This was a post on the new 350z from a forum at honda-tech.com i find it interesting!!

Exterior: overall it looks good, but it can be refined alot more. I don't believe in straight edge styling incorporated in today's cars, surfaces need to be tapered and smoothed. The back of the car doesn't seen to have a real bumper zone. Small accidents looks costly and i wonder if nissan sacrificed looks over safety.
Rear strutt bar is a joke. It takes valuable boot space and the z emblem on the bar reflects off the rear windows i've heard. How stupid is that?
Interior: seats are average, definitely not recaro quality. thumbs up to the gauge clusters. s2000 steering wheel and pedals are off higher design and quality.

Engine: Typical nissan cheapness applied here. They have like 4 major engine platforms and they tweak slightly for different model cars. s2000 engine is built ground up for specifically for the car. That's real engineering folks. There is nothing technically advanced about the 350z engine, just good old cubes making power.

Chassis: For a small 2 seat coupe it's hella heavy. The s2000 is 1250kg's and being a convertible it should be heavier than a coupe. s2000 chassis being stiff as it is, the 350z clearly should be lighter. We all know weight is a performance killer.

Conclusion: Technologically inferior compared to the s2000. Cheaply designed and built for the mass market to maximise nissan's bottom line. Honda put technology and quality before profits.

But at the end of the day it performs and is cheap dollar wise. Nissan does have a winner.
_______

'01 Honda Integra Type-R
Championship White #094

people are forgetting the purpose of the 350z. The engineeers wanted a Z that had the same qualities as the first gen Z. When the first gen came out, it didnt take the world by storm because it was the best car around. It was cheap, performed great, considering the pricing and looked good. Nissan shouldve kept the weight down though. Otherwise, i love the car.

we should definitely take into consideration the thoughts of some who uses the word "hella" to describe anything. hella should be a company who makes lights, not an adjective. and using the idea that a convertible should be heavier than a coupe is brilliant, too. we all know how much heavier the 1st generation miatas were over our se-r's. and how heavy all those british roadsters are. the z has 10 inches more wheelbase, 7 inches overall length, 3 inches higher, and an inch taller, so why shouldn't it be heavier? the nsx is heavier, too. hmm...
not to mention the z has more power and torque.
nothing more interesting than someones opinion, is it? let's base some facts off of it.
sorry...rant...but i hate reading crap like this. i live the fact that nissan engines are being called cheap by someone who drives an integra. the rb series engines sure do suck, so do those sr motors:rolleyes:

It's his opinion, and he's entitled to it... Though I definitely disagree with just about everything he's said. Sounds like the closest he's gotten to a 350Z was just sitting in it. For all we know, he didn't even get to test drive the car. He should also know that the 350Z is about a few hundred pounds lighter than the Z32 300ZX Twin Turbo.


Originally posted by Stirpicult
we should definitely take into consideration the thoughts of some who uses the word "hella" to describe anything. hella should be a company who makes lights, not an adjective.

Heh... You know, I think using "hella" as an adjective originated out here in the SF Bay Area.

and using the idea that a convertible should be heavier than a coupe is brilliant, too. we all know how much heavier the 1st generation miatas were over our se-r's.

Yeah... They *weren't* heavier than the SE-R's... In fact, the 1st gen Miata's were much lighter than SE-R's (in the neighborhood of 2200lbs). My 2nd Gen Miata weighed in at 2330lbs with 1/3 tank of gas... It's a fully-loaded Miata with a 6-speed tranny, leather everything, extra chassis bracing up the butt... Definitely lighter than an SE-R.

Off Topic forum:D

Originally posted by RollcageSR20
Yeah... They *weren't* heavier than the SE-R's

i know....that was sarcasm. i chose it because the horsepower rating and prices were about the same (similar, i guess, to the 350z and s2000 comparison). he was saying that the s2000 should weigh more, even though its conceptual design as well as maker are completely different.
make sense now:)

Ditto.

Originally posted by RollcageSR20
Though I definitely disagree with just about everything he's said.

S2000 has 153 ft. lbs of, ............I can feel my neck breaking now. And its just sooo cute *says in a gay kinda voice*:rolleyes:

And I deffinately dont think that Nissan had intended the 350z to be a S2000 fighter,lol.

They need to pick up a Copy of SCC or super street... one of them did a writeup on the new Z... everything in that car is heavily engineering, even the damn exhaust was designed to help with drag...

Damn pushrod VQ only pushing out 280+hp I mean who the hell wants torque and power below 6k rpm...

But really i'm not gonna get started. this guy is just hating on Nissans in general and just to let you guys know, the Hondatech guys arent all dicks like that one guy... a lot of them own a honda as well as other cars...

please please please give me a link, I want to get involved in this sooooooooooo bad:D

on the other hand, this sounds like a third grader wrote the review. completely contradicted the whole article in the conclusion.

didn't even touch the fact that the 350 has to push 11.25 lb for every 1 hp and the s2000 has to lug around 11.7! now whose weigh is a performance killer?

didn't mention the superior braking system. 4 piston brembo brakes. would you rather pay for brand name brakes or "recaro like quality" seats? hmmmm....:rolleyes:

I agree with you stilleto, the brakes are one of the things that really impressed me on the 350z, 4 pot brembo callipers, the same as the ones on ther34 skyline GT-R. Granted it is on the track model but who cares, the fact that they have a track model also shows what nissan has in mind.

Who gives a shit what someone else thinks about the new Z? You guys let things bother you too much. Quite making things into a Nissan Vs Honda Debate, that crap gets old quick.

Originally posted by PSSSHHHGOESMYSR20
Who gives a shit what someone else thinks about the new Z? You guys let things bother you too much. Quite making things into a Nissan Vs Honda Debate, that crap gets old quick.

Hey! Quit knocking a perfectly good Off Topic thread! :p They're hard to come by lately now that we can't post porn or kill stories.

All I got to say is that 350z is going to smoke that S2000 with less money spent. Gee, should I spend my money wisely?

After reading that passage again, I have to say that the author is comparing the 350z to the wrong car. The 350Z and the S2000 isn't even in the same class. If there is any comparable car in Honda's line-up, it would have to be an Acura NSX. 3.5L vs. 3.2L, 287hp vs 290hp, both are 2-seaters and RWD and weigh nearly the same, and the performance figures for the two are nearly the same. I won't even bring up the price comparison... In terms of sheer performance, those two cars are very comparable... But in terms of performance-per-dollar, the NSX would lose to a lot of cars in its class. I've ridden in an NSX before, and I could sort of see why it's so freakin' expensive. However, the S2000 (as good of a car that one is) should even be part of this discussion... Different class, different demographic completely.

Originally posted by PSSSHHHGOESMYSR20
Who gives a shit what someone else thinks about the new Z? You guys let things bother you too much. Quite making things into a Nissan Vs Honda Debate, that crap gets old quick.

doesn't bother me one bit. he coulda compared a Z to a Leon Cupra R and i still woulda done my research. i enjoy the chance to dig around the web and gain more knowledge about ALL cars, regardless of year, make and model.

Rollcage: excellent point. i too have riden in a NSX. personally, i'd rather own a '02 'Vette Z06...or a GTR V spec. :cool:

For the money they want for an NSX I'm sure you can get a GTR from Motorex. And I think even the Honda guys know which one is the better car. but now that I think about it, they do drive hundahs.....:rolleyes:

nothing wrong with Hondas.. I loved my Prelude TypeSH.. don't let a few haters get you all worked up...

just because I like the SE-R doesn't mean I like the new Z either.. it doesn't look good from most angles. and it definately could stand to lose a few pounds