AMT Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) It's a great thing the 350Z, reasonably pacey, a nice dollop of torque and a generally decent place to be, love how - in gear - it can just surge forward without much effort, fantastic. However... when your stuck in traffic, on a hill and constantly 'in and out' of the clutch and then without even touching the pedals the HR decides to start its jerking and you try and get it to stop by being 'gentle', smoothing out any inputs but you still need to move forward with traffic and its not helping the process.... It does make life a bit more er.. annoying, as you 'hop' up the hill like a drunk kangaroo. Arrgh, over three years and I still can't tell you a decent way of dealing with it lol (short of uprevving/remapping it). I love the notchy gear box for driving but in day to day go to work scenarios, this cars the reason I'd consider a high power auto/flappy paddle effort. I must still like it, its about to get a P3 and sparks lol Bloody thing.... Edited November 24, 2015 by AMT 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valy Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 agree with you AMT...that is why when I purchased my second Zed I have gone for the tiptronic one I am using mine daily and I have to say I prefer this to the old one,although the old Zed was drawing all attention Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I did exactly that... switched to a high powered flappy paddle jobby. crawling motorway traffic is now a breeze rather than a serious leg workout, hill starts are unnecessary. Sure I miss the zed's manual box when on a nice country drive, but 90% of the time i'm commuting. and anyways, the flappy paddles work well and are quite good fun, feels very F1! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMT Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) I'm aiming at some point to make its replacement a 4.2 XKR (2008 onwards), but possibly by the time I can I might be looking at earlier 5.0's. I came close to purchasing one (4.2) few months back and have looked at others but my financial status has changed (money went else where ...skint lol). As said when mentioned in a previous thread they have paddles but are effectively slush boxes with an form of 'manual' control but I've driven them and they still shift! Make you feel special too...which should be one of the priorities if your into cars Ultimately they won't jerk... that much (I've heard they can but certainly gonna be better than using a Z clutch!) Edited November 24, 2015 by AMT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350zedd Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Just move to Wales, no traffic jams here, just hundreds of sheep blocking the road! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 yeah my beeemer is a 6speed slusher with a manual mode... but speed is dictated by engine size and power, an auto in gear is pretty much the same as a manual in gear, especially a modern auto that can lock the torque convertor. and even early paddleshifts can change gear faster than I can anyways! two other reasons to make the switch - firstly, auto gearboxes and flappy paddles are the future, so might as well get used to it. and secondly, all the really interesting stuff these days is flappy paddle only - any big, luxury fast car will be a auto or DCT - very few manufacturers offer a manual gearbox any more (a couple of porsches and F-Types being the exceptions) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodyboarder81 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I think the zeds a great weekend car , i wouldnt want to drive it everyday . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMT Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Yeah, it seems to be the future. Plus from the flappy paddle and auto's I've had as courtesy cars from Infiniti (some are damn fast!) I've taken a liking to them. I used to think no...manual all the way but in reality....its different. Would love to have the funds to have the manual Z and something else for normal use but the 350 will be with me for a while yet it seems - Not a bad thing! ..but I'll just need to put up with the 'niggles' haha. Your right with the autos not being much different in gear... I've chased someone I know in their XKR (also driven it) and the Z did well but theres no denying the power of 420bhp in a straight line no matter what gearbox is used ....ps. can't wait til' it snows...always a good laugh to phone work "er.. I'm stuck on the hill trying to get out my town, might be a bit late...or i'll be heading back and getting a train" pml I really need winter tyres Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 ha my car isn't going anywhere if it snows, thankfully I have a back up car that is very good in the snow. auto boxes aren't without their foibles though - for example, once you get the hang of a clutch you can pull away smoother than you can in an auto - mine can be a little lurchy from a standstill. And also kickdown can be a bit brutal - in a manual you change down (with a little blip of the throttle) and then apply throttle. In an auto you have to start applying throttle in the wrong gear, then at some point which is often hard to predict, it'll drop one or two gears and you'll be off like a scalded cat - cos inevitably the amount of throttle you had to apply to get it to kick down a gear is way more than the amount of throttle you'd be applying if you were in the gear you wanted to start off with. Admittedly a lot of that will be down to gearbox software, but it means that normally I drive in manual mode the majority of the time and change gears when I want with the paddles - only go into full auto mode when I enter a town and there is stop start traffic to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMT Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) Not driven a huge amount but the fastest auto/paddle configuration was the 4.2 XKR I spoke of and the first time I moved, I forget that the little creep at the start gives a bit of a helping hand and this mixed with the power... I nearly shot into the car in front of me at the lights haha Edited November 24, 2015 by AMT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggalo Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 The clutch is bloody ridiculous on the Zed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valy Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) Bodyboarder81 it depends what sort of daily trips we have to do. It takes me 20 min to work and back and I find that a great drive but probably a long daily drive with my current K1 exhaust would be a challenge Edited November 24, 2015 by valy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMT Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 I'd hate to have a DE... my clutch isnt what I'd call overly heavy its the in out in out slow traffic that makes it akward. If I had an older model though I'd sure as hell hate the weight..from what I can remember (when looking to buy one) the 276's clutchs were horrifically heavy Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I think the clutch in the Z is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjdugen Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I find the clutch to be both light and nicely incremental. Mind you, I've just come from a Clio sport, that clutch is both stupid heavy and an on - off switch. My only beef is that first gear revs the B's out of it and second is just that bit too high to start on a slight incline. Level or downhill I use second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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