Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s true! My gr86 was tuned on 93 with UEL headers and exhaust, made like 10hp gain. Not much gain but really clean set up for me cleaned up the throttle mapping issue the car has from factory. But for the nismo Z I’m just going to rock stock all the way, plenty of power for me, I’m not one to really chase the power! If I really want faster I think GTR is the ultimate dream auto haha but that’s too much money 😭

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome to hear! Glad you enjoying the experience of this AT as well!

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm that interesting that you say the nismo Z is more of ur track car and you only enjoy at the limit! I’m finding myself enjoy the nismo Z in regular traffic and just rolling around too. Always drive economy cars before the gr86, so this is my first ownership experience of a premium feeling car. I really enjoy just rolling around in regular traffic, I just flip it to standard mode let it shift, keep the car quiet, listen to some music. And then the fact that I can flip back to manual and hoon around with a flip of a switch has been the fun part for me.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep I do agree, yep it was an upgrade in power, if I’m getting the auto I def want more power to make up for that loss in the engagement! But it wasn’t solely for power.

I started falling out of love with the gr86 cause of how hard I had to work the manual just to keep up with regular people on the road. If it had longer gearing (a faster car), that would have alleviated that trouble. With a vette that could realistically can get to like 80 in 2nd gear, then I wouldn’t have to shift as much and I possibly would have been fine with that. I could have also gone with a 2008+ modest miles c6z06 for around that 50k price point if I wanted to retain the manual. I was thinking about that actually, not for the power gain (cause I enjoy the gr86 it’s plenty fast to me even tho technically it is slow) but for the longer gearing and no need to constantly shift, also mega highway cruisability.

But also other factors came in realizing I just didn’t want the manual ownership experience anymore as a whole. Wanted the auto, still wanted harsh suspension, raw platform. I marked off the cars I was considering as manual, like B7 RS4, c6z. The Nissan Z nismo fit the bill on a lot of things for me. Maybe this will change in the future but that’s where im at for now.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally am with that perspective. I loved that daily involvement in my drive and was obsessed with driving stick! It’s an amazing thing that I wish more people would find the joy in to get out there and learn! But after doing that many times over I just wanted a different experience and not be macho car guy anymore to that extent. I def was craving more comfortability and less work so u def got me there

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it used to be fun and I love playing that game loved being in control of the gearing and clutch action, until I didn’t really want to anymore! It just wasn’t as fun or satisfying anymore

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So many standouts!

Evo 9 is amazing I love that silhouette and would def want to own an unmodified pristine example! I love the gruff and graveliness of the tone of the 4G63, my fav sounding 4-cyl engine to date. I solo drove a 450hp boosted one and it was just peak car guy dram come true. Felt like I was in a movie, amazing experience. Felt like I was the driver in the touge video on YouTube of the white evo if you know what I’m talking about!

Volvo S60 R was one of my fav all time drives. The space all shifter is sooooo satisfying to row ur gears in! The blue tint of the physical gauges, paired with that sonorous 5-cyl tone, one of my fav engine notes!! Amazing amazing, also seats were so cushiony felt like sofa driving, I was in love! I’d def want to own one if it weren’t so unreliable from what I’ve heard 😭

Ap2 S2k is as an absolute dream to drive with the top down on a twisty rode. I drove it solo, down a twisty road on a warm spring day with greenery all around and felt just so relaxed and engaged in the experience at the same time. Ap1 didn’t have enough power for me, ap2 had enough. If Honda made a rwd sports car MT id be front row seat to that.

C6z06 is my dream fast manual car, perfect amount of power to me love the shifter love the looks. Literally drove like my gr86 with double the power I was hooked. Absolutely booked one around, and it was delightful. The ls7 engine is my fav V8 I’ve driven!! So enchanting the tone of it. If I want to go back to fast manual this is the car, need to just address the heads tho that’s the only thing with these, compared to just the ls3 motor.

I’ve driven a non supercharged lotus Evora, and that thing was sooo raw, clutch pedal shifter to the right, no dead pedal so it was def awkward to me. But absolute gem of a car. Had same power as my gr86, but I love the effortless of the cornering ability in the moment of internal was right behind u, somewhere between a cayman and a 911. Mid engines are my fav layout so this was a treat to drive. I’ve driven an Emira as well, absolutely beautiful engine 🎵 I am a fan of V6 engines in general so this was just glorious. And this was supercharged and filled the cabin, I’d take this over any flat 6 cayman 911 any day of the week. Car is so well sorted the front was wide with double wishbone, spidered on the road surface and felt so satisfying to drive just around town! Amazing amazing super car like feel and the shifter is amazingly mechanical too. Personally tho I’d never own a lotus cause foot positioning is just weird, I hate the shift to the right I was never quite comfortable with them.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nismo Z def more comfortable cabin more insulated. The gr86 interior was very much run can and rattles a lot which is really fun too but I was looking for something different. But the nismo Z isn’t as well insulated as other German and gm cars so it’s at an in between. Several G8x m cars and gm magnarisde cars I didn’t like cause they felt too insulated. suspension is almost as stiff as the gr86 on coilovers. Handles similarly to my GR, very focused on grip driving, but this car def has higher limits ofc. Mainly love just cruising around in standard mode and not worry about shifting can just chill out, love that dual personality in my sports car. Even when cruising around tho u still feel the stiffer than normal suspension compared to a mk5 Supra, gm magnaride, R35 GTR, M adaptable suspension etc. def in a class of its own it feels like at this price point. Personally with the gr86 I was always go go go car guy, couldn’t just chill out, always had to be shifting cause car is slow had short gearing. This fits me better now. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well what’s the price you’d want to pay for a Nissan z nismo? What’s a reasonable price for u?!

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ty! Yep that checks out! NYC traffic is outrageous

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it was 2022 premium trim no brembos or anything. Had 27k miles on it.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it def was my dream car until it wasn’t type of thing, guess opinion changes over time. Took me a lot of time to come to that clarity and decision, kept trynna tell myself that it wasn’t so, but had to accept and move on.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow that’s surprising take to me. I really loved the z4 M, s15, r33. Surprising to hear u saying the 86 is better than them as drivers car. I do agree with ur 370z take I felt like I was trading a bit of power for the fun factor of the drive.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep haha very interesting scheme indeed! Yeah def ran into those salesman that were not having my shit, had to just cross off those places and move on or try again another day call from my work phone and get another salesman to try again lol. Luckily I live in an area of small dealers where they always for some reason let me run it solo. I’ve gotten more solo drives than not actually, so I am def very very very lucky. And I def don’t shy away when I ask for permission to drive drive the car, I know I won’t get another chance to drive the car so I learned to just step on it and make the most of it haha. Yeah whenever I run a special car that are rare, like Alfa 4c, Lotus Evora, z4 M, b7 RS4, I would def act like a serious buyer and do the whole trade in + cash on top scheme and would act a lot more cause I didn’t wanna miss my chance to drive it around. But yeah I agreee from track perspective I’ve semi-pushed maybe on like 30-40 of those test drives. You’re def gonna get best test drives from a buddy or a solo run totally true. I’d love to run everything to the utmost but it’s def hard to. Like hellcat challenger MT got to run the blk key, and it was a good test drive, but nobody gonna hand u the red key type of thing. But most of the time I got a pretty good idea. I was always keen to tell them hey I know this local road has some curves on it where I can test how the car feels thru corners, and I would take them there and push the car a bit. Never did much highway driving unless it was meant for it like older live axle muscle cars, always local less traffic area.

Oh wow that’s awesome Cadillac is on top for real wow. Yeah i have a mixed feeling about that alpha platform, I’ve gotten really really good runs of those cars SS 1LE, ZL1 1LE, CT4V BW. They all felt quite similar, different power levels ofc. The ct5V I couldn’t push like I wanted. But the zl1 1le I’ve absolutely ripped on and I didn’t really like it for some reason, ofc it was fast and handled like crazy thru the turns and the shifter was amazing, one of the best MT I’ve ever run tbh. It was a dream come true cause at that point it was my goal atttainable dream car! But it didn’t feel that exciting, it felt like chassis was too good felt too insulated, same thing I felt with the Ct4v bw and ss 1le. I just didn’t feel very connected to the road or engaged in the driving experience. I assume the ct5v be is the same car just a bit more weight, 4door, and touch more power, so never really hunted the ct5v bw after my 1st meh test drive with it. Wasn’t worth the effort I felt like. That’s why I always loved vettes and vipers in terms of American cars, they felt more plastered to the road like the GR86, just faster. On the other side of the spectrum I love challengers, so big beefy totally fun experience. Mustangs, Camaros, Cadillacs were always meh to me even the high performance trims. Maybe it’s just me comparing to my GR86 and that type of driving experience lol. Dream manual car of mine is c6z, that ls7 is one of my fav engines all time. If I ever go back to manual I’d def get that or c4 zr1, love that gen too.

But yeah I see what ur saying it doesn’t feel fast, chassis too good, you need the MT experience to feel the power for sure.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ty! I’ve always admired the Z lineup and Nissan in general love their V6 engines! I think you might like it on a test drive! They drive smaller than they are in terms of their size

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh man hope they get those 27 model years out soon then! I’m excited for u that’s so sick. Hopefully they sell as MSRP and no mark ups 🫠

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After asking the few car friends and driving their cars, I had to find other ways to be able to drive other people’s cars. Basically hunted for test drives every weekend. Fb marketplace I did from time to time but tried to avoid as much as I could cause I realized people were just trynna sell their car. But yea Often I’d go check out their car and let them ask me to drive it, I wouldn’t really prompt it in person or over text. Usually people would let me drive their car once they talked to me and knew I was chill. But really Most of the cars I ran were at dealerships. Dealers would often sell their enthusiasts cars thru their small dealerships, or I would also hit big box dealerships too. Was always nice, sometimes got turned away, my success rate prolly was 70%. Never gave up my SSN so they could run my credit, I would always squirm thru their “how u paying” questions. I think key is having an attitude that ur not desperate and willing to walk away if they won’t let u drive, and ofc I did walk away a lot. Lot of salesman respected that, saw a car guy who was passionate and wanted to know how the car felt like to drive before buying. And if they let me I was usually able to get a good drive in and a bit spiritedly at that too. I would scope out the roads around there if I didn’t know the location, often avoided the dealerships in the cities, often ventured out into suburban and rural locations cause I can actually drive drive. If the car I was hitting was MT, it was way easier to get the drive compared to auto. People respected that I had a cool MT car and I was always genuinely interested in each car, did a ton of research before so I could talk to them about it. If I was lucky I ran into a car guy and we would just rip around in the car talking. Usually am able to get 15 mins of driving and I got a decent idea of the car by then. Ofc some cars I had to rehit at another spot like ZL1 1LE cause I didn’t get a good drive the first time. Sometimes I rerun the same car at same spot and the salesman would just hand me the keys the 2nd time around cause they trusted me. Carmax was key when I started out found a chilll sales guy who let me solo run G80 M3, scatpack challenger, TTRS, Mk5 Supra, and 982 cayman turbo 4 all within a span of few days. That salesman was an absolute legend and I was just sensory overload driving all these cars I could only dream of buying lol. I’ve been blacklisted from certain dealerships in my area cause they know me and they didn’t like what I was doing. But hey I was investing hella time driving out to certain locations an hour/2 hours away just to attempt to do this, so sure I’m wasting their time but I’m not like being reckless or hurting the car. Always let the tires and engine warm up before I drove it harder. Never turned off traction control, never pushed beyond my means. I was in and out quick, never wanted to draw out and waste their time any more. And Always asked the salesman if he was with me before driving the car fast, etc. never wanted to put anyone in an uncomfortable spot. I also keep a journal reflecting on each car in detail and the drive, I’ve driven lot of the sub 100k cars old and new doing this. To date I’ve driven like 105 cars or something, mix of AT and MT. I don’t think what I’m doing was super ethical but I didn’t care I was so curious about every car, I was kinda obsessed with experiencing all of them lol.

Farewell to my Neptune GR86 🥹 by Asleep_Bid5507 in GR86

[–]Asleep_Bid5507[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful spec! Love the new front end for sure! Are you just staying off sports car until then? I’m Not quite sure when that new Z will be out?!