2.5rs vs 300zx

[triplerox]

Since it will be my first sports car, is the 300zx n/a or tt recommendable?

[Broke_as_****]

If you feel reasonably confident in your driving skills and you don't plan on trying to test the cars limits then a Twin Turbo is not "too much car" for you. However, being in college, being your first sports car and being that the non-Turbo Z can still move pretty quick, I'd say that would be your better option. It's not like you can't trade up in the future if you decide the NA isn't cutting it.

[drunken monkey]

I have to say that this is something i hear a lot of and don't quite understand.
just because you have a faster car with twin turbos and whatnot, it doesn't mean you have to floor it everytime or rev it to the redline before making a gear change.

would it be too much for you?
If you go harder and faster than you can handle; yes.
But then that wouldn't be because of the car, it'd be because you can't control yourself. Don't blame the car.

[kman10587]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

I have to say that this is something i hear a lot of and don't quite understand.
just because you have a faster car with twin turbos and whatnot, it doesn't mean you have to floor it everytime or rev it to the redline before making a gear change.

would it be too much for you?
If you go harder and faster than you can handle; yes.
But then that wouldn't be because of the car, it'd be because you can't control yourself. Don't blame the car.

Yeah, but it's a lot harder than it sounds to "regulate" yourself like that, especially when it's your first sports car. Bottom line, with a twin turbo, he's a lot more likely to get himself into trouble. But besides that, there's the cost issue. Besides being more expensive to buy, getting worse fuel mileage, and probably being a little higher on insurance, the 300ZX TT requires quite a bit more maintenance to keep it running in good shape, and it's not the kind of maintenance you can easily do by yourself. I'd say save yourself some money and a potential disaster and just get the N/A. It's got more than enough power to have fun with anyways.

[k3smostwanted]

Originally Posted by kman10587

Yeah, but it's a lot harder than it sounds to "regulate" yourself like that, especially when it's your first sports car. Bottom line, with a twin turbo, he's a lot more likely to get himself into trouble. But besides that, there's the cost issue. Besides being more expensive to buy, getting worse fuel mileage, and probably being a little higher on insurance, the 300ZX TT requires quite a bit more maintenance to keep it running in good shape, and it's not the kind of maintenance you can easily do by yourself. I'd say save yourself some money and a potential disaster and just get the N/A. It's got more than enough power to have fun with anyways.

word of the wise...

[drunken monkey]

...true...

but i am still of the mind that it is always a good learning experience to crash a car and knowing that it was all down to your own stupidity. Nothing will teach you more self control in the future than cocking up.

[Broke_as_****]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

...true...

but i am still of the mind that it is always a good learning experience to crash a car and knowing that it was all down to your own stupidity. Nothing will teach you more self control in the future than cocking up.

Uh...right. Thats why Drivers Ed now includes driving your car into a tree right?

Start with the slower car, take the time learn how to drive a bit beyond making a left into a parking lot and avoid a costly and potentially fatal mistake. Nothing good will ever come from getting in a wreck. Yes you can learn from it but you can learn the same damn thing with some time and practice.

[drunken monkey]

no idea.
never been to your kind of driver's ed class.

anyway.
my point is, if you are the kind of person who is going to crash a car then it doesn't matter if it is the turbo or non-turbo one you are driving. The thing that is making you crash isn't the car you are driving but how you are driving it and if you are the kind of person who lacks control or otherwise unable to resist flooring it, then no amount of driver's ed is going to teach you.

sure you can learn to better drive a car and hence be more in control of the car but that doesn't address the resisting flooring it issue.

[Broke_as_****]

The idea is that its the likelyhood of a crash, which is not a yes or no thing. If you're a total dumbass then yeah, you'll probably wreck anything. But the other 90% of the population is usually capable of learning how to drive if they start off slow. A given person that may get upside down in a ditch with a Twin Turbo might just understeer a bit and learn something in a NA.

You can't look at it as either you're going to crash or you're not because that doesn't factor in learning. And you can not tell me that you don't think the more you drive the better you become at it, provided you are trying to do so. I don't know of anyone that has put in their time behind the wheel on some twisty roads that doesn't walk away with a better understanding of how to drive faster safely.

[drunken monkey]

yes but that learning can be done in the turbo car just as easily as it can be done in the non-turbo car. It's all down to your levels of sensibility and responsibility.

[k3smostwanted]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

yes but that learning can be done in the turbo car just as easily as it can be done in the non-turbo car. It's all down to your levels of sensibility and responsibility.

having a faster car increases your chances not to learn anything and do some major damage...i dont see how this point could be debated.

[drunken monkey]

...that is assuming that he is careless and unable to control his left foot.
don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that it isn't worth spending a few hours in a slower car to get an idea of how things work but i just think you stand a chance of learning more, or at least make a little bit more effort to be careful and be more mindful in a faster car.

using me as an example.
stick me in a slow car and I will rev the nuts of it gong as fast as it can go.
stick me in a fast car and i will take a lot longer to figure out just how much of that performance I can use.
real world example.
I almost crashed my sister's ford ka after collecting it from the garage.
I slowed down at every junction in a cerbera.

[k3smostwanted]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

...that is assuming that he is careless and unable to control his left foot.
don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that it isn't worth spending a few hours in a slower car to get an idea of how things work but i just think you stand a chance of learning more, or at least make a little bit more effort to be careful and be more mindful in a faster car.

using me as an example.
stick me in a slow car and I will rev the nuts of it gong as fast as it can go.
stick me in a fast car and i will take a lot longer to figure out just how much of that performance I can use.
real world example.
I almost crashed my sister's ford ka after collecting it from the garage.
I slowed down at every junction in a cerbera.

im not saying one couldnt learn on a fast car. im saying it increases their chances, that is all. the Z32 is already a dangerous car to drive hard, let alone in TT form. i would never recommend the TT to a new driver. they are bound to get in an accident in mommies camry let alone a 300hp RWD sports coupe.

[drunken monkey]

fair enough.
i guess it does still just boil down to how you are behind the wheel of a car, which is the one thing we don't know about the thread starter.

[Broke_as_****]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

stick me in a slow car and I will rev the nuts of it gong as fast as it can go.

I almost crashed my sister's ford ka after collecting it from the garage.

If you were driving stupid for any reason, especially if it was just because you were in a slow car, that smacks of a personal problem with restraint to me. So not to be too much of an ass but it sounds like you're in that 10% I was talking about. Maybe you should rethink how you approach things.

To try and put it in the simplest terms possible:

It's like in Grand Turismo. You pop in the game and try to learn how to play with a 500hp Viper you're probably going to crash because just when you think you're getting the hang of it and think you're ready to give it some stick the rear end slides out and you eat wall. You learn how to drive in a Miata most likely you're still going to get overconfident and lose control but because you're going slower you spin out or start to understeer and have to brake instead of eating wall.

It takes a lot more practice and time to learn how to react to a car that is at its limit then you'd ever think possible. At some point you will make a mistake and that mistake tends to be not nearly as costily in a less powerful car. A mistake that might be a major, perhaps life threatening, crash in a Corvette might be a minor slide in a Cavalier because of lower speeds, lower thresholds and lower power output.

There is no reason to recommend a more powerful car to a novice driver.