Three weeks with the Zed

3 weeks in, and I’m still trying to get my head round what’s taking me so long to get used to the Zed. One thing I didn’t mention in my last post was the gearbox. This, really, has been the biggest cause of stress so far, as hinted at earlier. The change into 2nd, especially changing down from 3rd, is awkward to say the least. There are times I end up coasting for seconds at a time, just trying to get the damned lever home. It’s worse with a cold engine and with cold weather, but even when warmed up, it’s still not the slickest shift.

It’s been such a concern, in fact, that I’ve twice had a local 350Z specialist check it out (more on them in a later post). The first time, the guy just checked the car out while stationary and pronounced it to be typical of Zeds. Thing is, the gate feels completely different when on the move compared to standing still. Standing still, it’s as slick as you like, but if you’re even trickling, it get truculent. So, when I had it in for a minor service this last weekend, I got them to check it out on the move. Verdict: it’s one of the smoother ‘boxes they’ve encountered and I just need to get used to it. While that brings a certain amount of relief (mainly financial), I’m still left disappointed that I opted for a car with such a serious design flaw.

It’s certainly been getting better, though, and I suspect it’ll be great in summer. Last night, the temperature was up to about 7 or 8 degrees and it felt almost ok. So much so that I could forget about notchy gear changes and start to push the car a little harder. I’m getting back to being able to corner at similar speeds to those the Mini achieved. As much as anything, it’s about my confidence rather than the car’s abilities. Coming away from the second roundabout of my journey, I was laughing with joy. It’s been too damned long, I tell you. Too long. Later on, I even teased the back end out on purpose. I still need practice with my responses, but it was encouraging that I felt able to try it.

The proposed trackday may have to wait a bit (brakes and tyres need replacing first), but I’m really looking forward to it now.