hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) (11/20/85)
I was flipping through my copy of Rotary Rocket, a magazine put out by the RX-7 Club of America, when I came across two articles comparing the new RX-7 with both a Porsche 944 and a Nissan 300ZX. Of course, I expected biased reoprting, even though the articles were written by two race car drivers, Rod Millen and Gary Witzenburg. But I was surprised to find such strong negative opinions about the 300ZX. Consider these comments: "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." -Rod Millen "Finally, I took two laps in the 300 ZX and got out. It felt so awkward on the track, I never cared to drive it harder and go for a time. Thanks anyway." -Gary Witzenburg What about it, 300ZX owners? Did you shell out all that money for a cream-puff of a sports car? Harry Chefitz allegra!whuxlm!hhc
rll9466@wucec2.UUCP (Richard L. Lantz) (11/20/85)
In article <876@whuxlm.UUCP>, hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) writes: > > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > -Rod Millen With the possible exception of the early 240Z, the only opinions I've heard with regard to Z-cars is that they sometimes had good acceleration, but wallowed through the corners. I will emphasize that I do *NOT* speak from experience.
haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) (11/20/85)
In article <876@whuxlm.UUCP> hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) writes: > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > -Rod Millen It must be noted that Rod Millen has been racing RX-7's in SCCA Pro-Rallies for a number of years, so he might be biased somewhat towards the RX-7, especially since he would be thoroughly familiar with its on- and off-road behaviour. This *might* explain why the RX-7 is in the same class as the 944 and not in 300ZX's class. Was the article on the old or new RX-7? \tom haapanen watmath!watdcsu!haapanen I'm all lost in the Supermarket I can no longer shop happily I came in here for that special offer Guaranteed personality (c) The Clash, 1979
sja@mhuxl.UUCP (Sam J. Anastasio) (11/21/85)
> > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > -Rod Millen > > "Finally, I took two laps in the 300 ZX and got out. It > felt so awkward on the track, I never cared to drive it > harder and go for a time. Thanks anyway." > -Gary Witzenburg > > Yes I agree completely, these comments are typical of what many of my friends who own 300ZX's have to say. They all agree that the car was bought for its looks, goodies, and sex appeal. The car has long ago (ala 240 days) lost its "sports car" image. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as it is under- stood. Nissan has decided to go for that market and I'm sure they were well aware of what they were doing. There is a need for both markets.
rsy@iwu1d.UUCP (Robert S. Yen) (11/21/85)
In article <876@whuxlm.UUCP> hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) writes: > >I was flipping through my copy of Rotary Rocket, a magazine put >out by the RX-7 Club of America, when I came across two articles >comparing the new RX-7 with both a Porsche 944 and a Nissan 300ZX. >Of course, I expected biased reoprting, even though the articles >were written by two race car drivers, Rod Millen and Gary >Witzenburg. But I was surprised to find such strong negative >opinions about the 300ZX. Consider these comments: > > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > -Rod Millen > > "Finally, I took two laps in the 300 ZX and got out. It > felt so awkward on the track, I never cared to drive it > harder and go for a time. Thanks anyway." > -Gary Witzenburg > >What about it, 300ZX owners? Did you shell out all that money >for a cream-puff of a sports car? > > Harry Chefitz > allegra!whuxlm!hhc You may have expected biased reporting because the articles were written by two race car drivers, but I happen to know that Rod Millen is the guy who does the driving for Mazda on their commercials -- not exactly biased... As to the other driver, from the collection of cars tested and the fact that Rod Millen was there, it is quite possible that both these drivers were interviewed at the unveilling of the "new and improved" RX-7 held by Mazda. If you'd like a more objective view, I'd suggest two different articles: 1) August '84 Road & Track (gotta luv that GTO!) which has "track test results" from running eight cars at Willow Springs International Raceway. The 300ZX Turbo came in second in overall lap time (the 'vette was first) with the 944 finishing 5th and the RX-7 GSL-SE coming in second from last (just edging out the Daytona Turbo Z in 8th place). And 2) October '85 Motor Trend which has the "Z Acid Test: 300ZX Owner Survey" which boiled down to one figure: "...92.2% of our survey respondents said they'd buy another Z-car when time came to muster the present mount out of service. In the long run, it's pretty tough to find much fault with that kind of owner sentiment." I had a choice (in May '84) between a 300ZX Turbo, a loaded RX-7 GSL-SE and a 944. My final decision was based on the fact that the RX-7 was too expensive for too little, the Turbo ZX too expensive for quite a bit more and the 944 just plain too expensive. I finally ended up with an '84 Turbo ZX that runs great and has no problem with the RX-7's and 944's (non-turbo, of course) of the world. Any yes, I have driven the new RX-7 coming away with the impressions: 1) why didn't they have an original body design (I like the old GSL-SE bodys better) and 2) yes it's got good performance (better than a normally-aspirated ZX and the old RX-7), but I can't wait to drive the Turbo in the Spring of next year. All in all, I'd have to say, "Yes indeed, the 300ZX is a REAL SPORTS CAR." Robert S Yen ihnp4!iwu1d!rsy AT&T-IS Labs Naperville, IL. -- Robert S Yen ihnp4!iwu1d!rsy AT&T-IS Labs Naperville, IL.
burk@uwvax.UUCP (Bill Burk) (11/22/85)
> In article <876@whuxlm.UUCP>, hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) writes: > > > > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > > -Rod Millen > > With the possible exception of the early 240Z, the only opinions I've heard > with regard to Z-cars is that they sometimes had good acceleration, but wallowed > through the corners. I will emphasize that I do *NOT* speak from experience. An ex-girlfriend of mine had a 240Z .... I think that the word _sometimes_ should be underlined about a hundred times. The car had good acceleration once every year and a half .... unless you consider 25 second 1/4 miles good!!! Of course, the problem could've been that we couldn't keep the car running long enough to decently clean out the carbs (dual webers)!!! -Bill *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
saltiel@cdstar.UUCP (Jack Saltiel) (11/27/85)
In article <876@whuxlm.UUCP>, hhc@whuxlm.UUCP (Chefitz Harry H) writes: > Consider these comments: > > "The 300ZX isn't in the same class as the 944 and RX-7. > Personally, I don't consider it to be a real sports car." > -Rod Millen *****He's right, it's not. It has become a slick Japanese Corvette imitator that is oriented first towards luxury and last towards handling and performance. It's soo bad that this comparison is actually an insult to the new Corvettes! > > "Finally, I took two laps in the 300 ZX and got out. It > felt so awkward on the track, I never cared to drive it > harder and go for a time. Thanks anyway." > -Gary Witzenburg *****He's 100% correct. I have driven this car on a race track, along with many Porsches, Formula Fords, etc... The rear end suspension (standard Datsun sedan type) makes that car so hard to handle on a race track that I would take an old rear engine Porsche *any day*. It so much easier to drive that the ZX. This was not true of the older 240-280Z series. That was a very different car. > -- Jack Saltiel Cambridge Digital Systems {wjh12,talcott}!cdstar!saltiel "Here's to plain speaking and clear understanding." "I like talking with a man who likes to talk."