I feel OK in the passenger seat too, the drivers seat just doesnt fit me well. They have 240HP@7800 RPM and and anemic 162 ft/lbs @ 6500 RPM. They are tail happy because you have really push them to get that best bit from them. They really need to be revved high and hard to be much fun.
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out of curiosity has anyone driven the 350z?

 

The day they unloaded off the truck :>) Nice car, they appear to be having quality control issues, however.
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recalls? or reliability issues?

 

Sportiness is all in the eye of the beholder. I was told by a guy who drove a MGB GT that the 944 is not a sports car and that anything with power windows, a/c, cruise control, and all the "garbage" cannot be considered a true sports car. He went on to say the 911 can be considered a true sports car because its not so "civilized", its loud, and its quirky. In the end, its all an opinion shaped by the marketing people and what they say to brainwash us.

 

My Civic is not a sports car, but it is a great car! I bought it in 1992 for about $10,000. I didn't have much money then so I didn't even put in AC ($1,000 dealer option). Installed my own stereo, otherwise bone stock.

It is a great little commuter car and is reliable as hell. It's never left me stranded and the only non-scheduled repairs I've had done were a new radiator and suspension bushings, both at over 150k. It's turning 168k now, and I'm about to put the 4th set of tires on it. Unbelievably, it still has the original clutch and when that goes it'll be less than $600 to replace.

I'm shooting for 250k, but since I drive the 944 all summer, it's taking longer to get there then I'd planned. I keep detailed service records and except for fuel and insurance, cost to drive is about $0.11 per mile! Just now starting to show a little rust.

But it's not a sports car.

 

jjmson - reliability, search the 350Z site. Problems with transmission and some others.
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Just a little insight... a civic is not a sports car. you can make it a sports car, but once you do that, you have replaced the suspension, possibly the engine, and for soem of us the interior. if i tear off the body of your 944 and put a civic body on the chassi, is it now a civic? its just that the civics are the choice because they have a good chassi base and parts are numerous and cheap, and since everyone gets them now to do this ,aftermarket parts companies have mass produced parts so they are cheap and plentiful - not hard to find.

I want a 350z. :P

 

You don't have a clue what you are talking about.

First of all, a well prepared Civic makes a damned good track car. You hear mostly about the goofy drag cars, but there are a number of well prepared NA Civics that will give a 944 all it can handle and probably then some.

I am not a Honduh fan, but I at least have an open mind to what they can do.

 

This is the age old bull**** debate: What constitutes a "sports car."

There are folks who believe a car cannot be called a "sports car" unless it has:

Two seats

or a soft top

or side curtains

or a fold flat windscreen

or any of a number of other silly descriptions.

I don't think of the Civic as a "sports car" per se, but if you want to get all **** about it, the 944 would be more properly called a Grand Touring car. Hell, I wouldn't even call the 911 (or whatever the current designation is) a sports car. It's become a Grand Touring car as well. Too plush and luxo.

It's just a silly argument.

 

Uh, I'm pretty sure vtec is a direct decendant of a system Honduh first used in F1. I'd say that's incorporating racing technology.

 

Noob.

You obviously weren't around when Honduh produced the all concouring F1 engine. It was used to great effect by the likes of Prost, Senna, Mansell, and others.

Yeah, and now they build trucks. Oh woopie.

 

Well, at least the Honduh can be driven on the race track all day and all night without having to worry about spinning the #2 bearing.

 

i'm pretty sure there were several ITS 944's run in the past couple years that have had no issues with rod bearings. i pit crewed for a 24S, we took second in class, behind a 944. our drivers sucked, but the car finished the race, no bearing issues whatsoever... never gave em a thought! i dont know why you all think this is such an issue.

meanwhile there were a couple honduhs that were in for some pretty big repairs...

civic - not a sports car
944 - mine is a sports car (manual steering, no sunroof, when the a/c dies that'll go, as well as the power windows) the lux'd out ones are gt cars...

-Michael-

 

I read somewhere that Porsche actually incorporated variable cam technology first.