Fun Car...

[tball]

After its first week in Colorado, I'm super happy with my new-to-me 2008 G35S 6MT. The car is in fantastic condition and drives like new despite being 14 years old and having 97K miles. It certainly doesn't look or drive like either.

Buying this unicorn sight unseen from across the country was a risk that I'm glad I took. The PPI helped mitigate that risk, but there's nothing like test-driving a car. Fortunately, the sounds and smells all check out, and nothing funny has popped up through my first tank of gas. I've yet to find anything that doesn't work on the car.

As for the fun part, the car is freaking fast and a blast to drive with 306 HP, RWD, an LSD, and a six-speed manual! The NA V6 engine wants to rev to its 7600 RPM redline. It needs a redline buzzer like my old RX-7.

My relationship with the clutch is off to a rocky start. G's and Z's are notorious for difficult clutches, per the magazine reviews from back in the day and forum posts. I've stalled it a handful of times, including twice the first night taking the family out to dinner. Glad they had a good laugh at my expense. I'm finally getting used to it, and I don't think I'll have to resort to any of the mods that purportedly help.

I'm not happy with the dark tint on the rear windows. Doing a little research, it looks like it was legal in CA but not here in CO. It makes seeing out the back very difficult at night. Even during the day, I don't think my peripheral vision catches cars as easily to the sides and in the rearview mirror. I think I'll get it retinted with the maximum allowed in CO, which should be similar to the current front windows.

I was lucky enough to find some winter wheels on CL dirt cheap. They are off a G37xs that burned (with aftermarket wheels) when the car next to it caught on fire. They wanted them out of the garage, including tires with a little tread left and TPMS for $240.
They are 18" like mine, just not staggered as came on the RWD sport models (225 front, 245 rear vs. 225 all around).

I like the look of my OEM wheels better, but they are hard to find and expensive. My CL find wheels are great lightweight Enkei's that were OEM on the sport models G37s and will fit over my big brakes standard on sport models. If not for the brakes, I'd go down to 17" for the winter. Now I need to decide on winter tires.

 

[Tom K.]

View attachment 179367

After its first week in Colorado, I'm super happy with my new-to-me 2008 G35S 6MT.

Stoked it worked out for you. Lovely car.

Now I need to decide on winter tires.

Huh, not sure what to say.

Can't for the life of me think of a place where you could get opinions on winter tires.......

 

[François Pugh]

@tball Glad your loving your RRD MT car!
I'm still in love with Crystal, and still have my license! (touching wood).
As the weather, and the pavement, gets colder, I'm beginning to wonder about the computer traction control and driver assist though. Today, I confirmed once again, that it really does not work as advertised. I pulled out from a side street and decided to let the computer take care of things while I put my right foot in its proper driving position on the loud pedal . Not only did I have to make a few very quick steering corrections to maintain direction (which happened by instinct thanks to my mis-spent youth), but I left two long squiggly black lines of expen$ive Michelin Pilot Sport 4S on the road.

BTW, I never thought I would love the sound of an exhaust so much, as the Z51 performance exhaust under full throttle over 3500 rpm. It pulls pretty hard too. And corners like a dream.
And she's beautiful.

 

[Bill Miles]

GM just released the embargo on Corvette Z06 road tests and performance results.

Most sources are reporting 1/4 mile of about 10.5 @ 131. Some have some unexplained performance correction formulae, though.

When I was going to the drags in high school, the SS Hemi's, with open exhaust and slicks and who knows what else, were running low 11's.

 

[scott43]

I ran 10.8@144 on my gsxr750. That's fast for a car but not surprised these days cars are as fast as they've ever been.

 

[Tom K.]

I ran 10.8@144 on my gsxr750. That's fast for a car but not surprised these days cars are as fast as they've ever been.

And I believe the quickest production motorcycle is still the 2012 ZX-14R @ 9.47 and 153 mph.

I'd love to take a spin on one of those, even if briefly!

 

[scott43]

And I believe the quickest production motorcycle is still the 2012 ZX-14R @ 9.47 and 153 mph.

I'd love to take a spin on one of those, even if briefly!

Doesn't even feel that fast really. Modern sport bike are exceptionally well made. There's less drama at 150mph on a gsxr than there is in your average family sedan with 100k miles on it at 60mph....

 

[dbostedo]

full throttle over 35000 rpm

Wow... that's some kind of high revving!

 

[François Pugh]

Wow... that's some kind of high revving!

One too many zeroes in there; rev limiter won't allow that! 3500 to 6500.

 

[François Pugh]

Doesn't even feel that fast really. Modern sport bike are exceptionally well made. There's less drama at 150mph on a gsxr than there is in your average family sedan with 100k miles on it at 60mph....

Until you land a bridge jump on the front wheel with negative rake and trail. It feels plenty fast going down the road with nothing but leather between you and the potholes.

 

[cantunamunch]

Wow... that's some kind of high revving!

Magnetic bearings, eh.

 

[dbostedo]

Magnetic bearings, eh.

Zero friction FTW!

 

[François Pugh]

I once had to over-rev a Ford 400 cid engine, after having the mufler fall off earlier in the trip. The transmission would not upshift, and I dared not take my foot off the gas for any instant due to the situation I was in due to my prior poor judgement. I swear I could hear the bearings screaming over the exhaust. Miraculously, the valves and rods held.

 

[ScotsSkier]

I once had to over-rev a Ford 400 cid engine, after having the mufler fall off earlier in the trip. The transmission would not upshift, and I dared not take my foot off the gas for any instant due to the situation I was in due to my prior poor judgement. I swear I could hear the bearings screaming over the exhaust. Miraculously, the valves and rods held.

Yeah, you need to be careful about over-revving...I had an engine failure on one of my rally cars....I kind of guessed it was bad when we dropped the sumpguard and found one of the gudgeon pins on it..........although I guess the big hole in the side of the block should have been a bit of a giveaway....

I solved it when I built the next one, an all-steel, dry sumped lotus twin cam. The rev counter only went to 8000....so i never exceeded 8000.....

 

[François Pugh]

My brother had an 80-something (I think) camaro. Bored out 350 cid, cams, headers, swapped out the intake too, IIRC.... Never drove it over 80 mph, apparently.

 

[cantunamunch]

I solved it when I built the next one, an all-steel, dry sumped lotus twin cam. The rev counter only went to 8000....so i never exceeded 8000.....

PEEKchurrs pleez

 

[tball]

As the weather, and the pavement, gets colder, I'm beginning to wonder about the computer traction control and driver assist though. Today, I confirmed once again, that it really does not work as advertised. I pulled out from a side street and decided to let the computer take care of things while I put my right foot in its proper driving position on the loud pedal . Not only did I have to make a few very quick steering corrections to maintain direction (which happened by instinct thanks to my mis-spent youth), but I left two long squiggly black lines of expen$ive Michelin Pilot Sport 4S on the road.

It's interesting how differently traction and stability control are programmed between different cars.

It's working great for my taste on my new 2nd generation G35. I can go full beans on corner exit, and it lets the rear end out a little but keeps things under control while still putting the power down. Unless you are doing something stupid, it's often unnoticeable except by the flashing indicator on the dash.

That's way better than my 1st gen G35, where it's much more intrusive, and you know as soon as it kicks in. Seems like they spent some quality time tuning the driver assist between generations. It's not apples to apples, though, as my new car has an LSD and 245 rear tires vs. 215. I guess it could be the same programming, but better tuned for that setup.

 

[GregK]

Have been detailing boring SUVs and not many Fun cars lately.
Today I finally detailed one-A 2021 Audi TT RS. Good friend of my white Bentley customer, so we did it in his great garage space. He actually just sold this house(sold in 2 days for $5.3 Million!) so I’ll be at his new place next year.

 

[François Pugh]

It's interesting how differently traction and stability control are programmed between different cars.

It's working great for my taste on my new 2nd generation G35. I can go full beans on corner exit, and it lets the rear end out a little but keeps things under control while still putting the power down. Unless you are doing something stupid, it's often unnoticeable except by the flashing indicator on the dash.

That's way better than my 1st gen G35, where it's much more intrusive, and you know as soon as it kicks in. Seems like they spent some quality time tuning the driver assist between generations. It's not apples to apples, though, as my new car has an LSD and 245 rear tires vs. 215. I guess it could be the same programming, but better tuned for that setup.

I was quite impressed with the system on my Z51-equipped C6, until the weather got colder.
436 Horses put to the road through 285/35 zr19 tires.

Front tires are smaller BTW (245/40 ZR18 IIRC). So like on a bike, I'll be buying more rear tires than front tires.

 

[cantunamunch]

<- was totally expecting something with a Lefty fork in that garage.