Toyota GR 86 vs Nissan Z

Z_Coastal

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Agreed, I think they just had too far to go, for my personal tastes anyway.
 

RicerX

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Why are we comparing these two??
I ask myself this every single time this comes up.

They're two totally different cars. Despite "feel" and "lightness", the BRZ doesn't get around a track faster than a Z, end of story. It's ok if you like it, but if you're in the market for a true sports car experience, the Z wins.

The BRZ is a budget sports car - a compromise. It compromises on pure sports car experience to add daily-use practicality. It compromises on power to meet economical fuel consumption and pricing. It does a great job at all of those things.

The Z is not a sports car compromise, it's a sports car. Albeit a lower-tier sports car than a Corvette or a Cayman or a 911, but it's a sports car. It doesn't have back seats. It doesn't sip fuel. It doesn't forego power potential (for its packaging) to lean toward practicality or efficiency. It's intended purpose is to be a sports car. The BRZ is a budget alternative to a sports car.
 

MARLEY

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I can't believe this is a 3 page thread. They're not even in the same class in my mind. The only similarities are 2 door, RWD and manual, might as well throw in a 992 911, or maybe an Aston Martin Vantage for comparison.
 

therumblewagon

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I am not the OP, but to think people will not cross-shop these is … unrealistic IMO.
Gotta agree here. For people keeping the formula very simple - 2-door + RWD + row row row your gears - it fits just fine. If we wanna get more nuanced about capes, design, etc. then yeah it starts to separate.

No turbo, cheap interior, weak tech. These are my issues with the twins (as a prospective DD)
Yeah, I keep reading stellar reviews of the car, but I just can't get over those points. Would make for a great cone killer at autocross, but not sure beyond that.
 

wheelspeed

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I am totally cross-shopping 370Z, new Z, or new BRZ/GR. (Along with Camaro SS, 1LE, vettes, maybe Lotus Elise, Cayman...)

Back to BRZ vs Z as the title suggests, they're both affordable sporty handling RWD cars. I hate the fact that so many professional reviews just go to the track. You can make a horribly handling everyday driver work well on a track. I don't think I'm a good driver, and just want a car that's fun on public roads, and fun at sane corner speeds for average drivers. I'll be putting all-seasons on whatever I buy, so that'll help, but I want a well-balance chassis so it works well while tires are slipping a bit.

I've noticed on 370Z forums that it's very hard to hear real driving experiences. Too many people talk about looks or 'what is a sportscar'. I Don't care.

What are the thoughts on how the new Z will handle normal public roads at some speed, near the edge of traction? Will it be balanced? Will it be a Mustang over-spin deathtrap? It was hard to get very good explanations through 370Z forums because most ppl just spoke of it looking cool or not, but I'd love to hear more impressions of the handling. (Turn in, mid-turn, turn exit under throttle, unplanned corrections, etc.)

Some of you complaining about a car being noisy are shooting yourselves in the foot. Many of the best sportscars forego sound-deadening to save some wait to gain sports handling.

Not a GR/BRZ fanboy... it's quite possible I still buy a used 370Z or maybe a new Z, but I feel like i'm starving for real info. Half the posts here were about looks, noise, or interior, which is just embarrassing for a car-enthusiast forum. Lets talk about the car and it's handling. I don't give a shit about noise or interior in a sportscar, and looks are personal. Just want a street-legal car that's going to be fun on the STREET. (Everything is pretty fun on a track.)

PS- Hope you all are doing well. Sorry I'm confrontational. I really liked the 370Z I test drove, but I can't know anything about handling from a 3-mile test drive. And it's been hard during the last year to learn more details from real driving enthusiasts. So far I belive that whatever Z I may get, I'd probably change to a square setup to help handling balance.
 

jdm-rhd

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@wheelspeed i get what your saying. ive crossshopped them too. pretty much every review/test drive vid i've seen always praises the frs/brz/86 in handling, low center of gravity, 50/50 weight dusribution, being light weight, ect.

downside on older models was power...this is supposedly remedied in the newer models.
 
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Haste

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I am totally cross-shopping 370Z, new Z, or new BRZ/GR. (Along with Camaro SS, 1LE, vettes, maybe Lotus Elise, Cayman...)

Back to BRZ vs Z as the title suggests, they're both affordable sporty handling RWD cars. I hate the fact that so many professional reviews just go to the track. You can make a horribly handling everyday driver work well on a track. I don't think I'm a good driver, and just want a car that's fun on public roads, and fun at sane corner speeds for average drivers. I'll be putting all-seasons on whatever I buy, so that'll help, but I want a well-balance chassis so it works well while tires are slipping a bit.

I've noticed on 370Z forums that it's very hard to hear real driving experiences. Too many people talk about looks or 'what is a sportscar'. I Don't care.

What are the thoughts on how the new Z will handle normal public roads at some speed, near the edge of traction? Will it be balanced? Will it be a Mustang over-spin deathtrap? It was hard to get very good explanations through 370Z forums because most ppl just spoke of it looking cool or not, but I'd love to hear more impressions of the handling. (Turn in, mid-turn, turn exit under throttle, unplanned corrections, etc.)

Some of you complaining about a car being noisy are shooting yourselves in the foot. Many of the best sportscars forego sound-deadening to save some wait to gain sports handling.

Not a GR/BRZ fanboy... it's quite possible I still buy a used 370Z or maybe a new Z, but I feel like i'm starving for real info. Half the posts here were about looks, noise, or interior, which is just embarrassing for a car-enthusiast forum. Lets talk about the car and it's handling. I don't give a shit about noise or interior in a sportscar, and looks are personal. Just want a street-legal car that's going to be fun on the STREET. (Everything is pretty fun on a track.)

PS- Hope you all are doing well. Sorry I'm confrontational. I really liked the 370Z I test drove, but I can't know anything about handling from a 3-mile test drive. And it's been hard during the last year to learn more details from real driving enthusiasts. So far I belive that whatever Z I may get, I'd probably change to a square setup to help handling balance.
I'm getting both cars, so I really have no dog in this fight. I think you'll find on this board that there are a variety of people here with different intentions for the new Z. For some it will be their only car and daily driver. Others of us already have a street car or in some cases a few other street cars that we'll keep, and the Z will be an addition. For other people it will primarily be a dedicated track car. So based on where you fall you may want different things in the car, but at the end of the day they have to cater it to the masses as a sports car for practical everyday use.

Since you mentioned Elise and Cayman, you may very well be happiest with a GT4, 4C, Evora, Exige, etc. type car, even if it's only going to see the street. I don't think that the BRZ/GR is a bad car at all if you're looking for something cheaper and lightweight that can be thrown around rather easily and are fine with being down on power. If handling and grip is what you're after, then ditch run flats and all season tires on whatever car you end up getting and get proper summer tires. I've gone through a number of sets of PS4S's and it's hard to imagine riding on anything else at the moment, even just for street use.

I'm not the best person to talk about the handling as I never drove my Z33 or Z34 on a track, but I did push both very hard on the street. I was a much less experienced driver when I owned the Z33 but never found it to be too much or unbalanced. Mine didn't have TCS/VDC so it would get a bit sideways rather easily but not uncontrollable and I never had any incidents with it.

The Z34 ate up just about everything I could throw at it on the street. It's been over 6 years since I last drove one, but I don't recall there being much understeer or handling issues. I drove my 335i back from NC after getting out of the Z, and man did I ever learn what understeer was on that trip. I instantly thought I had made a mistake. The Z felt like it was on rails in comparison and it took some decent money to get my E92 to handle anywhere near as well as I felt like my Z34 did. It does have way more power now than the Z but I still don't think it handles quite as well. With all the nannies off the 370 did test me a few times however, but I think each time it was on cold, worn or lower quality tires. I lost it once and did a 180, but fortunately didn't hit anything. Every other time after that I found it rather easy to redirect. One thing to keep in mind is how much more torque the new Z has over prior iterations. I fully expect to see a few written off rather quickly once this car comes out ?

One last thing, a car can also be noisy in different ways from the cabin. If I'm spending $40k+ on a brand new car in 2022 then I'm expecting some level of interior quality and creature comforts which doesn't necessarily imply that it has to be quiet. I want to hear the engine, intake, BOV, etc.; not dash rattles and wind noise with the windows up. I'm not even saying that a Z has the perfect, quiet, rattle-free interior, but that's often a valid knock against all cheaper or lower quality cars when you're used to a certain experience from within the car. I drive with my windows down almost exclusively anyway, and like my current car my Z will probably get downpipes, exhaust, intakes and BOV's right away, so I'm all for it being noisy in the right kind of way.
 
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ZDreamer

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@5:30 on first vid, he said "two+two hatch" - what's that mean? I thought the Z is 2-seater while the G37 or Q60 are 2+2?
 

RicerX

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I am totally cross-shopping 370Z, new Z, or new BRZ/GR. (Along with Camaro SS, 1LE, vettes, maybe Lotus Elise, Cayman...)
When an automaker wants to know what you're cross-shopping in order to see where their product will compete and they get an answer like this, they ignore it, which is why it doesn't matter if you're cross-shopping a BRZ or a Z.

When you figure out what it is that you want in a car (seriously - you're telling us you'd potentially spend $50k more than what a BRZ costs and expect us to think you'd actually end up potentially buying a BRZ... come on), then I'll listen if I'm an automaker. For now, this is just blowing smoke. If I can afford a nicely equipped Cayman, why the f*ck am I even thinking about a Subaru?

The hype over that little car makes zero sense to me. The only reason it gets any attention whatsoever is because its entry price starts with a 2. It's not the best at anything it does (except passenger space). It's fine that people like it - I'm all for options on the market. But you look in any direction in the sports car market there's a better car. The Miata is faster, handles better, and weighs less for the same money. The 370Z was significantly more powerful and quicker for not even 10% more money, and the new Z will be in a completely different league of performance to justify its price increase over the 370Z. The BRZ is a car that handles very sporty yet has a "usable" back seat and a trunk. Sports cars, when built to serve as a sports car, aren't intended to serve as a daily driver. Some do daily drive their sports cars (I daily drove a 370Z for four years, but life changed for me and my daily is now a half-ton truck.) but they're not built to prioritize the scope of daily driving.

Back to BRZ vs Z as the title suggests, they're both affordable sporty handling RWD cars. I hate the fact that so many professional reviews just go to the track. You can make a horribly handling everyday driver work well on a track. I don't think I'm a good driver, and just want a car that's fun on public roads, and fun at sane corner speeds for average drivers.
They go to the track to show what these cars can do at their limit. To find out if it's fun on public roads and has room for your lattes, you can always test drive one you're serious about buying.

I'll be putting all-seasons on whatever I buy, so that'll help, but I want a well-balance chassis so it works well while tires are slipping a bit.
...help with what, exactly?

I've noticed on 370Z forums that it's very hard to hear real driving experiences. Too many people talk about looks or 'what is a sportscar'. I Don't care.
There's 12 years worth of posts on this on many forums (not facebook). Just gotta dig around a bit.

What are the thoughts on how the new Z will handle normal public roads at some speed, near the edge of traction? Will it be balanced? Will it be a Mustang over-spin deathtrap?
What are you even on about?

You're not supposed to be near the edge of traction in a car that can handle a full lateral G with the right tires on a public road. This is why sports cars go to track reviews so you can figure out the answer to the questions of handling at the limit in a safe and legal environment. Mustangs aren't deathtraps unless you're an idiot driver. The people you see driving like assholes leaving cars and coffee are driving to their atrocious skill level. You can do it in any car - we just always see Mustangs doing it because they're some of the cheapest speed out there.

Quite honestly, you can get into serious trouble with a Camry on public roads at the limit. Add that to the list!

Some of you complaining about a car being noisy are shooting yourselves in the foot. Many of the best sportscars forego sound-deadening to save some wait to gain sports handling.
I actually agree with you here. If you want quiet, buy a Leaf. I have yet to sit in any sports car and describe the experience as "tranquil".



...but I feel like i'm starving for real info. Half the posts here were about looks, noise, or interior, which is just embarrassing for a car-enthusiast forum. Lets talk about the car and it's handling. I don't give a shit about noise or interior in a sportscar, and looks are personal. Just want a street-legal car that's going to be fun on the STREET. (Everything is pretty fun on a track.)
No one is talking about the new Z handling because it's not fucking out yet and no one has actually driven it. Take a driving course while you're waiting.

Happy hump day, everyone!
 

siggy

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I ask myself this every single time this comes up.

They're two totally different cars. Despite "feel" and "lightness", the BRZ doesn't get around a track faster than a Z, end of story. It's ok if you like it, but if you're in the market for a true sports car experience, the Z wins.

The BRZ is a budget sports car - a compromise. It compromises on pure sports car experience to add daily-use practicality. It compromises on power to meet economical fuel consumption and pricing. It does a great job at all of those things.

The Z is not a sports car compromise, it's a sports car. Albeit a lower-tier sports car than a Corvette or a Cayman or a 911, but it's a sports car. It doesn't have back seats. It doesn't sip fuel. It doesn't forego power potential (for its packaging) to lean toward practicality or efficiency. It's intended purpose is to be a sports car. The BRZ is a budget alternative to a sports car.
I need to tell my brother his ZL1 1LE isn't a sports car because it has back seats. I can connect you two so when you take your new Z to the track you can let him know how you have a real sports car. He'll leave the back seats in; may even leave the baby seat. I would say his taillights look good, but I have a feeling you wouldn't be close enough to see 'em. GT350...nah...family sedan! Phenomenal logic you have. By your own admission a Z is a lower-tier sports car...whatever that means. The BRZ is a more budget friendly sports car. Still a sports car. And have you been in a 350/370? Maybe own one? Agreed, those interior are creme de la creme. Nissan made ZERO compromises there. I'm not a twins owner or aspire to be one, but I am an objective person. I guess I should get some of your Z Kool-Aid! Heck, you may be snorting Z Kool-Aid.
 
 





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