Nissan 370Z

The problem with hanging out with maniacs is that they can make you look like you lack spontaneity. OK, so they might be spitting nonsense, smoking crack and trying to rip the faces off passers-by, but at least they aren’t dull.
Which is what happens with the 370Z when it hangs out with a gaggle of committed sportscars. It has its volume turned down to seven.
The Z-car reads like a heavy hitter: two-seats, 3.7-litre V6 up front and driving the rear wheels. It carries the torch from the muscle car that was the 350Z, this time with sharper styling , big changes underneath and useful tech like Rev Synchro Control that blips the throttle in a heel-and-toe stylie better than even the best racing drivers.

It’s a very grown-up, well-fettled improvement. But, and there is a but, in this company, the 370Z feels too everyday.
The engine is quiet. The throttle response is mushy, the steering easy but without ‘think it, it is done’ intuition. It’s not that the theory is wrong – just that it seems to have been designed primarily as a sexy, useable car that can go fast, rather than a fast car that’s so charismatic you make compromises to own it.

Stuff like the fact that it feels solid, but that’s because it’s quite heavy at around the 1,500kg mark. It feels easy, but that’s because you have to push through useability sponginess to get to the response. And when you do, it gives all the indications of being a lairy RWD car, but then when you go nuts, it is actually massively benign.
Make no mistake, the 370Z makes huge sense – not least with pricetag – but right here, right now, it’s the car that gets the least lascivious glances. Shame, really.

Charles Hong

Super Car Blog Australia

image source: http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Nissan_370Z_GT_3.jpg