I have a good friend with a 350Z. I do like the fact that its RWD, but it really doesn't compare to an Evo for anything performance-wise.

Lets look first at handling: The 350Z handles alright, but is classified in B Stock by the SCCA Solo II Autocross rules. The Evo and STi are in A Stock. Even with the RWD advantage, the Z feels heavy and slow witted, clearly betraying its weight. The Evo in comparison is nimble and reacts with much more precision to driver inputs.

Next up is the engine. Although the 4G3 has been around for a long time, its output potential with simple bolt on modifications vastly eclipses that of the much newer VQ35DE. The VQ, while a great powerplant in the Altima/Maxima, is frankly a huge letdown as the motivating force of Nissan's RWD halo car. Although it would've taken a bit of work to make the engine pass emissions, the inline RB26DETT from the Skyline would've been a much better choice. Even with extensive NA mods (and even some forced induction ones), the VQ is still a family car motor trying to look the part of a sports car engine.

Next up is fit and finish. While Mitsubishi definitely isn't setting the standard for the industry here, Nissan is even worse as of late. Since Nissan revamped their business model to finally become profitable again, there are shortcuts everywhere on their cars. One of the most obvious is the paint: There is a ton of orange peel in it. Also, the rampant platform sharing. I think you can get a VQ35 in practically every Nissan/Infinity currently made besides the Sentra.

Go Evo. That way, when some guy in an orange peel paint havin', platform shared, Altima engined 350Z talks trash to you because your car is a four door, you can humiliate him on a roadcourse, at your autocross chapter, and on the dragstrip.

 

Wow, alot of untrue/biased statements here, but this is an evo forum so you are going to get that, jsut like you'll get the opposite if you go to a 350z forum.

??? thats like if I were to say little boys drive evo's, men drive Z's.

350z is not really any of these. Its not allthat at drag racing and you need a lot of mods to make it a good drag car. It could be a decent autocross car, but then again its pretty heavy. If anything, the Z is a track car, but I think Nissan made intended to appeal to the average buyer who wants some performance but will use it as a daily driver.

eh, depends what you want. I think the only better thing about the Z is that you will get more girls with it than in the Evo, but who buys a car to pick up girls.

My take on it? I have a 350z and I enjoy it, but I am also disappointed with it. Two many little problems, Nissan service is horrible, and the Z isnt very mod friendly. The only way to get power out of the Z is to build up the internals and turbo it which will easily cost you 10k. With that said, if you are planning to mod and looking for performance over anything else get the evo. If you plan on staying stock, dont care too much about performance but still have some, want a good looking car and dont care about dealing with shltty nissan service get the Z. If I could do it again and buy something else, I know I wouldnt get the Z. I dont know if I'd buy the evo, but if I had to choose Z vs evo now, I 'd take the evo.

 

my older brother who is a race instructor in the philippines drove both cars.. i asked him about it... he said FOR HIM its better on the road too... quality by all means

o well... im not basing it on how it performs in racing.. im basing it on daily driving... i just like the ride quality of the 350z compared to the evo

 

Didn't take it as flaming

Honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference. I test drove both and HATED the Evo; I test drove the Z and loved it. Does that mean the Evo is a bad car or that the Z is a perfect car? By no means; however, it does mean that to me the Z was a better choice.

It didn't matter to me if I would be able to run 12's with it, easily mod it, or even auto-x it. I bought it because I liked it the way it was.

Once again, it all comes down to preferences....

 

one of my co-worker's just bought am 03 350z "AUTO" what a waste! A day before a snowstorm! He was telling me how his son know's ,more bout the evo rs I own! Hello!........waste of money if you ask me! Not for nothing! IN NYC RWD only good for the for the summer at best! Just my 2ct's

 

Evo all the way.......350s sure are gorgeous though, but I have to have 4 doors

 

Thought maybe I'd chime in here.

It took me about $30k to get my Z into the "ideal" shape that I wanted it to be in. While I could have achieved the same kind of POWER in an Evo8 with only about $5k in mods (high 11s), it would be near impossible to get the same kind of looks.

On the flip side, if you ignore looks, I think the Evo has the Z in almost every category. But I understand that this is my own SUBJECTIVE opinion. I just can't stand the idea of dumb people thinking my car is some ricer civic. It's impossible to make that mistake in the Z.

So, if you don't give a **** about being flashy, the Evo is the clear winner.

My .02

 

Yeah, what all those guy said^^

 

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