Hercules

My apologies.

Either car will be pretty tough to whip rear-end out (as I did mention) but the fact the Z is a more powerful at the lower end gives it more ease to stupid drivers making big mistakes.

That said, I hope all dumb drivers crash their RX-8s and go back to the FWD ricemobiles they were driving before, just so the RX-8 maintains a good reputation of not being a ricermobile

BryanH

Just wait until you test drive the RX-8. I haven't driven a Z but the Mazda will be 300-400 lbs lighter, which is significant. It is also very likely not to have understeer-biased tuning from the factory like the Z has. So the RX-8 has 4 doors... does that automatically make it wussy compared to the 350Z? No! Just wait... just wait.

TJRX8

I drove both as well, the 350Z and G35. There is a reason the G35 won Motor Trend car of the year. It is overall a better car as stated above, you have two extra seats, a sunroof, the NAV is awesome and a lot less will be produced. I see 350Z's everyday and almost never see a 2-dr G35 on the road. Besides I think without the cheap looking door handles and the smoother nose and non-bubble ***-end it even looks better.

Either is a fine car though. But I'm waiting for the Black RX-8 that has my name on it and hopefully will get the best of both the 350Z and G35. We'll see....

PS: put your deposit on E-Bay and I'm sure somebody will snag it.

quicks8

TJZ-

Here is some advice:

Become an SCCA member and get your Z out on the track and you will be able to really see what it can and can't do. I have run a touring model Z at Mid-Ohio raceway and am very familiar with its handling capabilities. The Z is just not a "cornering machine".

Once you have done this then please feel free to share with the group an opinion that is based on some degree of experience with the car. You can really say that you know how well your car really drives if all you have ever done is "daily driving".

Plus after having the Z on the track you will have a better appreciation for the limits of your car. Not to say the Z is a limited car, but in a controlled environment, i.e. on the track and not on the highway, you can safely push your car to its limits and get a good feel for what it can really do.

quicks8

droidekaus-

The last 3 cars I have owned have been RWD cars:

89 RX-7
93 RX-7
01 Miata

The VDC DOES NOT keep you from spinning out. You may not actually spin more than once if you have the VDC engaged, but you will spin with enough coaxing if you try and hit a turn too hard.

If all you ever do is daily driving in your car you CANNOT honestly say that you know what you car really can and cannot do, or how it truly handles. I don't care if you have 8,000 or 80,000 miles on your car.

zoom44

i think both c&d and r&t said similar things about the Z, along the lines of "you can very quickly have the rear end passing the front" which would lead me to believe that it's a bit spin happy

TJZ

it's not. the Z actually has a little understeer.

TJZ

Thanks for the advise. I will be visiting my local track quite frequently come spring-time. However, you saying that the "Z spings out like it's its job" leads me to believe that you don't have very much experience with it (which is understandable, as you don't own one). Didn't you say you took one for a test-drive? Regardless, I have spoken with many people that have driven their Z's on a track and the only normal complaint i get is that the car pushes, no complaints about it being spin-happy.

quicks8

TJZ-

Actually I think you read my post incorrectly.

I have driven one on the track not just in a test drive. I spent 3 1/2 hours of track time with it. It is a truly impressive car. I never stated anywhere that the car was "spin happy". I do not believe this is the case at all.

In my original post I was trying to draw a reference between Mazda's comment that the 8 handles similar to a Miata and the fact that if that was the case that when it comes to handling the 8 will out perform the Z. My statement was that if you were to throw a Miata into a hard corner at 60 MPH (all things being equal) it would yield much better results than if you did this with a Z. If you attempted such a thing with the Z you would do a nice little spin, VDC or no VDC. (Well actually with no VDC you would probably do a few spins, but regardless..)

Doing this with the Miata you would push right through the turn without much difficulty. Well unless you tried to run your Miata on the track with 14" Blizzak snow tires on it, then you would be lucky if you walked away from it. I wouldn't have thought it was true either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but 2 years ago I saw a set of 4 Blizzaks on a M1 Miata at a lapping session.

I am glad to hear you will be putting in some track time with your Z this spring/summer. I am sure you will really love the car after that.

Just curious, did you get the Nav system with your Z? If so how do you like it? I haven't actually seen one in person, only in pictures and I have heard mixed reviews from different media sources, but never a review from a "real person" who owns one.

droidekaus

Wow. I don't know what to say. You must be the only person I've heard from who has actually spun the Z on a track, or the sh*ttiest driver in the world. Which one is it? Please, do me a favor and come over to my350z.com with your ridiculous and brazen comments. Not one owner who has seen track time in the Z will back you up. Not one.

My first track session is in March. I'll let you know how it goes. *rolling eyes*

BTW, when I said I can bring the tail around with ease that's with the VDC off. Who the hell would leave it on when trying to push any RWD car in a slide?

TJZ

I suppose i misread your post. Anyway, the miata is a really high standard for the 8 to live up to. We'll see how it turns out.

I did not get the nav in my Z. I don't do very much traveling so the cost doesnt seem justified for just the "neato" factor. Plus, i dont believe it's offered on my model. From what i hear, the owners that have got the nav are pretty happy with it (if that helps at all).

Can you tell me what month is the 8's anticipated debut?

Renesis08

Early as June as what most have heard... but officially, all I can say is .

RedRotaryRocket

I wouldn't be so confident about the inability to spin the RX-8 just because of the DSC. Granted, it may be good enough to keep the tail tucked in on full throttle, but that's not the only way to spin a car.

You can also spin a car with too little throttle, and it is my guess that too little throttle is the real reason most novices spin their cars. If you take a turn at the limits of adhesion, then you lift out of the throttle (or worse hit the brakes), the weight of the car shifts forward giving more traction to the front tires and less to the rear. The result is a nice spin. This is why most cars have lots of understeer built into them...because the average driver doesn't realize the dynamics of handling and their "panic instinct" is to slow down whenever things get hairy. An understeering car becomes neutral when you slow down. A neutral car moves to oversteer when you slow down. For this reason, there may be MORE spun RX-8's than spun Z's.

I expect the RX-8 to be very well balanced, much like the 3rd gen RX-7. If the RX-8 handles like the RX-7, it will be much easier to spin the car when you lift off the throttle then it will be to spin it on the throttle. As an example, I have had my RX-7 on a skid pad. Going around the skid pad, the only way I can get the tail out is to let off the throttle. When the tail gets too far out of line, full throttle tucks it right back in. There is no DSC or TCS on the RX-7. Full throttle is handled by the excellent suspension tuning.

TJRX8

Funny how that works. In Tampa there is a Nissan and Infinity dealer side by side. The last time I was there Nissan had 8 350Z's, 7 available. The Infinity dealer had 4 G35C, 3 sold that day. They have been selling them as fast as they can unload them. I wonder how the allotments compare from your dealer to this one.

Demographics has a lot to do with sales also. The buyers down here are a little more refined, educated, and intelligent, afterall they live in warm weather year around!!!! :-) JUST KIDDING before all you unlucky Northerners start blasting the South. Who would give up freezing cold and snow covered roads for Florida's 350+ days of car friendly great driving weather anyway..... ME!

ToRX-8orToZ

Florida sucks. Its all bout Cali...

As a side note, Tampa Bay sucks too, along with your pansy orange wearing football team. Go raidas!

TJRX8

Real intelligent, best kept for the Honda forums filled with little punk kids and their "fart pipes". BTW the Bucs haven't worn Orange in a few years, not that I care because I'm not a BUCS fan anyway. Tampa doesn't suck either it's actually a great place to live. Parts of California are great too, San Diego is one of them. Too each his own.


PS: F@*ck the Raiders!

TJZ

yea, i certainly hope he wasn't referring to the Gators.....

Boost Inside

And if he was?

Fëakhelek

Wow, I really never expected to see so many twerpy punks on an RX-8 forum. I hate to think of these guys being seen in the same kind of car I drive. Now I know how normal people who try to drive Civics feel. I sure hope I don't end up being identified with guys who drive around giving "shouts out to der peeps" and such out the window of RX-8s with big chrome aftermarket tailpipes. Hopefully they can't afford 30k for a car but I imagine there will be enough living in their parents basements to deface a few 8s and make us cringe. Oh well.

Boost Inside

It happens to the best of us.......thats why i bought a WRX...

TJZ

Then he sucks b/c the Gators rock.

ToRX-8orToZ

<<Real intelligent, best kept for the Honda forums filled with little punk kids and their "fart pipes". BTW the Bucs haven't worn Orange in a few years, not that I care because I'm not a BUCS fan anyway. Tampa doesn't suck either it's actually a great place to live. Parts of California are great too, San Diego is one of them. Too each his own. >>

Relax, I'm just having a little fun with you.

Namely because:

1) I'm a Raider fan who hates the bucs.

and

2) I'm a Notre Dame fan who hates the gators.

As for issues of intelligence, I'm not sure you really want to be the person making assumptions. Considering you don't know how to use a comma or semicolon correctly, chances are that if you indeed did manage to graduate from an institution of higher learning, it was because you ordered a diploma via fed ex.

MikeW

Isn't the weight distribution of a 350Z about 53/47 (stick)

So when the 350Z convertible comes, won't the top + chasis bracing add more weight to the rear. So won't the drop top come in at 51/49 weight distribution.


What is the widest tire that one can get on the Z, 235/40 18 front 265/35 18 rear?

ZoomZoom

But what about the loss of the weight of the roof?