The new Z is a track beast, but with the mighty GT-R in the same stable, it pretty much has to be one. But it has a character of its own, so don’t consider it as a slower but less expensive alternative to Nissan’s mythic flagship road rocket.
But when we recently swung the 370Z in Circuit ICAR’s track, however, it was on the hunt. What it lacked in straight-line speed compared to some other high-horse sport coupes we had on hand was largely compensated by its handling; the Z took to the curves and hairpins like if it was on rails and kept catching up to those who had hit the circuit ahead.
Okay, what if you don’t live on a race track, does the 370Z still shine for everyday use? Yes.
Surgical steering
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that more horsepower and less weight equal better performance and handling.
In the 370Z’s case, it gained 26 ponies and lost about 110 lbs (50 kg), so its acceleration times have dropped; 0 to 100 km/h is clobbered in 5.9 seconds, while the quarter-mile is achieved in 14.3 seconds at 149 km/h. Okay, it’s not the quickest sports coupe around, but a worthwhile improvement over the old 350Z .
Our test car is also equipped with Nissan’s SynchroRev Match with the manual transmission, which raises engine revolution while downshifting so there’s no compression and no loss of speed; race car drivers already exploit this technique, but for lower-skilled drivers, the car does it for you.
If you’re wondering what it feels like, just moving the shift lever to the left in its gate provokes an engine rev, the car assuming you’re about to shift from third to second, for example.
It’s a novel gadget that will probably find its way into more and more performance cars in the future, unless the double-clutch sequential kills the manual gearbox as we know it, but it entices you to drive aggressively, which isn’t sensible on crowded city streets. Happily, it can be deactivated.
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| More horsepower and less weight equal better performance and handling. |
But when we recently swung the 370Z in Circuit ICAR’s track, however, it was on the hunt. What it lacked in straight-line speed compared to some other high-horse sport coupes we had on hand was largely compensated by its handling; the Z took to the curves and hairpins like if it was on rails and kept catching up to those who had hit the circuit ahead.
Okay, what if you don’t live on a race track, does the 370Z still shine for everyday use? Yes.
Surgical steering
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that more horsepower and less weight equal better performance and handling.
In the 370Z’s case, it gained 26 ponies and lost about 110 lbs (50 kg), so its acceleration times have dropped; 0 to 100 km/h is clobbered in 5.9 seconds, while the quarter-mile is achieved in 14.3 seconds at 149 km/h. Okay, it’s not the quickest sports coupe around, but a worthwhile improvement over the old 350Z .
Our test car is also equipped with Nissan’s SynchroRev Match with the manual transmission, which raises engine revolution while downshifting so there’s no compression and no loss of speed; race car drivers already exploit this technique, but for lower-skilled drivers, the car does it for you.
If you’re wondering what it feels like, just moving the shift lever to the left in its gate provokes an engine rev, the car assuming you’re about to shift from third to second, for example.
It’s a novel gadget that will probably find its way into more and more performance cars in the future, unless the double-clutch sequential kills the manual gearbox as we know it, but it entices you to drive aggressively, which isn’t sensible on crowded city streets. Happily, it can be deactivated.
| |
| Our test car is also equipped with Nissan’s SynchroRev Match with the manual transmission, which raises engine revolution while downshifting . |