When I first read your diatribe I thought to myself, nothing like pissing off most of the people here on the lists by trying to rub the improvements to the '05 in their face.

I agree, the 05 interior and exterior are a lot nice than the standard 03-04. and I will also agree that the Nismo kit (factory option) blows both the 04 and 05 bodies out of the water. But had it not been for the success of the 03 and 04 with their *cheap* interiors and all, there would never have been improvements for 05. here is a shot of my 03.5 6mt interior



I have been driving around an '05 for a month now and here are my observations. There are just a few things I like about the '05 interior. I like the leather wrapped door armrests, and the aluminum inser on the center console. thats basically it. the ***** on the stereo and HVac, while more functional look way out of place on the console when everything else is a flat button. the steering wheel buttons, while nice that they are lit, feel very cheap in comparison to the 03-04 buttons.

Exterior is better is better for 05. I like the 18inch wheels but they still look tame incomparison the 05 coupe wheels. Painted lowers is nice but as others said it still looks to high. They should have used a skirt like the one from the nismo kit. I also don't care for the smoothed hood.

 

Um, I'm not entirely sure I know what you're talking about. We have an 05, and an 04 with nismo kit. Sure, I love the nismo kit, and I actually prefer it's front bumper to the 05 stocker. But that's the only difference. The 05 sits no higher than our 04, and in fact has sideskirts that are the same height.

The nismo front bumper on the 04 just *appears* to be lower, when in fact it's not. The air dams are quite a bit larger, but the terminal creases along the bottom, again, are the same distance from the ground.

Attached is a pretty decent picture illustrating the similarities/differences. Sorry for the size, had to reduce it to get it under 100k. Also, the pic does not include the sideskirts. You'll just have to take my word for it.

 

Oh, one thing I really prefer on the 04 vs the 05 is the interior door handles. On the 05, they are shiny chrome. The rest of the interior has the nickel look, and the door handles almost clash. On the 04, the handles had the same finish as the other interior pieces.

It's called continuity. I prefer it.

 

Good point.
I don't understand why they changed them for '05.

 

I wasn’t trying to rub the improvements in anyone’s face. If it came across that way then I am sorry for that. So far I had not seen any posts that went into detail about what the interior changes were. I was just trying to help anyone who was looking to get an 04 vs. 05 to see what things to look out for. There are a lot of subtle changes especially in the interior that do make a big difference. It is just a question of whether those changes are worth the extra price. Thanks for all of your comments about what you thought was not as good with the 05 changes. Those really help everyone see what might not be so good with the newer cars. The 04 cars were excellent cars and you all should definitely be just as proud of them as you would be with an 05. I was just trying to provide some information about what the differences are.

Just out of curiosity. How many 04 owners would straight up swap their 04 cars for a used 05 if the 05 had about the same miles on it and it was in about the same condition as your 04?

 

The pic original poster showed is pre '04... not sure if that's the car you drove. I have an 04.5 and have driven '05 loaner. The only thing I liked better (in the ’05) was the padded leather door armrest. Personally I like the rest of my interior better (especially the instrument cluster and clock area).

Performance wise on my comparison wasn't equal because I have mods... with the mods I have my car blew away the '05 loaner. Initial response would be "obviously it does, you drove a stock loaner" but from what I have ascertained the '05s aren’t seeing as much gains from mods as pre '05. My last dyno was 271 rwhp… what are the ‘05s (stock and modded)?

Bottom line, your happy with your '05 and I'm glad I didn’t wait.

 

hmmmmm
swap for an '05....
naaaahh

 

The 05s are just as slow as the 04s. The 20 something hp gain was either artificial or offset by the weight gain.

 

Is that bumber stock? I am still confused about what cars have that bumper.

 

In my case I wouldn't. The brakes on the 05 don't stop nearly as well as the 03 and 04 do. if the 05 5at loaner I have is indicative of the level of '05 performance, I'll pass on that also. The 05 at loaner I am driving feels really slow compared to other 03 and 04 loaners I have had.

 

I don't mind the comparison, it was your choice of words that I take exception to. Did you have to use the word "cheap" five times in your description? That kind of hurt. I mean, I'm still paying off my "cheap" car.

 

I changed the 04 picture in the first post. I believe that one is an 04. I forgot to mention anything about the brakes in my post. I also noticed that the 04 brakes were much better at stopping. However, they were either on or off. It seems like if I barely touched them I got nothing so I would press harder. Then I was stopping a whole lot faster than I wanted to. There is no telling what condition the loaner brakes were in so it is hard to say which ones are actually better.

 

I see now why you took offense to my post. However, I do think that cheap is the right word for the plastic center console and the hands on the analog clock. That is just my personal opinion but that was the impression it gave me. Look at it this way there is probably a couple grand difference between what you paid for your car and what the 05's cost. That is where the more expensive materials come into play.

 

That's the Nismo bumper which was a factory option, installed by the dealer.

 

Wow, a lot of people getting a little defensive here. Like someone said, "if you like your car, that's all that matters." BTW, you're crazy if you think the interior of the 05 is not better. When I bought my car, I could have bought a 2004 model and save a lot of money but I passed because of the interior.
Seems like last year, everybody love everything about their cars EXCEPT for the interior. Now all of a sudden everybody thinks their interior is better than the 05'. Now tell me again who's trying to justify their purchase?