Shootout: Nissan 370Z Nismo vs. Subaru WRX STI are red-hot track toys

[SOUND] [NOISE] [MUSIC] And as you've probably already guessed, this is the latest episode of Road Show Shootout, and it looks like all wheel drive won the drag race baby. Well there was a bee in my car. [LAUGH] And the sun was in my eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, I gotta admit it. You got off the line a lot quicker then I did with it's all wheel drive. But, I gotta say that if it's Straight line was a little bit longer. I think I had crossed you at the end there. What did you bring to the track today? Well bringing to the party is a 2.5 liter turbo charged engine. Which is good for a 305 horse power and 290 pound feet of torque. All four wheels via a six speed manual transmission. I've got more power than you. Blah, blah, blah. I've got Nissan's 3.5 liter V6 engine in the 2017 Nissan 370Z Nismo It's got a 3.5 liter naturally aspirated V6 that puts all of its power to the rear wheel that got intended. And it got some big mini tires that doesn't get much simpler than that with sport cars. All right, so we got more power but all wheel drive, I guess we need to do a few more test to make sure we know which one is gonna be coming out on top. Right, right, but a lot of people are gonna be concerned about which one of these is gonna be the better daily driver So first, let's ride around for a little bit and figure out which one of these is the most livable car. [MUSIC] So Antoine, what do you think of the ride quality of my 2016 Subaru WRX STI. It's pretty bumpy. [LAUGH] Yeah, the seats are pretty comfortable. There's a fair amount of bolstering, but they're not like any kind of [INAUDIBLE] car, or [INAUDIBLE], or anything. But they've got this nice suede fabric on them, and it's pretty grippy. And it does seem like you've got a lot of space here. This being a sedan, we've got a back A key lot's of room to move your elbows around and things like that so something like that. Even though it's a little bit more aggressive than most people would like on the street, still a really comfortable car for day to day driving. [MUSIC] So what we'll be working in here in the dashboard, a seat like a 7 inch touch screen. There's nothing. So when you go to home, you've got your regular audio. Bluetooth of course, but when it comes to app, I just two, aha and Pandora music app, and then starlink, which I thought was gonna be a navigation app. Mm-hm. But instead it gives you things like, here's your stock quotes, here's your weather, here's this. Like I don't necessarily really care about. Gotcha. You can get navigation and that comes in a package. Package with blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert plus an upgraded stereo system. And that goes for $2,600. Okay, that's not terrible. That's not terrible but I mean a suction cup mount is ten bucks. Just put that on your windshield use your phone and call it a day. Right, right I mean I would justify a tech upgrade in a car like this Came with Android Auto or Apple Car Play or something like that. Right. But it doesn't really seem like it's gonna be the case here. Yeah, exactly. So I'm gonna go ahead and say it, it's more comfortable than my car. Okay. It's more spacious. How does this work as a daily driver as far as fuel economy, though? Well, I mean I've been putting my foot into it, I'm not gonna lie cuz speed is fun. And And the combined rating is 19 miles per gallon, and right now, we're getting 20.4. Right. That's not too bad. Not a bad daily drive. Pretty radical all around. Yeah, you can stand the ride. Okay, cool, so we've pretty much seen what we've got to see here. Let's stop at my car and [LAUGH] You'll see when you get there. [MUSIC] So the right quality in this field only slightly like infinitesimally Slightly better than the Subaru. Better? I'm gonna go out on a limb, that's not really the V's strong point in comfort. No, it's not. [LAUGH] We're all over the road right here as far as bumps. Yeah. Yeah. And from the driver's seat, you'll notice that it really sort of follows every [INAUDIBLE] in the road. So what about cargo space? Because you only have, I mean- What you see's what you get. That's it? [LAUGH] Right there, you can see it from the driver's seat. It's just like whatever space is between those really meaty wheel wells. So I think you could probably fit two carry on bags back there, and yo could probably Would it fit two helmets behind me? Yeah, nice breeze back here though, that's good. Yeah. Functional threat tower bar. Yeah. But the cabin is, the studio apartment of driving opportunities. It's everything is here. [LAUGH] And there's not a lot of room. Yeah. And then I noticed that we have Nissan's standard infotainment system Yeah Yeah. You've been making this for, like, ever, right? Like 2010? Pretty much the same setup that debuted on the V in 2010 when the 370 came out. It's not really changed a lot. We don't have a lot of technology. What we do have is some cool features like bluetooth audio streaming, and we've got navigation on this one. Yeah, but everybody has bluetooth audio streaming, and you can't count that as it's like a positive when your base model Honda Civic has it. Alright I'm agree with you. But I do have navigation on mine. It's not a great navigation system but it does, sort of, get the job done. As far as driver aid tech. though again none. The most driver aid I've got is Here is the secret rev match which will automatically rev match my shifts which is great if you wanna drive this car in traffic or something like that, because the clutch pedal, well again will probably be great on the track, it's a bit too grabby for the street [MUSIC] Well what kind of gas mileage did you get? Get on the way up. Over stress the speed limit a little bit coming up here and it's mostly highway miles, so I imagine if you toss some city driving and stuff in there like that, I'm probably gonna be around 18 miles per gallon, but for a pure highway cruise with no stops, it's about 20 coming up. Right, but unfortunately that pure highway cruise is just super uncomfortable. Super duper uncomfortable so let's go ahead and hit the drive. I can't wait. I know. [MUSIC] Yeah, so this is the country 7DC. But it only have 350 horsepower. That's a lie. Lie, Nissan. It's more than you got though. [LAUGH] But I think I got a little bit less. So they got a 260 some odd pound feet of torque. Yeah. I'm not exactly 100% sure about that number. I've been too busy having fun driving it to actually look up the specs. Everything about this V feels really old-fashioned. > Yeah. It's just powerful V6 engine, naturally aspirated, limited slip at the back, lots of meat on the tires. On the in the wheel. And it was very simple there are no modes to choose from. Enjoy the damn thing. It's like plug and play right? I do have stability control but I can turn it on or off and again we've got the synchro red button which makes it easier to track But the people really like to blip their own shifts, but yet the simplicity of the power train sort of works its way into the driving dynamics. It's very predictable, but Because you never really find yourself guessing against what the computer's guessing. It's just what you put into the car is what you get out of it, but it's very easy to drive. Right, it's easy to drive at the limit. You would think that the rear-wheel drive car is gonna be the one that has less grip, but yes there's just a really good balance On you do the sort of set up for the day and I mean if you want to, you can check the rear out. Like generally speaking it's a pretty well balanced car. Now how does it sent mission feel. How does ship refill. Short girl, lots of girl. It well, that's a little bit attraction is, sort to throw but it goes really slug in Nicely it's got a lot of, You got to put a lot of effort into the shift but you put the muscle into it does sort of reward with good engagement. The clutch on the other hand is a little bit sort of digital. Yeah. It's really hard to flip it at low speeds on the track that is actually pretty good because when you come of the clutch you get really good quick engagement. Engagement. And again that sort of red matching really help because you have to be precise with your shift or you will lock the tires up with the turn. I blew under [LAUGH] But on the whole do you like it on the track. On the whole I'm loving this car on the track and I mean I think it's loving me too. I think the car and I could do this all day. But first, let's hop in your car and see what you've got going on. [MUSIC] Now, I've got a few tech advantages. And even though there isn't any tech in the cabin whatsoever, I have not only a front differential and a rear differential, I've got a Center Diff, and I can vary that diff. So I can lock it And I got like six different levels of center dip. Okay. That's crazy. So we're most of the way through a lap and you're still explaining how the dip works. [LAUGH] I know, I know. [LAUGH] And I also have three drive modes. So let's put it into the sport sharp. Okay. Sport sharp and I'm gonna put my dip into a little bit of negative. Sorry that was weak. So what I'm noticing over here is We're a bit higher off the ground. Yeah we are a bit higher off the ground.>> You brought a sedan to a sports car fight. [LAUGH] Yeah but I brought an all wheel drive to a sports car fight. Yeah but it's not really doing a lot to counter some of the body movement, so like the roll. There's not a lot, now I don't wanna say that. There's not a lot of roll at all.>> If we hadn't just gotten out of the V I may not even noticed As much as I do, the other thing is that you, if you kinda exit the corners a little more tightly you get on your power a little bit earlier than I do, even though I feel like I may have tackled the corner a little more aggressively. Yeah. So you can just sort of get on the power right at that apex. You know what I really like about this car? It's still has hydraulic power steering And it's super quick and super direct. Like, I literally know exactly where my tires are at any single second, because I can feel it all through the road. Mm-hm. I love it, I love it, I love it! Sports cars now, everyone's going to an electronic power steering, and it just loses so much of that tactile feeling. Mm-hm. This is so good! [MUSIC] Alright, so both very solid track cars but in very different ways. I mean, the Z is more of a classic sports car. It's a little bit more of an engaging drive and it rewards the driver for their inputs not just a lot of gadgetry. If I were gonna spend a day lapping in a car, it would probably be in this one. Plus We'll look at it. Well, yeah it looks great. It definitely look much better than my Subaru. But I just had a great time on the tracks today. I found that the Subaru was very engaging. I mean I just able to power right out of turns very very quickly. Neutral handling, very little body roll. I mean it was just a blast. I had a great time out on the track. Right, different cars for different driving styles. You can have fun in either one of them but we can also vote that the Subaru definitely won our drag race. And we can both agree that it is the most well rounded car for the street. So, if you were gonna pick a car that you had to drive to work every day and take to the grocery store, and then also take to the track on the weekends. Well, the Subaru is just gonna be a little bit more balanced. You know what, I think we actually agree. I think we do agree. Awesome, so the winner of the Roadshow Shootout is the 2016 Subaru WRX STI. [BLANK_AUDIO]