280zxt vs. 300zxt

[Mauisnow13]

I have been searching threads and specs and have found many different specs on each of the car. I am most concerned with the 0-60 time, but am interested in all aspects. Does anybody know for sure what the official specs of the car are? I've seen 7.4 0-60 for the 300zxt and 6.2 for the 280zxt. I've also seen the opposite.

 

Stock for stock, how do they compare and what do you guys prefer? What are your opinions on acceleration, handling, drivability and all out fun?

[woldson]

Ummmm, why are you concerned about 0-60? Over all I do not understand what your motivations are. Why dose this intrigue you?

[Mauisnow13]

I've been trying to decide on which to get as a daily. I have been searching for specs and I can't seem to find any consistent stats so I was wondering if anyone had the official ones. I was just kind of curious. These are the two turbo models in my price range at the moment.

[veritech-z]

I've never owned a Z31, but I've been under the hood of a ton of them in the junkyard. The tightness of the engine bay would make me think twice about owning one that I would need to maintain. That being said, I love the Z31 body style, and prefer its looks to an S130 any day.

[Gollum]

The S130 is at least twice as easy to work on. Or the Z31 is twice as hard to work on if you want to think of it that way.

 

The Z31 has better EFI that is esily upgradable to nistune with a Z32 MAF for lots of airflow.

 

Though we all know the L28ET as plenty of stock potential.

 

They both can handle well, and can fit pretty wide tires under their stock wheel well.

 

The Z31 is heavier, but has a few more ponies on the 280ZXT.

 

You'll probably want a manual, so you only have two years to choose from for the 280ZX, so there's a lot more Z31 turbos out there to choose from.

 

I'd say the 88-89 turbo would definately be the best Z31 to own. It's got a much better ECU and the sweet LSD we all want.

 

0-60 I'd say they're about the same. I've driven a few Z31 turbo cars and they all felt.... meh. Like you're accelarting nice and fast, but you sure can feel the weight. It's not very hard to get the tires to start to squeel in a turn.

 

In my 2-3 years of driving a 280ZX every day I only spun the car TWICE, and I went hard on it all the time. The front suspension is pretty good, as it was very hard to understeer unless you purposefully went into a corner WAY too fast, and even then if you turned it too much the back stepped out instead of understeering.

 

If you get a 280ZXT I'd highly recommend some wider rims, possibly wider in back than front. Defiantely go for a good suspension upgrade like modernmotorsports coil over package. The rear is probably the weakest link in the 280ZX.

 

The Z31 tends to understeer more to me, thought that might be because I'm not used to driving them. I've never spent more than an hour in any of the Z31 cars I've driven, and there havn't been that many.

 

Overall I'd say their equal cars in many ways. They both have their pros and cons.

 

I personally would take the 280ZXT any day of the week. Mostly because I like the looks better and I'm so much more comfortable working on the L series than the VG. I already know how to take the car apart in a day and put it back together again. I'd have to learn a whole new car buying a Z31, though I DID consider buying one and WAS looking for one last year. If I found a 88-89 turbo for around 1k I'd buy it.

 

EDIT: One more thing I should note...

 

...for daily driving only, and left stock the Z31 might very well be a better option. Much less wind noise at freeway speeds, and less problematic AC/Heat system.

[JSM]

http://www.zdocs.com/BBspecs.html