Maybe driving the 6 for an extended time is the key to understanding it. The car is not overly intuitive and aspects like the engineering and sophistication of the ECU aren't readily apparent from a quick test drive. A couple of reviewers that have wrote positive articles had an SRT-6 for longer than a 30 minute jaunt around a test track. I guess in this case familiarity breeds appreciation.

It does seem as though new SRT-6 owners are joining at a faster clip than before. But I think part of this is due to regular Crossfire owners getting a 6 while they are still available. Still, the 6 looks like it's becoming the car of choice when it comes to a Crossfire.

I tried keeping mine a weekend toy, and I failed. Just can't get back into my Dodge anymore. The Crossfire has me so spoiled!

 

I've read about the oil consumption issue in the 350Z but hadn't heard of any G35s with this problem. It does make sense though considering they use the same engine. Is Infiniti more energetic than Nissan over this in an attempt to protect the Infiniti name and reputation?

 

wow. all the hate. lol.

all i'm going to say is, i get twice the looks with my '07 z as i did with my crossfire, and that's complete honesty. i've had people pull off of roads while i'm parked just to tell me how nice my z is. and btw, the interior may not be that of a maserati, but at least the paint doesn't come off along with a dinky little cup holder.

check your stats also...

as for performance, the '07s with the HR engine can hit 13.2 in the 1/4 and have been known to hit 12.9 with a great driver, so i don't what all this srt-6 dusting talk is about. there's vids all over youtube of the new z's beating lt1s, ls1s, cobras, and even one of a c5 vette barely beating an 07 with 100 shot nos. it has been compared mostly to the m3 and the mustang gt500s. anyway, i personally wouldn't brag about a supercharged car barely inching past a naturally aspirated vehicle, but that's just me. throw two turbos under the hood of an HR ($7k) and the srt-6 will be out of the rearview within 10 seconds.

i still pass the nissan dealership from time to time and guess what's still out front. the little gray crossfire. i think they've dropped the price to around $15k. they can't get rid of it. if any of you want it, come to huntsville before the clearcoat is destroyed and the interior cracks from sun exposure.

as for value, the crossfire is all right, but for $25k (new crossfire) i would go the extra $2k for the z.

call me a traitor, but i'm being completely honest.

 

I don't "hate" the Z. The car simply doesn't strike my fancy, or any other part of me. Had the styling been done differently - mainly the roof line altered, and there were a limited number in San Diego then I would have had a much greater interest in it. But the roof line is just off enough to lose my interest and I can easily spot half a dozen Zs in a 15 minute drive. I understand that the reason so many are seen is because so many are sold. And that just proves how well Nissan hit the market with the Z. But what works for Nissan works against me. It's not just the Z - cars like the G35 and Mustang are also included in my not interested list. They are good cars, but I'm just not interested in having the same car 3 of my neighbors have.

The supercharging vs NA is pointless since it's the HP that ultimately matters. Who cares how it's gotten. Else let's point out the difference in engine sizes, or how the Viper has 4 more cylinders than the Z. HP is HP whether it comes from turbocharging, supercharging, overcharging or gerbils.

Modding is a funny thing. Mod a car so it can beat another. So you've just proven a modded car is faster than a non modded one. Twin turbo your Z for $7K. I'll put $7K in mine and the result will be - whoever can pump the most money into his car wins.

We sure do get emotional over our cars, don't we? Ever wonder why? It's really simple. If you bought a crappy pair of shoes for $20 and someone pointed out to you how bad they were, you would probably shrug and say yeah but they only cost $20. And the next week you buy a better pair. Now you've gone and spent $27K on a car. A forum member posts that you bought a POS blah, blah, blah, you know the routine. A certain new car owner would be mighty upset right about now. And that's because NO ONE WANTS TO THINK THEY MADE A $27K MISTAKE. And just as importantly, most of us can't afford another $27K on another car the next week to correct the perceived mistake.

We all fall into this mindset. It's human nature. So don't take all of this Z vs Crossfire posting too seriously. After all we're all just being people.

Now on a more serious topic - do you have any oil consumption problems with your engine?

 

not getting mad, just defending my car. and i'm not intending to put down the crossfire if i seem like i am. i like the design, just hate the company. about the srt-6, i was just saying - don't brag that you can beat a car that isn't supercharged (and barely beat if you do at all). it's like me saying, that i can beat a regular crossfire because my engine is 300cc larger...well...i'm supposed be able to, just like a supercharged crossfire should be able to beat a z. now, if you supercharge the z to make it fair, then what? you have a car that was already about as fast as the srt-6 when it was naturally aspirated, and now it's supercharged and it will kill the srt-6.

about the oil consumption, my car just hit 3,000 miles so i haven't even changed the oil yet. i do know that uses 2-3 quarts less than the crossfire and it does not require synthetic oil (although i will use synthetic).

i used to not like the z until i saw the '07s. the new engine makes it an awesome car. it's about a second faster in every aspect of performance than the <'06s. the '07s are rare as well. i live in a city full of the older Zs, but i've only seen two other '07s. i see about 3-5 crossfires a week.

1/4: anywhere from 12.9 to 13.6
0-60: 5.1 (.2 slower than an srt-6)

 

Had a '06 Z I traded in for my '06 Roadster Limited. Z was a good car but keep an eye for scratches on the black paint on your door armrests, etc. Scratches real easy.

 

I guess everything is relative, I had one of the first Crossfires in my area and it got a lot of attention from everybody.

These days, where I live Crossfires are quite common. There are 4 out in the parking garage now, including my boss' black roadster. I'll typically see 8 to 12 on my way to or from work, there are 3 or four in my neighborhood.

In other words, around here they are only slightly less common as a Z.

I strongly prefer the Crossfire coupe's styling over the Z. I don't care for either roadster's styling, top up or down. That roofline is what makes the Crossfire's styling, as far as I'm concerned. Putting the soft top on took away its best lines. The Z roadster just doesn't make any styling sense at all.

As far as performance cars, they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Chrysler should've come out of the blocks with a decent front rack (recirculating ball??? Every car with sporting aspirations since 1958 has had rack and pinion!!!) and a bit more power. They'd have sold every car they made, at MSRP, if they'd made it a true sports car instead of a GT cruiser.

The SRT6 of course is a far different animal than the standard Xfire. Performance wise it's the difference between an EVO and a standard Mitsu Lancer. But even the SRT6 would've benefited from a decent rack. With the stiff chassis and sticky tires, yes you can rave about how good an SRT6 handles, but its steering is just not communicative and that tones down the fun factor. Good as it is, it would've been that much better of a sports car with the right rack to begin with. And at the kind of $$$ they were originally asking for this car, it should've had the right stuff at the business end of the steering column.

The Z benefits from a strong aftermarket that allows one to strengthen its inherent weaknesses.

All that said, I'm glad both are on the market (for now). Ditto the Miata, Sky Redline, Solstice GXP, Subaru WRX STI, Evo, RX8, Lotus Elise/Exige, Boxster/Cayman, Vette.

This is a GREAT time to be a sports car enthusiast!

 

Skooter,
We are certainly past the days of getting a car in any color - as long as the color is black.

The SRT-6 does lack a little steering feedback with the rb setup but considering how the rb dampens bumps and jolts I think it's a good tradeoff. I think the one area Chrysler missed was using the 3.2 engine. Wouldn't it have been great if the Chrylser 3.5 was the base engine, and the SRT could have gotten the 5.7? With it's lighter weight the Crossfire would have had better performance than the SRT-8s with the 6.1. But I suppose a bean counter figured the costs involved were to great, not to mention a new ECU, software, etc.

Another strike the Crossfire has against it is that people have a hard time associating Chrysler with a sports car. This isn't the first sports car with a Chrysler name and it also isn't the first that has sold below expectations. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the Crossfire was sold by Dodge.

Grphtmtlc11,
You've got to stop posting into the wee hours of the morning. I'm not young like you and can't stay awake that late. I need my sleep!

Now as for supercharging, just because an engine is blown doesn't mean it must develop twice as much HP as it's nearest sized competitor. I look at it this way: a 330 HP car beats, edges out, smokes, nudges past or whatever a 300 HP car. So the 3.2 is supercharged and "only" puts out 330 HP. It also has an extremely flat torque curve that starts at 6 RPM and ends at 6,000 RPM. OK, slight exaggeration but I trust you get the point. The engine is durable, somewhat thrifty with gas, and is not a gross polluter. Also, the engine was designed to run on the autobahn and in that type of driving situation it will probably run the Zster's engine into the pavement. I don't know how fast you had your Crossfire but the car is capable of running with the big boys at extra illegal speeds. And let's not forget that the 3.2 is allegedly detuned from 349 HP. With a pulley swap and ECU flash 400 HP is possible. All of that for a lot less than $7K - so the money I save can be spent on speeding tickets. So there.

There's an ongoing thread titled Nobody Wants to Race Me that's about which car is faster - the SRT-6 or SRT-8. One poster brought up a good point that you need to run both cars at the same track at the same time to get comparable times. It's the same with the SRT-6 and '07 Z. Under ideal conditions the Z could pull 12.9 times, but what would the 6 do in the same conditions? So one really can't point to drag times as fact, but rather use them as general guidelines. So, as a general rule, the 6 will run faster than a Z. Well, it should - it's supercharged! Now the question I have is which one would have a higher top speed if limiters were removed?

I haven't seen a '07 Z yet. The hood bulge has gotten some negative comments but I think it's something that has to be seen in person in order to decide if it looks good or not.

It's too bad you had negative experiences with Chrysler dealers. But in a twisted sort of way you've been led to a car that better meets your needs. I do wonder though what would have happened if you had a SRT-6 instead of a regular Crossfire.

If you want to reply, please do so soon - I'm going to bed in an hour.

 

people say that the srt6 will win because it is supercharged and the 350z is not, well if both cars were to race each other with both being completely stock, then the srt6 will no doubt easily win against the z...

 

i would not say easily.

'07 Z vs. SRT6

they both run equal 1/4 mile times - around 13.2

my z hits 72 at 7,500 rpm in 2nd gear. what's an srt hit there?

 

sure, it's cheaper, but i'll take 650 hp over 400 any day. won't happen till i'm out of college though. plus, they're just now developing the turbo kits for the new Z. i'm not really trying to say my car is the fastest on earth, i'm just saying that if the same is done to both the z and the crossfire, then the Z is the faster. i want my second car (when i'm out of school a couple of years) to be an rx7 with an ls7 swap (cheaper than a Z06).

if you want me to, i'll put it on this level. '07 Z (naturally aspirated) vs. crossfire limited (naturally aspirated) - Z wins; '07 Z (naturally aspirated) vs. srt6 (supercharged) Z comes close.

about the speed limiter part, on experiments with rpm the new z's rev limiter kicks in during 6th at about 5k rpm (redline is 7.5k) at a speed of 159 mph. some people have stated that an ungoverned Z will hit appr. 185 mph. the srt6's limiter kicks in at 158 mph, and has been said to reach about 175-180 mph without it; you must also remember that the frame of crossfire is not built to exceed that speed as well.

in japan, the fairlady Z's aren't governed, therefore that would be your match. a fairlady vs. an non-restricted srt6.

plus, the srts are automatics; i wouldn't have an automatic unless it was a mercedes slr mclaren or an suv.

 

That is really, really hard to believe. And I'm not a crossfire cheerleader.

 

I've had 280's and 300's. Nice cars but they were never as unique as the Crossfire still is. When the new Z came out two things immediately caught my eye and not in a good way, the rear end and the door handles. That rear end reminds me of a halloween pumpkin. Not to mention the number of Z cars around here is like 50 to 1 Crossfire. At my age I could care less how fast I go I just want to have something that is fairly unique and stylish. Crossfire totally fits that bill.

Pat

 

No Comment !!

 

I took runs against 6 speed and with esp he took me by an 1.5 - 2 car lengths but without esp I took him.

 

the 350z is a bit quicker than the roadster for sure...its definitely a nicer feeling/driving car, but I like the looks of the xfire better...

the G35 on the other hand...much sexier.

 

I've owned 6 different Nissan Z cars (actually most were Datsuns) so I guess that makes me a Z car enthusiast. All it took was a cross country (non-stop) trip to Calif. in my friends 1975 280Z to make me a believer.
So when I read that the new 350Z car was going to have some styling cues of the original Z, that really got my attention. But when I saw the first photos of the car, I was disappointed. Still, I knew sometimes a car looks much better in person than in photos, and as soon as my nearest dealer got one in I rushed over to check it out.
As it turned out It's "over inflated" styling was such a turn off for me that I didn't even take the car out for a test drive. Because no matter how much power it had, or how well it handled wasn't going to change the way I felt about how it looked.
I've been to the "my350zforum" and it appears to me for the most part, 350Z car lovers don't like the Crossfires styling, and most Crossfire lovers (in general) aren't that wild about the way a Z looks. So in the end, I think that's what it simply boil down to.
Like Patpur, I'm more than satisfied with the performance of my Crossfire, if I wasn't I'd find a SRT, and I'm not going to quibble over a 10th. of second here, and 1 or 2 mph there. It's just not that important to me anymore.
I do know that I've never been more passionate about any other car that I've owned as I am with Crossfire. Not even my AMX, and I never thought I'd ever say that. But here it is nearly 38 years later and I find myself planning vacations around Crossfire related activities, just so I can spend time with other people I share a similar passion with.
I realize all this probably has nothing to do with the original question, "Which car is better, the Z or the Crossfire?" But I guess I feel the really important question should be, "Which car is the best, for you?"

 

My biggest problem with the Z was that there is no interior head room, it's very uncomfortable inside. And it's a bit on the fat chunky side. Automatic versions are not any faster than the 6 speed crossfire, so it seems the crossfire has more pop to it, in my eyes at least!

 

I don't know about that, but beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
and you can't beat the crossfire pricing either. $19k with lifetime drivetrain warrantee. The handling is quite superb in the crossfire

I can't bring myself to even consider a G35 for the price, I'd rather put that money on a Mercedes sedan.

 

The G35 is kind of a pig, but it has 4 seats, awesome handling, sexy brake packages...its just an all around sexy car. Plus its faster than a roadster pretty easily. If we're talking about pricing there are better bangs for the buck than the crossfire out there, but its not really about that.