First, thanks for the great welcome everyone. I am going through all the threads and learning as much as possible. What a great place for enthusiasts/hobbyists!

I told my wife that when I bought a Vette, I would get her a new car (hence, I went used with very low miles). She had been driving her Acura for quite awhile and I bought a new Sierra pickup a few years back. So, I kind of owed her a new vehicle. Well, we looked at all the luxury brands (we have been fortunate, even in this terrible economy...fingers crossed) and test drove BMW's, Acura's, Lexus, and Mercedes. I really thought she would like a luxury ride. To my surprise she settled on a Nissan 370Z. She is a tiger for sure, 20 at heart I think. She had always admired the Z's since early 90's, but the build quality was not very good at that time. With excellent reviews and Nissan putting more effort into fit and finish, she took the plunge. Now there is a little red Z next to my Vette in the garage (sorry Sierra).

So, the question begs....if all drivers being equal and manufacturer packages being equal (no mods), would the base 370Z take a base C5 Vette on winding roads? I know that it wouldn't be a race straight, but lets throw in some hills and curves, what do you think? The Nissan mechanics think the Z would go the distance.

 

Put a good driver in a 6 speed C5 and line it up. I can almost bet that the C5 would easily take the cake on this one.

 

ah the 370z, i love the look of them just hate not having the power like the Vette has on command. As far as twisties I have no idea but I know the 370z handles like a go kart from what I've been hearing around my block

 

The 370Z is a great bang-for-the-buck sportscar and it benefits from being a brand new design. There's no doubt that it is still not quite in the C6 league, but I think it'd hang pretty well with a C5 coupe or vert. The C5Z would come out ahead, however.

 

Not sure how a 370Z would fare against a C5 - never have driven the 370Z. It might be close, but I'm going to go with the C5 by a slim margin.

 

Welcome to Corvette Forum

One of the BIG challenges ppl DONT want to look at is driver skill. Drive Skill is NEVER Equal, even on the professional race level. Close but not equal.

Now to the cars, Both a LOT of fun to drive no matter where you drive and they are different cars.

Back in 03 I was looking at a 350Z or vette. I chose the vette for one main reason, HP and seat of the pants through you back in the seats acceleration.

the vette is physically bigger. That does make a big difference on short tight turns, auto-x and short tight road courses. Here the Nissan has its advantage. On longer open roads, vette hands down do to hp and high speed stability.

the 370z is heavier then the vette IIRC

No matter which one was chosen there enthusiast groups. Vette owners tend to be older, mid 40s and up, while IIRC Nissan owns are in their 20s.

 

I do agree that drivers make a difference, no matter the car. This is one reason I wanted to put equality into the equation. I would guess that it depends on how much straight road is there. Nothing but curves and the Z would benefit. Maybe I will put my wife to the test one day, but I doubt it. I don't want her getting hurt (or me losing...lol).

 

drivers equal the 370 gets it no doubt. That is against a base c5 on winding roads. If the vette had a z51 package it might be a different story. I would say it would be a close race. A c5 zo6 would take the 370.

To beat it in the twisties get c6 Z51 sways and some bilstein sports. Cheap mods and problem solved.....