being able to answer the quintessential 'how many pistons?' with 'None.' ;)