Felt like I climbed Mt. Everest. Picked up my Z! Driving Her Home & First Impressions

[MCN1SMO]

Mr. TrackRat (@trackratZ) - hope you had a splendid weekend!

Was able to log an additional 150km / 90mi on her over this weekend.
The weather was fabulous up here in Canada, where I live - 25C weather with blue skies and the gleaming sun.

Took her on local streets, so no highway / freeway driving.
"Sort of back roads" (basically really sub-urban boroughs close to my location, light to medium traffic in many cases, narrow roads with small shoulders, decent elevation [like 20-40 feet throughout], great winds) lower speeds at around 30-50km / 20-30mi

Ran her in Sport mode throughout and was very tame (loads of cyclists, pedestrians sharing the roads as there are no dedicate sidewalks).
As you can imagine, i was very low throttle and the feedback was never twitchy.
You can hear the exhaust a little more compared to standard, but at these low speeds / low pedal pressure - sport & standard are very similiar.

When I did open her up, the lag was minimal on Sport mode when comparing back to Standard.
Still going with my initial comments around how "sport tightens everything up, smaller bands, quicker spool, etc."
Still holding my comment where Sport mode really only changes accelerator / pedals.
Absolute no change in suspension, breaking, etc.

Hope this provides some clarity on more local roads with more stop/start and not just freeway cruising

thats a good assessment of sport mode. I found so far is blips the throttle on braking/downshift to me the steering is noticeably tighter

also according to nissan enhanced ( artificial) engine sounds are piped into the cabin in sport mode

The 8-speaker Bose Premium Audio system is custom-engineered for the shape of the Nissan Z's cabin, while advanced technology reduces interior noise and enhances the spine-tingling note of the 400-horsepower, twin-turbo V6

 

[SavedByFaith_]

thats a good assessment of sport mode. I found so far is blips the throttle on braking/downshift to me the steering is noticeably tighter

also according to nissan enhanced ( artificial) engine sounds are piped into the cabin in sport mode

Yea, definitely agree on the brakes; felt natural I didn't even notice.

I'm still unsure how I feel on the enhanced sound.
I've noticed it, still making out the difference in the raw sound vs. speakers.

All in all, great experience driving her around, even tame, in sport mode!

 

[bpeckham]

Yea, definitely agree on the brakes; felt natural I didn't even notice.

I'm still unsure how I feel on the enhanced sound.
I've noticed it, still making out the difference in the raw sound vs. speakers.

All in all, great experience driving her around, even tame, in sport mode!

I'm kinda hoping the end user can turn off/on the fake engine noise. I think I saw somewhere that the dealer can do this.

 

[SavedByFaith_]

Hello folks!
Figured I'd post on my original thread and provide an update and some pics!

Since bringing the Z home, I've logged nearly ~900kms / ~600mi.
I've added the MAP Cat-Back Exhaust, I was planning on doin the full catted downpipes - but now saving this for next year to go along with a Tune and wtv other parts my wallet can handle.

Here to talk about two things.
1. Driving Experience in my local area & 2. MAP CBE Experience

Starting with #1:
Recall, I drove my Z 3000kms/ 1800mi back home which was all really freeway / interstate roads.
Z is a cruiser and a straight line beast and it showed on the trip back home. Now, driving my local roads and going through traffic lights, stop-signs and road bumps, it's a different experience.

There have been some threads on the trans "clunk", this has been smoothed out flawlessly in my Z.
After about 200-300km (a handful of days) driving in these areas, the Trans tuned itself to smooth out the gears more - this was all driving in auto mode (no manual, tbh, have not driven more then 20kms in manual mode, there is some clunk here - but I feel it'll smooth itself out if I was to leverage it more, also helps to never downshift into 1, as the car will do it on it's own)

Mileage has been great, can't give numbers as i keep the dash on sport mode and i don't really care to monitor. Gauge is showing roughly 500kms per fill-up, I'm getting about 400km (every drive, Ido at least a handful of pulls with at least 50% pedal down).

My initial thoughts on the interior and comfort still hold - honestly, slightly better now that the fake leather and seats have molded to my shape.
AA has been smooth.

There was a thread about the reverse camera where I too was experiencing black screen or delayed feed. Seems to have corrected itself or at least got in the safety range of "appearing in less then 2 secs", to be frank the black screen/stutter only happened twice for me and never since.

To simply say the car is amazing is an understatement.... it's a beauty too look at, a beast when you want it to be or just a cruise machine.
I have no annoyances or anything of that flavor after having the car for over a month in my local area.

On to #2: MAP CBE
This... is a MUST HAVE (CBE).
It truly changed my perspective on the car and it's overall offering.
I'll add some sound clips (probably on the MAP thread) - but it doesn't do justice...
I've watched nearly all the clips of the different vendors and their respective sound clips; now i can't talk to all the other vendors, but at least the different videos I saw for the MAP (speedhause, panda, MAP/DustinWilliams) - the sound I hear IRL vs. clips; it's night and day..

To put simply.... its "feels" twice as loud... (loud isn't the right word though... it's more like twice the experience). Overall: the sound is deeper and more growl (think back of throat instead of back of tongue, if y'all were to make exhaust noises with your mouth [c'mon I know we all do it....])

Idle: moreorless same as stock - a bit deeper
Cold Start: More smoke (obvs as more flow) and probably 3-5db louder
idle - 2k: deeper and small growl,
2k-3.5/4k - THIS IS THE MONEY, extreme growl (imagine making an "O" with your mouth and doing that growl from the back of the throat, whereas on idle, small growl but "closed mouth") this range really makes me smile, a little obnoxious, but honestly it aint like the trumpet days of the 350/370
4k+: getting back to the stock experience but imagine a better maestro / orchestra (all the tones, pitch, melody is the same but with a more mature, deeper, growl)

Issues with the exhaust:
damn alignment...... it took about 1.5hours total from the moment I pulled onto the lift to be raised and then driving out. This was done with a garage who have experience with JDM and specifically the q60. All in all, the first visit was flawless, get aligned well.

It was fresh metal, so i did expect some warping/shift after i pass extreme heat via pulls and this was the case. It did happen rather quick... a few days and less them 100km of driving, the driver side tip shifted about an inch and was nearly touching the plastic diffuser.
Brought her in, realign just by torquing the bolts and positioning. Same thing... after about 50km this time, driver tip again shifted and nearly touching plastic diffuser.

At this point, I started to get under the car myself and tinker myself (couldn't driver her out of fear of burning the plastic diffuser with the exhaust nearly touching!)
The OEM Hangars..... it kept allowing the rubber piece that hangs on the metal to shift around...

Went back to the garage, mechanic noticed and we put 4 clamps/donuts on the hangars (two in the rear near the tips and two right after the midpipe) Took her around the block with aggressive pulls and everything as firm without shift.
Then this past weekend, I logged 250kms and the exhaust is still rock solid!

My advice: for those doing it with a garage, be ready to spend ample time and multiple trials to ensure everything settles. If i can do it again, I'd book a half day with the garage and go on and off the lift a few times after some pulls after each iteration.

All in all, the CBE was more then worth it (and cmon, 4 inch tips?! make it look agro as hellllll)
Here to answer any and all questions

 

[bpeckham]

To simply say the car is amazing is an understatement.... it's a beauty too look at, a beast when you want it to be or just a cruise machine.

Hear! Hear!

Most of the time I'm pretty mellow (still in the break in period), but every so often, there's an empty on ramp, or a gap in traffic just up ahead on the freeway, and this car just moves out without even crossing 4k rpm.

I recall seeing that crashed blue Z earlier this year, and it makes me think to myself, "take it easy until you get used to the power."

Coming from the G37 (174 lbs heavier, and 70 fewer HP), the Z is just a rocket. I have noticed slight turbo lag in the Z, when the turbo really kicks in, you need to be ready for it because the car wants to cross 4k.

 

[SavedByFaith_]

Hear! Hear!

Most of the time I'm pretty mellow (still in the break in period), but every so often, there's an empty on ramp, or a gap in traffic just up ahead on the freeway, and this car just moves out without even crossing 4k rpm.

I recall seeing that crashed blue Z earlier this year, and I it makes me think to myself, "take it easy until you get used to the power."

Coming from the G37 (174 lbs heavier, and 70 fewer HP), the Z is just a rocket. I have noticed slight turbo lag in the Z, when the turbo really kicks in, you need to be ready for it because the car wants to cross 4k.

10000%
i was fortune to break-in on my road trip home.
So every time i drive now, I'm hitting red line at least once.

For those new to "Fast cars" - be careful!
it's more then a handful.
(must say Traction Control works really nice paired with the LSD)

 

[jdm-rhd]

nice update

glad your enjoying the z