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Your pick: Pontiac Solstice GXP, Madza Rx-8 R3, BMW 135i, or Nissan 370z

I'll take the 135i every time.

After owning a BMW M5, supercharged Mustang GT, a Twin Turbo Nitrous Mitsu 3000GT VR-4 and having driven a 370Z several times since they hit the streets, and 350's before that, Z06's (nasty car there, wow) and other vette's, Evo's and STI's, CTS-V and AMG mercedes I can definitively say that I have driven just about every flavor of performance car minus exotics. Well, I drove a special editon 2008 911 Turbo but that's it.



The reason being is because the ride is quite uncomfortable in the Z. For performance, it kicks some pretty serious ass. Very impressive car for the money in that regard. Very tight handling and steering response and feedback is pretty damn good. The 370 is really a good step ahead of the predecessor 350 in power. Harsh ride, and a little too tight in the cockpit, though, I am 6'2". The interior is nicer than the 350 for sure, but doesn't have anything on the BMW there. They tried to go all F1 in the interior but made it more like a hotwheels instead of a Ferrari 458.

The refinement and smoothness that BMW brings in their ride is hard to match.

No way I would ever buy a solsitice/sky GXP. They look nice, but that's it. Pontiac and Saturn cars suck balls. I went and drove a solstice GXP a year and a half ago just to get a feel. I couldn't stand driving it.

Also, if you want to talk about dealer-installed chips, Dinan offers a 394HP package (and maintains factory warranty) for the 135i/335i/535i for like 2700 bucks. That'll put it up there with the M3. I had the privilege of driving a 335i with the S2 dinan package. It was pretty kick ass.

I do like the RX-8 as well, but it is a torqueless slut. That's my only complaint with the Wankel engines. Sound great, 9000RPM redline, but they just don't have the grunt a performance car really should have. The old 3rd gen RX-7 is better than the RX-8 in about every single way.



That's my take.
 
No way I would ever buy a solsitice/sky GXP. I went and drove a solstice GXP a year and a half ago just to get a feel. I couldn't stand driving it.

LOL....that bad?

Also, if you want to talk about dealer-installed chips, Dinan offers a 394HP package (and maintains factory warranty) for the 135i/335i/535i for like 2700 bucks. That'll put it up there with the M3. I had the privilege of driving a 335i with the S2 dinan package. It was pretty kick ass.

That's what mine had, but I think it's 384.
 
Nissan hit on a fantastic business plan when they decided to sacrifice optimal weight in the 350z by utilizing that multi use platform which allowed them to sell it so much cheaper. Reviewing the performance numbers I realized that a nicely equipped 370z, about 35k MSRP, is the performance bargain of a base model Corvette. Considering the Corvette is certainly the performance bargain of the world, that's a tremendous accomplishment.
 
LOL....that bad?



That's what mine had, but I think it's 384.

Yeah, that bad.



384?

umm, let's see.. oh okay, so the S1 has 384 and the S2 package actually says 398 on the site. I was actully thinking of the 384hp, and not the 398, but it was the "S2" so it would have been the 398 hp. They both haul ass. Well, either way it's an extreme bargain for the performance upgrade, especially with the warranty still intact.

The 135 is even lighter than the 335 I drove, so I would venture to guess and say the 135i with the S2 package is gonna be busting out mid-low 12 second 1/4mile times. That's nearly as quick as an LS3 vete.
 
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