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[RadioRon]

Hi Josh
Thanks for responding. Yes indeed the wind that comes into the cabin is very similar to what I used to suffer in my 68 Spitfire and I suspect is very much like many cars of that era, with more upright windshields. So, the reviewers were on the money in general on that issue. How one responds to the buffeting will vary all over the map depending on the age and experience of the driver. In my case, I have experience with older convertible cars and the Z8 is no worse than any of them with the top down so I have chosen to find it charming and move on. On long highway trips, I have found that earplugs are a great benefit to keep from having the lower frequency buffeting tiring you out.

So, while the noise with the top down is part of the retro experience and is easy to accept and ignore, the noise with the soft top up is less easy to excuse. While it only crosses the threshold of unacceptability at high freeway speeds and up, I haven't heard this kind of noise in other convertibles, even old ones. If one tends to cruise at stupidly illegal speeds a lot, then this will be a real irritant. For me, it seldom comes to my attention as I focus my enthusiasm much more on "twisty dancing" than out and out speed.

It bears mentioning that Z8 owners also have the choice of putting the hardtop on the car, which is not difficult, in which case the car is sublimely free of wind noise, all the better to hear the music of the exhaust. The hardtop has no noise issues at all, and it looks wonderful. I've taken my car to a summertime show&shine with the hardtop on just to show it off that way as many people have never seen this configuration.

On the handling issue, I had another read through my old collection of reviews and find that several of the authors had something guardedly negative to say about the car’s handling at the limit as you point out. I also note that these comments are often in contrast to other supercars of the day, including F360 Modena, Diablo GT, 911 Turbo, Corvette Z06, 550 Maranello and many others. This is heady company for a car that aspires to be more of a high performance touring roadster than an out-and-out track animal (the weight is what convinced me of this). So it is no wonder that some of them have something negative to say, since they are, either directly or subconsciously, comparing the Z8 to the very best.


Ron