Japan’s only muscle car loses roof, retains balls. Calvin Fisher explains
ROADSTERS. THE MISCONCEPTION is that they’re the domain of hairdressers, estate agents and salon owners. While this might hold true for some of the European and Yank convertibles – Chrysler Sebring and Peugeot 308CC we’re looking at you – a proper roadster as pioneered by the British, flirted with by the Europeans and recently mastered by the Japanese, is a proper driving machine with the added perk that it removes another layer (the one above your head) between driver and driving experience. Aah the Japanese. Where the Mazda MX-5 skirts femininity and the Honda S2000 dials in precision and revvability, Nissan’s Z car says ‘screw it all’ and annihilates the playing field by enlisting a thumping 3.7-litre V6. That’s step one towards avoiding the castrating scalpel. Step two involves using the knife itself to carve out a muscular physique with Schwarzenegger-esque cutlines and pumped arches that envelop some serious hoops. Then add noise. Lots of the stuff.
THE DRIVE
And it is JUST a noise, at first. The Nissan 370Z has a soundtrack and it’s a loud one, but it’s neither sophisticated nor soul stirring. Raspy, bassy, it manages both but lacks the variation in pitch needed to be truly sonorous. Pitch it down a forest-lined mountain road with the top down and the acoustically enhanced ambience more than spurs you on, it bleeding goads you, and as the pace gets hotter, the noise becomes hauntingly melodic, filling the cabin (roof disappears in just 20 seconds) with zero effort. Under my right foot, a 245kW powerplant is stirred, with 363Nm being twisted out through the 275/35 Bridgestone Potenzas fitted to the rear. If you’re not careful they’re expelled as tyre smoke even at pace on this twisty tarmac. Pile into a corner, climb onto the massive brakes (four pot 355x32mm up front, 2 pot 350x22mm rear) hiding behind those bold 19-inch Rays alloys, feel the centre of gravity of the 1532kg roadster shift forward and lighten the rear, climb down two gears using the paddles behind the wheel and turn in with that satisfyingly positive hydraulic only helm, aim at the clipping pint and boot it! The 370Z never feels like a precision instrument, but fun is high on its list of priorities. The entire chassis is reinforced from the sills upwards to counteract the traditional scuttleshake that bedevils coupes which have had their tin tops removed. This is not the case here. Nissan’s done it right and designed the Roadster as a standalone model, planned from the ground up.
There’s something about gravity that makes a hair-raising series of banked turns and switchbacks exponentially a bit scarier. It’s not just the potentially looming drop off said road, but also the way every other physical force is amplified, against the adverse effect on your car’s braking prowess. With the top down, on just such a road, the same sort of driving knife-edge promised by multi-million rand exotics is accessible for a modest R561 000. Also accessed with immediacy is ‘go’ thanks to the 370’s razor-sharp throttle response – the kind you wouldn’t expect from a seven-speed automatic transmission. That’s right, my left foot has been relegated to braking duty in the absence of a clutch pedal. But it’s a case of rejoice, as the gearbox swapping cogs is one of the finest examples I’ve tested with very little torque converter slip and rapid shifts, helped by those wonderfully tactile and ergonomically perfect shifters behind the leather steering wheel. Left shifts down, right shifts up for direct, unfiltered responses from my inputs. There’s no committee to decide whether or not your inputs are in the best interests of the car here. Time it all wrong though and a tiny beep is emitted to let you know that a downshift at 7000rpm is overly ambitious. Link a series of lefts and rights together correctly, with the programmed rev matching blips on downshifts making for a hero soundtrack, and this is one Nissan that will raise your heart rate for sure.
THE BEAST AT REST
The biggest criticism levelled at the previous Z car, the Z33 350Z, was its relatively low-rent interior. In the Z34 model, this has been resolved with a fine choice of materials put together convincingly. Modern conveniences including a wealth of safety paraphernalia such as ABS, VDC, air bags and the almost obligatory climate control and integrated satellite navigation (a R21 000 option) are present. Heated seats? Got those too! Surprisingly, the Z car is also a bit of a multimedia powerhouse. Here you have Bluetooth and USB connectivity, auxiliary jacks for audio and video and a hard drive-based Music Box storage system, all outputted via a premium Bose sound system. The power-adjustable seats are also leather-ensconced with anti-slip centre inserts and adjustable lumbar support gripping the driver firmly in place – essential items on a road like this.
Exit the cabin and you’re treated with the 370Z’s most easily accessible party trick – those vicious aesthetics. A viper-like visage complete with fangs occupies the front aspect, while those sinewy bonnet strakes draw your eye to the nose. The headlamps and rear clusters resemble the kind of boomerangs you’d expect The Predator to wear on his belt – dangerous looking stuff. Even those huge alloys look like they’ve incorporated the business ends of many crowbars. In profile it’s a bit Coke-bottle-in-flight, but those broad haunches and racehorse rear end with double exit exhaust tips, housed in a colour matched rear diffuser, are superb finishing touches. And for once, it’s all made more menacing by the exclusion of the slippery coupe roofline. A girly convertible? Not at all. Even with the top down you wouldn’t want to spill its beer.
VERDICT
Just look at it. Yes, at R561 000 it is a lot of money. For a Nissan. But what a Nissan! It easily matches the pace of its traditional German rivals plus has smile-inducing dynamics in spades. The topliner here (R582 000) is literally brimming with kit, all standard on this model, and all expensive options on its rivals. I know that brandishing a Nissan key fob at the local pub doesn’t have the same resonance as a German item would, but look past the badge and remind yourself that this pure rear-driven sports car comes from the guys that build the GT-R. Top down or not, it’s still a brute.