so i was in the market for a rx-7, such a beautiful car. but after reading about how much it costs to maintain one of these babies i realize maybe it wasn't such a hot idea seeing how i don't even have a garage to work on it. got impulsive and went and put a deposit down on the 350Z. so what do you guys think? people who've driven both the rx7 and the 300z, am i making a mistake? should i keep looking for a 7? how do you think the 350 will compare?

 

It'll probably make a better everyday car for you. I saw one at the New York Auto Show. I'm not crazy about the exterior styling. I thought the interior looked pretty good though, especially the way they've done the dashboard instrument panel.

Performance....well, we'll have to wait to see some road tests. I think acceleration is still an open question. I read in one of the car mags that the handling is good, but a bit on the soft side. They said the engineers did that on purpose to make the car more acceptable to mainstream buyers. So in the end I think the Z will be a decent GT car, but the 7 will remain a car for hardcore sportscar freaks.

 

Rx-8

 

I owned a 300z for a while.

It's was a nice car. The handling was not the same as the FD, but it's better than a Civic.

Who knows, the 350z may be a real nice car. I agree with you, if you don't want to grab a wrench, the FD is probably not the car for you. Good luck!

 

You will get smoked by a RX8. You should get one.

Have you seen it yet?

Anyway, if you find an FD for $10K and dump another $10k, you will have a very fast and reliable car.

 

when does the 8 come out? i know the Z is slated for august timeframe. not a big fan of the 8's styling. maybe if they got rid of the small back doors and made it a 2 seater.

 

I think this belongs in the General Automotive forum....but the new Z does look promising. As far as what car will out gun the other...only a true test will tell.

 

Ive driven Z cars anf I think that they are tanks. They weight too much. I dont like the upkeep on the rex either but I love the performance. East decision i think

 

I really don't care for the 350z. Nothing I've seen about it has impressed me.

I like the styling of the RX-8 much better. They have similar power-weight ratios, and I can pretty much guarantee that the RX-8 will handle better.

 

You mean like the 240Z?

I think that the 350Z is a nice car out of the box. The performance is not going to be stellar, at least in a straight line. The "track" version that they are offering seems like it should handle pretty damn good. (It has a lot of good parts...don't know how they work together though.)

 

sorry for posting in wrong forum, since i was comparing it to a 3rd gen. anyways, i still like the rx7 looks better, but it's so hard to put down 20k for a 8 year old car with 100k miles. hopefully it'll be fast enough for me.

 

The Z has always been more of a GT car. The new 350 has lost its rear 2+2 seats. It's probably one of the best value sports car in the next year or so time frame. The convertible looks cool too. Performance wise, it's about 6 sec 0-60, pretty good but not as fast as the 3rd gen RX7. It should be very reliable though, the VQ engine is one of the best around.

The exterior style is a bit bland and lacks excitement. I like the RX8 nose much better but the rear door on the RX8 is a little funky. RX8 won't be out til mid/late 2003 so it maybe too long of a wait. Of the two, I prefer the RX8 bc of styling.

I bet you'll get hit with a huge dealer markup on the 350Z. That's something you'll want to consider too.

 

yea, i got a 2k markup. i've been reading the nissan sites and some people say they got it at msrp, but hey, i live in san fran (or maybe i'm just a sucker ). don't want to start a debate since nothing is official, but nissan has officially said it's under 6 secs and will be the fastest Z to date, meaning it would have to be at least mid/low 5s. but who knows, marketing people...the thing with the rx8 is if i'm going to stick in the same family i want the rx7!!!! damn, they need to bring over the 7 again.

 

oh, btw, what do y ou think about ford's footing in mazda? do you think the rx8 will suffer?

 

looks like i might not have to change my screen name. decided to pull out of the 350z (refundable deposit). in the end the markup, the wait, and the car didn't do it for me. there's just something about the rx7 that makes me drool. so i'm going to keep my accord and keep looking for a 7 as a weekend car. worst comes to worst it'll just sit there and look pretty if reliability problems arise. thanks for the inputs.

 

Although I love rotary's, I'd take the 350z over the rx-8,
man, you gotta love those flush fender bulges of the 350

 

The 350Z looks rediculous. Besides, it is the performance that is the real issue, and I think the rx-8 has the upper hand in that area. We'll need to see where the rx-8's price finally ends up.