I am in a delema. The battered to death case of g35c vs 350z. My question is, how good a handler can the g35c be made into? I know it handles well from the factory but once you start putting on sway bars, coilovers, strut bars, ect., how good of a handling sports car can the g35c be?

Can a g35c with all the suspension upgrades be a worthy competitor to say a c5 or m3 or zcar? Can the G have the dynamic feel of a throughbreed sports car?

I love the looks and ammenities of the G but crave the sports car road feel and dynamics. Just trying to have my cake and eat it too!

All feedback welcomed and appreciated

thanks

 

the enemy of great handling is weight.

The longer the wheelbase...the more stable but less responsive.

Stability means less susceptible to change.


If you want a sportscar...get a sporstcar.

If you want a sportcar, but are willing to compromise....then get a compromised sportcar. That was easy eh?

 

Well out of the box, the G35coupe has gotten better #'s ont he skidpad from magazines and numerous tests, how that coule be? I have no idea, probably the longer wheelbase and weight distribution! Well i have springs on my car, wider wheels with fat tires and i was able to keep on the tail of an Sti on the windiest roads, it was at night and the driver was like wow, i knew a fast car was behind me and stock to stock between the coupe and sedan is night and day, i drove my friends!! With springs/coilovers, some wider wheels and tires and sway bars it will be one sick handling car!


Martin
2003.5 BS G35
Nismo Aero/Sport Package
0-60 5.4 - 1/4 Mile 14.16 *GTech* and on 19's!!

 

Like qirex said.... weight and handling don't go very well together. However, if you are willing to do the sways, full coil over, and decent tires on the coupe, you'll have a very good handling car. I can't say exactly how good, people with the Tein Flex probably have better knowledge on that.


CPV35 G35C Maliblue

 

my g still handles lovely even with 17"s....maybe because i drove a '01pathfinder for the last 3 years

 

without getting into it too much...

a skidpad is the biggest garbage test of handling. What it *really* tests are the adhesive limits of the stock rubber. There are plenty of sedans and trucks that can post .86....does it make them better handlers than my old 97 prelude (.87)....? hecks no.

FWIW, the pilot sports are much better tires than the run-flat re040 is. I switched to these tires after 16K loud miles and am very pleased.

Another big diff btw the handling on these two cars is the weight distrbution, polar moment of inertia. When you drive a Z you sit much lower. The driver position as well is closer to the center of the cars mass. These qualities will never come up in the skidpad. Perhaps a slalom or lane change...but in reality the proof is at the track. Its truly a testament to engineering how similar these cars appear on paper - yet handle night and day. Not to slam the g, its a great handler. It's just that it doesnt inspire the relaxed confidence you have while hustling the Z around some twisties.

Sure you can make the G handle better, just be careful! These cars are really well engineered. When you have a cheap car its easy to slam it, drop some fat tires and sways on there and have "better" handling (what does that mean anyhow...better grip, turn-in, response, stability?). However with the Z/G you have to realize that a LOT of work went into tweaking them for a certain application. When you modify the suspension - the result may be better in some respects - but worse in others. Its just the nature of game. If you dont know what you're doing - do some research!

At any rate, either car would be great. Just spend your mod money on some driving school or at least some track events. Tackling each apex in rapid succession will give you and idea of what you and your car are truly capable of. Then after that, you'll realize why the G is marketed as a near luxo coupe and the Z a sportscar for the masses.

Then next time this oft-repeated issue arises - YOU can answer the question that everyone is afraid to ask.

 

As far as the weight thing goes, it's less than 200 lbs. Always race through the twisties against Zs carrying a passenger, and never carry a passenger in your G when you're doing it. There, you're even.
Seriously, Ferraris weighing 3800-4000+ lbs seem to handle ok, as do Astons and Mercs. I'd like to see a slightly wider tire at the front of the G (235 vice 225 say) to back down the understeer a bit, or a stiffer front anti-roll bar perhaps, or a brace, but a few weeks back I handed a BMW Z4 3.0 owner's a*s to him on a platter through some nice local roads with lots of corners and short straights. Honest, what both the Z and G need are some brakes that are up to the task for longer or more spirited drives. Beyond that, they handle on par with cars costing twice as much or more. If a C5 spanks you, it won't be in a corner, it'll be down the next straight. Same for an M3 or 911. (These were compared against a Z last year in a Road and Track issue).
When I bought the G, it had little to do with the performance difference between the two, and everything to do with everything else (sunroof, luxury, warrantee, back seats, trunk, appearance, interior quality...)
Both can modded wisely to fine tune the car to your style. You decide.


DB

 

No matter what you do, the G35c will never have the 350Z's agility, nor the sense of nimbleness or tossability. It is an excellent handling car at the limits, but most of the time (when not at the limits) it feels heavy & not "connected" the way the 350Z does.

You can't change the fact the G35c has a very long wheelbase or that it's somewhat weighty (unless you strip it, but then what's the point of getting it in the first place for the luxury?).

I love everything else about the G35c, but I wished it had the 350Z's handling (yes, I'd even be OK w/ the harsh ride).

 

dude you really need to pass the stuff so that i can get a toke.
Please dont take the following as a personal attack.

A 3800-4000lb ferrari, merc or aston handling well? are you crazy?
Sure they handle pretty well for a 4000lb car...

I'll just leave the 4000lb ferrari out of this (does it even exist?)
4000lb sports sedans get the job *done* but would be left for dead by a low powered, light weight, tossable car. You clearly dont understand what *great handling* means.

A 911 will outhandle any Z, G, F, whatever...any time of the day and or week.

I know b/c i've been bitten by the porsche bug and will soon be the proud owner of 997S. All the bench racing and magazine number crunching will be moot once you get a ride in one. In the same way you fail to see the the contribution of the driver position has on the Z vs G handling...you miss the boat comparing a 911 and Z/G. In a G you sit pretty high up...far away from the road. The Z's position is much better, you feel *in* the car opposed to "on" it. Well, the 911 is 10 steps further - there the driver position places you literally *ON* the road. Look out the windshield and you see ROAD....there a reason the 911 has that certain look to the front end. It just falls away and you feel suspended above the road. When you look out your G..what do you see? Hood.

thats right.

The G/Z are great cars in their own right - but to compare them to a legendary sports car icon (well deserved) such as the 911....makes you look like you dont know what the Hell you're talking about.

 

The 612 Scaglietti has a curb weight of 4056 lbs and a wheelbase longer than the G35 coupe. In any case, you can improve handling by having stiffer sway bars, springs, and shocks. The are many popular popular sway bar brands and the Tein Flex seems to be good as well (although perhaps a bit too stiff for daily driving).

 

good thread, I too would like to improve the handling of my G35 Coupe. That said, I did buy the car not as a sports car as much as a daily cruiser, but I did choose the G35 over the competition (TL,IS300,GTO) at least partly because of handling.

As far as driving school goes, no doubt about it as qirx37 said driving school (or an HPDE) will be the single best "mod" you can do. That said I have done several HPDE events in the NSX (and soon with the G35) which has caused my bar for great handling to be pushed higher wanting more from the G35.

I may try a set of sway bars as the body lean is a bit excessive. I am not interested in lowering or making major changes to the suspension geometry.

As far as the 911 (993 or 996 platform), I have driven a few, and the G35 Coupe is not close. The Porche platform was developed as a sports car, the G35 is on a generic platform with many compromises (and thus as least partly the cost difference). The G35 is heavy and 350 Lbs more than a porche 911 (at least 200lbs more than a Z) is a lot in terms of overall performance. The Scaglietti handling has yet to be validated (but it sure does look an overweight pig for a ferrari).

hg

 

I curse the day my porsche buddy gave me a ride in his 89 911 cab, although my Z will roast it in terms of power, the handling on the 911 is unparralelled. Then he got a 911 40th ann 996 - that thing has 345HP (porsche horses are stronger than nissan horses btw) and that thing hauls AND handles.

So now, i've been bitten by the porsche bug HARD. I swore i'd never get into $$$$ cars, but now with the new 997 setting new standards....i'm prolly gonna have to get one. I'm holding out though, to see whether a new nsx comes out and/or whether the upcoming Aston V8 vantage can be had for less than 100K and to see how it stacks up against the 997S.

Yeah, porsches are expensive, but you get what you pay for. BTW, the full leather interior is simply amazing. The thing that sold me on porsches is that the full leather interior on his 89 911 looks BETTER than my 2.5 yr old Z. When you pay your $$$ for a porsche, the difference in *quality* is readily apparent - new and 10 years later. His 89 is STILL worth $35K. That says something eh?

 

The 360 Modena weighs 3 K lbs (3064 lbs) & is considered the true "driver's" Ferrari among current models (not counting the Enzo of course). The other current Ferraris are regarded as GT cars, not true sports cars.

 

The G35c has even slower low speed turn-in than the E46 M3 IMO. Low-speed handling just isn't the G35C's specialty.

I do agree that neither the 350Z nor E46 M3 have the thoroughbred feel, but IMO, they both handle better than the G35c.