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28/08/2009
By EWAN KENNEDY
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The latest Nissan Z-car, the 370Z, follows along brilliantly from its honourable ancestors. Nissan has long held a sporting reputation, one that's complemented by amazing value for money. Just $67,990 (plus on-road costs) puts you in the driving seat of a machine that provides similar dynamic performance to European sports machines costing many tens of thousands of dollars more.
Styling of the new 2009 Z-car is just right, it's neither retro, nor ultra-modern, but takes the best of both routes. Best of all in the minds of Nissan enthusiasts, the 370Z closely follows the original theme that dates right back to the original 240Z of 40 years ago.
The long nose and short tail are true sports car, as are the tiny rear-three quarter windows, and that slope down of the roof right from the top of the windscreen is just right. In the latest model, the designers have come up with the interesting concept of having the front and rear lights follow an interesting ‘Z’ shape. These didn’t appeal to us at first, but our recent week’s road test soon enamoured us to the idea.
Inside, the dash area continues the Nissan Z-car tradition of having three auxiliary gauges atop the central area. A feature we really love is that the main instrument display moves up and down with the steering wheel when it's adjusted. How can something so stylish be so practical as well? Full marks to Nissan for this.
The twin-cam 3.7-litre V6 engine develops a very useful 245 kilowatts of power, and 363 Nm of torque at 5200 rpm. It gives you plenty of grunt off the line and when accelerating hard for safe overtaking. The throttle response is almost race-car like in the way it gives instant action; just the sort of thing demanded by the keen driver. There a strong engine note and the way that it rises and falls instantly as you work with the throttle pedal makes it a real joy to punt hard and fast.
The new Nissan 370Z is shorter and lighter than the 350Z it replaces, this makes it not only more nimble on the road, particularly on that favourite stretch of driving country, but also means this sports machine has extra performance while using less fuel when compared with its immediate predecessor.
Transmission in our road test care was by way of a new seven-speed automatic. It has a fascinating rev-matching system, called SynchroRev by Nissan, that is a delight to feel and listen to, especially when you are using the manual overrides to get the best from the car. I'm not sure you really need a blip of the throttle on an automatic transmission, but, hey, it sounds great.
Most drivers will typically use about eight to nine litres per hundred kilometres on the open road and about ten to twelve litres around town. Take it to a track and the sky’s the limit, but track time is about fun not frugality.
Handling is excellent, with plenty of grip through the tyres, the lightweight suspension reacts nicely even when the road is comparatively rough. The Z-Car can be bumped off line by severe surfaces, but recovers itself well and needs little input from the driver or the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) to get it back onto your chosen line. In any case, it's nice to have a bit of personality in a sports car.
Comfort is good by affordable sports car standards, but this isn't the smoothest car on the road. If you will be doing a lot of driving on mediocre surfaces make sure you try the 370Z on that sort of surface.
There's a lot of road-tyre noise, even on relatively smooth bitumen. This noise was bad enough to make us less than keen to do a long weekend trip during our time with the car. We did it in the end, but felt wearier than we should have done afterwards.
Luggage space isn't too bad, though the suspension towers steal a lot of width. Have a look for yourself as part of your private road test as some large suitcases may not fit under the hatch.
Interior stowage is good, though the door pockets and the centre-console bin are all on the shallow side. There's a multi-media connection inside the centre console. A couple of bins immediately behind the seats can carry reasonably sized objects.
Drink holders are provided for three, some may say this is an overkill on a car with only two seats, but it's nice to have a selection of fluids.
The latest Nissan sports car gives the keen driver plenty of pleasure by way of its engine and chassis characteristics. It's very keenly priced and seems certain to do well on the sales race as Australian economy starts to lift itself out of the hiccups of the last two years.
AT A GLANCE
MODEL RANGE
Nissan 370Z 3.7-litre two-door coupe: $67,990 (manual), $70,990
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard
Air Conditioning: Standard
Automatic Transmission: Standard
CD Player: Standard
Central Locking: Standard
Cruise Control: Standard
Dual Front Airbags: Standard
Front Side Airbags: Standard
Stability Control: Standard
Traction Control: Standard
SPECIFICATIONS (Nissan 370Z 3.7-litre two-door coupe)
ENGINE:
Capacity: 3.696 litres
Configuration: V6
Head Design: DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Compression Ratio: 11.1:1
Bore/Stroke: 95.5 x 86.0 mm
Maximum Power: 245 kW @ 7000 rpm
Maximum Torque: 363 Nm @ 5200 rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: Rear
Manual Transmission: Six-speed
Automatic Transmission: Seven-speed
Final Drive Ratio: 3.6923:1
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4250 mm
Wheelbase: 2550 mm
Width: 1845 mm
Height: 1315 mm
Turning Circle: 10.0 metres
Kerb Mass: 1471 kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 72 litres
Towing Ability: Not recommended for towing
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Double wishbone, multi-link, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Independent, multi-link, anti-roll bar
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Ventilated disc
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Type: Petrol 95RON
Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 10.5 L/100km
GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE RATINGS:
Greenhouse Rating: 5/10
Air Pollution Rating: 6.5/10
STANDARD WARRANTY:
Three years/100,000km |
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