A&Q about 350Z
Q:
I agree and disagree. On the issue of the interior, I agree completely. I actually greatly prefer the Z's interior to the 911's. It's understated, sleek, and minimalist. Very cool, I think.
As for the stereo, I've never understood why so many complain about it. I think it rocks. I've got a 6-disc in-dash changer -- what's so bad about that? The speakers sound fantastic as far as I'm concerned.
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My ride: 2003 Silverstone Touring, Stillen front end, AEM cold air intake, 18 inch chrome wheels
A:
boyoZ,
The color is "Interlagos Fire". Sounds much cooler than "purple/brown" :)
And I agree with all your statements - Just love it!
The original stereo, at least in my 350Z, really sucked. It was all related to the head unit. I knew it wasn't very good, but I didn't know just how poor of quality it was until I switched out the head unit.
Also, if you want to get a feel for why things are the way they are in the 350Z, and to gain an extra appreciation for the car, go to a Z car club meeting and check out all of the previous Zs (240-Z32) and you'll see the resemblance, both inside and out. The simplicity in design goes way back to the original 240Z, which allows you to focus on the joy of driving. The 300ZX Z32 can be seen in the smooth, low lines of the body. I had a '79 280ZX, and I could see many similarities even in that model. Nissan stuck to their heritage very well on the design for the 350Z.
Tips on performance... go to an autocross and practice. Autocrosses allow you to push the car to its limits in control without endangering yourself or others. The best performance you can improve in a sports car is yourself - learn how to become a better driver.
For increasing performance by modifying the car, it depends on your goal. If you want to autocross in stock class, you can only change tires (R-compounds are best if you get an extra set of wheels), wheels (you can go lighter-weight, but can't change the size or offset from the stock wheels), lubricants (synthetic), front sway bar (stiffer), shocks (Koni yellows is standard it seems), drop-in air filter element (no cold-air intakes), and exhaust behind the cats. You can alter the alignment (within factory spec) to be more aggressive, but you will eat tires even faster than normal. Any additional mods put you in a higher competitive group, which makes it harder for a newbie to compete (but then again it depends on whether you want to compete or just want to practice driving as to whether or not this matters to you). Then there's track racing with their own regulations on mods, which are quite a bit different. Then you have drifting - a complete other beast that you can dump a lot of money into. Then you have show-car performance, such as Zaino car-care products, lots of chrome, cool gadgets, giant turbos, and other glitz. And then you have street-performance, which sort of allows an owner to pick and choose what features from the other groups they want to apply, while trying to keep the car as streetable as possible. And I'm sure I'm missing other types of performance modding, but that covers a lot of it. So its all in what you want to set as your goal.
Welcome to the Z!
'04 Daytona Blue 350Z Enthusiast - B-Stock #34
Tanabe Sustec 36mm chromoly front sway bar
K&N drop in air filter
Hawk HPS brake pads
Pioneer Premier CD/MP3 head unit
18% tint rear and sides
A:
So the speakers are OK -- great, I have a really nice Pioneer hu in the garage, I'll put it in when I have an afternoon to spare. Any recommendations for mounting kits?
A:
Yea, I think the factory speakers are decent. Of course I might change my mind if I found out what it would sound like with upgraded speakers :) But that's not in my wishlist for now.
For the install, check out www.350z-tech.com for install instructions. Very helpful.
Mounting kits... I could only find one kit when I was looking last fall. I forget the brand, but they were the only one for a 350Z.
'04 Daytona Blue 350Z Enthusiast - B-Stock #34
Tanabe Sustec 36mm chromoly front sway bar
K&N drop in air filter
Hawk HPS brake pads
Pioneer Premier CD/MP3 head unit
18% tint rear and sides
A:
tip: no more giggling.
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'05 350Z Chrome Silver Touring
'73 240Z
A:
Boyoz - Go to www.zaino.com order Z1 and Z2. Follow directions. You will not regret.
'04 Black Touring
A:
Chuckling?
A:
chuckling is ok but then people may call you chuckles.
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'05 350Z Chrome Silver Touring
'73 240Z
A:
How 'bout Doctor Chuckles, sounds kinda sinister/psycho? In fact I may change my name to it.
A:
Have zero complaints about the Bose system in my 05.boyoZ wrote:
'05 350ZR
Charleston SC
A:
dr chuckles sounds like a serial killer.
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'05 350Z Chrome Silver Touring
'73 240Z
A:
BoyoZ congrats man!
I just got one myself a month ago. I still can't believe it! That ride is so sweet!!!! I'm glad these forums are here cuz my friends (none of them have z's) are tired of hearing me talk about it, especially the wifey LOL!!!!!!
06 Black coupe, manual, base model. I agree with all the comments, I have no issues with the stereo system at all. I am planning to change out the head unit at some point, but I've been totally satisfied with the way the speakers sound.
Eric, great suggestion about taking it to the autocross. All I ever want to do is open that baby up, but half the time I'm too afraid 5-0's waiting around the next bend... I need to find out where the closest autocross is and get into some seriours drivin'!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)