Beanbag Girl

Don't worry, I have no plans to switch away from my beloved S4, but I never turn down the chance to try something else out.

The 350Z is FUGLY on the outside, in my opinion, but pretty sweet to drive, I had a lot of fun. The suspension is really nice and hard, and it grips the road really well, you can just swoosh round corners with no roll at all, you feel really 'planted' on the road. The gearbox is sweet, nice and notchy and short. The clutch is high, but I had no problems with it. Lots of torque at low speeds, which is always nice. The whole car has a really nice Go-Kart kinda feel, although it is a little heavy, but that just adds to the solid, reassuring feeling. The interior isnt bad, fairly comfy, and doesnt look TOO cheap and plastic in comparison to other Japanese cars I've driven. Its got a bit of style to the interior anyway - the 3 dials in the centre of dash look interesting. Oh yeah, and the engine noise is SWEET. It sounds a lot like an old muscle car, really deep and throaty.

It was pretty fast, but I didnt get a chance to really test it out (driving round LA streets - bah) but it was always responsive. There was something a bit clunky about it that I didnt like, but forgiveable for a $28k car. Its nice to drive something with such hard suspension, that gives lots of feel back, so rare in cars produced for the American market these days. I hope its a success.

Cheers,
Jojo

007 S4

We checked out the maxima, the altima, etc, etc...

One thing each vehicle had in common with its other nissan bretheren was the fit and finish on the inside were abhorrable. There were plastic shavings sticking out from between some dash seams, plastic pieces that just didnt seem to 'fit' and upon a thorough test drive down a road that belongs in the dark ages... we found that the cars, brand new, were full of creaks and squeaks. The fit and finish on the outside was 'acceptable'.

When purchasing a car over 30K, i believe i should be able to get the same quality of fit/finish as i do when buying a 18K Jetta GL.

I'm sure from a sports car sense the 350 is fantastic, but, it would be a massive step down from a European automobile.

We decided on a V-6 passat 4-Motion for my mom...

happy hunting

Beanbag Girl

I'm not car-hunting I just got the opportunity to drive one for fun.

Anyway, Its funny you should say that you think the interior on a VW is better, my previous car was a Golf GTI, and I was really disappointed. All the plastic bits of interior (ashtrays, seat adjust ***** etc) sheared off, snapped etc. It made me unwilling to buy a VW again. Perhaps I got unlucky.

I didnt think the interior in the 350Z was that bad, but then again I didn't look very cloesly, I was too busy trying to break the speed limit

Hope your Mum enjoys her Passat though, I have heard lots of nice things.
Cheers,
Jojo