Zed ain’t dead!

Read the magazine review right here.

Nissan’s oft-romanticised Fairlady Z is “the best-selling sports car” of all time for three reasons.

1: They’ve been about a bit. Since the late 60s in fact, and now in their sixth generation with the 370Z. In fact the Z is listed as the best-selling sportscar of all time.

2: They were affordable, especially considering the performance on offer. Part of why they sold so damn well.

3: They were built to be driven – reliable, powerful, emotional all in one package.

The new DK?

When the 350Z resurrected the brand 7 years ago now, it became a natural hero car for one group of enthusiasts in particular. In short, it became a drift contender, an alternative motorsport experiencing growing popularity worldwide, and a serious one at that. Not only did the lithe coupe body with classical long-nose pert-rear balance look fantastic, the grunty V6 up front and dedicated RWD layout makes for an ideal drifting balance. It was born to do this.

You see, not many new cars around at the time really were. The only other properly suitable “out-the-box” drifter was European, BMWs E46 M3 which in layout, size, power, was pretty much exactly what Nissan had aimed at competing with. But the Japanese super-coupe cost just over half the price of a new M3. Otherwise the Drift scene was and still is dominated by Japanese products from the 80s and 90s, things like Skyline GT-Rs (R32/R33) from the same manufacturer as the Z, Mazda’s screaming RX-7 rotary (FD, FC), Nissan 200SXs (S13, S14), and the legendary Toyota pairing of Hachi Roku (AE86) and Supra.

Of course local flavour does creep in. US and Australian-market drifters have successfully injected brutal V8s into the mix, one US drifter even runs a 911, and our series in some way echoed the Euro route since these are the vehicles most readily available here, which sees the Germans (Beemers mainly, E30 325is, all generations of M3, M5s, and the like) mixing it with the classically Japanese drift specials.

The 350Z cemented Nissan’s dominance of drifting, as a manufacturer, in the early noughties.

Looking sharp

We, however, have a new 370Z road car here to test. The replacement for the 350. And amazingly enough, it’s got the same exact recipe that’s been going on for decades now, with an even bigger V6 in the nose. Now 3.7-litres and good for 245Kw. But there’s also a lot more.

The styling is now absolutely sensational. It’s never from any angle anything less than a full-blown sports car. When you’re at its level, both front and rear haunches just seem insanely distended, even more so than those of the quasi-racer 993-generation GT2, and those were riveted on to complete the effect! The car is absolutely bulging from its skin at all four corners, and carrying the ideal aggressive, purposeful and poised coupe shape in the middle.

From the front you’ve got a pointy, shovel-like snout in fact reminiscent of the Supra but distinctively of the Nissan family (especially parked-up between two R35 GT-Rs…). From the rear it’s all beefy shoulders, a neat but purposeful spoiler integrated into the rear deck, and a pair of big-bore pipes promising vocal grunt. The roofline is lower than ever, the wheelbase more than 10cm shorter than before, and the track somewhat wider, and although you don’t notice these sorts of engineering details unless you’re literally measuring it against a 350, it does give a much meaner, harder overall look.

The gorgeous 19” Rays alloys with Bridgestone rubber filling the arches don’t hurt either, aesthetically at least.

Score one to the new car. It is positively stunning in its overt aggression, pure and simple.

Feeling sharp

Inside, the newer model is a vast improvement over the older car as well. There’s a much more upmarket spec list especially on SA cars, including a premium Bose audio system, rich leather cladding all over, comfortable electrically-adjustable seats, and satellite controls for the sound on the Z-emblemed wheel.

Materials actually do feel a cut above the old model, which in fairness was disastrously flaky, and there’s even a bit more room for bigger blokes despite the tighter exterior dimensions – always a neat trick. There are three “sports-oriented” dials embedded into the top of the fascia, oil temp, voltmeter, and oil pressure. There’s an on-board computer built-into the instrument pod which is itself adjustable, but if you’re looking for something really WoW these sorts of details shouldn’t really matter too much.

You sit low and seemingly right in front of the rear wheels, not as you’d expect to sit in a roadster but perfect for a sports car. Spanning the space between you and the boot is a beefy stabiliser, incidentally basically the only thing which looks metallic, and actually is! The view ahead is punctuated sharply by the crease on the right-hand side of the bonnet (mirrored on the left, so your passenger has the same view). It’s snug but not uncomfortably tight in here.

In fact it’s a great place to sit. The huge VDC Off button is just ahead of your right knee, the even bigger Engine Start/Stop at your other knee. There’s a slot to slide the key into under the VDC button, but Keyless Go means you just need it in your pocket really, just poke that glowing roundel…

At which point the engine erupts quite aggressively into life, with a modest flourish of revs which through those twin big-bore pipes sounds meaty straight away. You can even feel the heart of the beast now beating, as it sets the entire, clearly very stiff structure a-tingle.

On the Road

In short, on the road it’s very good but fatally flawed. It’s an easily fixable flaw we hope, and moreover a subjective one. It’s agile, feels light on its feet while gripping like a racecar on those sizeable Bridgestone contact patchs. It isn’t anywhere near as lairy as the drifter rep might suggest either, the traction so immense that at road speeds it’s unlikely you’ll be troubling the VDC much.

There’s a slippy-diff at the back which helps it do this, of course, while the suspension and stiff chassis make for a very nervous, darty medium-speed ride, the wheels crashing over imperfections and sending the whole machine into shudders of empathy. The trick Synchro Rev Matching manual works on a shift which is undeniably butch and very notchy, it feels as substantial as you’d hope a ‘box in this application ought to be.

That said, the engine isn’t as torquey as you might expect. Thanks to the light overall weight it responds well enough to throttle, but at Highveld altitudes, at low revs is just doesn’t quite have the balls you want, although it does start to make up for this from 5000rpm through to the 7500rpm redline.

Makes up for it in sheer urgency, Not, and here’s probably the Zs biggest problem, for any form of listening pleasure. Or silken tactile joy, for that matter. The engine dominates this car, it’s got the power but it just has no voice, despite being loud and generally rough enough to shake the whole chassis about all the time.

A sportscar really needs some form of intoxicating soundtrack, whether a tight-lipped racerish howl or off-beat V8 pulse. Sounding like a well-tuned but grumpy tractor most of the time doesn’t really do it. With luck an aftermarket exhaust should rectify the issue here, perhaps Nissan even have a Nismo system as an option. Every buyer will take it if it brings back the melody of the older 3.5-litre V6.

It’s certainly not slow however, the 370Z, although one US magazine reportedly clocked one at 4.9s to 100km/h…. that wouldn’t happen here at 1700m above sea-level, no sirree. And surprisingly it excels at destroying highways, settling into easy 180 – 220 km/h cruising mode. In fact, the car as a whole seems at its most comfortable at 160km/h-plus, the stiff suspension and communicative chassis suddenly making perfect sense.

On the Track

The first time I really bonded with the Z, was on our photoshoot with two of its sumo-wrestling big brothers, a simmering pair of R35 GTRs conducted at the Gerotek Dynamic Handling Circuit. It’s a pretty tight and quite daunting ribbon of good tarmac without runoffs most of the way round nor Armco to keep you on the track, but is a great mix of faster sweepers with tighter second-gear radii. Plenty of camber and elevation changes right around it as well.

The start-finish straight becomes a pair of gentle curves, right and then back to the left, which you can blast through with barely a lift so tenascious is traction and neutral the balance of the low-slung Nissan. Then there’s a short straight before the moderate, third-gear right-hander, so the big discs get a small workout as you haul down from the top of fourth into third. The rev-matched downshifts are really helpful around here, totally removing the onus of stabilising the rear with heel-and-toeing, especially entering the next bend a hairpin right which sneaks up on you while you’ve still got lateral load on from the previous bend. You can flick the tail wide through the hairpin but it’s got to be deliberate, which on such a narrow track in a car which isn’t ours would be pretty irresponsible. But even driven just just over its limits it is a brilliant driver’s tool. Quick, fun, honest.

Also, when you’re that focussed on lines and apexes and being smooth, as you are on a track especially one which just drops away into a bushveld mountainside now and then, your mind pays no heed to the noise of the motor because it goes into full “brain-out” mode. So it doesn’t get in the way of enjoying the car underneath at all out here.

In fact I’m having so much fun that even after all the photography is done, I hang around until the last possible minute in the Z just driving for the sheer fun of it. It’s a real pleasure out here, driven like this. It feels right at home.

The Oval

Yes we had to. Sorry about the state of the rear rubber Nissan SA we really are, but it’s the replacement of a drift legend. I think I’ve said that before, but it is. It had to be done.

So it was off to The Rock Raceway next, on the East Rand, to avail ourselves of their well-worn drift facilities. After some limited success, I’m finding that the big 19s just aren’t giving up traction they way we’d like, and in second there doesn’t seem to be enough torque to really get the slide going with just power. Meanwhile speed has built to a point where the fronts are scrubbing off so I’m having to saw at the wheel to unsettle the rear without losing the slide to a washing front.

Once you do get it going though it’s really very good. Far more balanced and controllable than anticipated, I thought the shorter wheelbase would make for an altogether snappier drift dynamic. But you can get huge angle on and still pull it back smoothly and controllably, and this with a regular LSD still running at the rear and standard street pressures.

We’re also lucky enough to have the track owner, and sensational drifter in the top ranks of the local drifting scene on hand to give the 370 a proper eval. This man has drifted just about everything out there, runs his own Soarer competition car and builds and maintains many others. He gets the Z very sideways, for a very long time…

“That is very good,” he concludes. “Those 19s are a problem, and I’d junk them for 18s, even 17s if they’d work on this car. Lock up the diff, take the tyre pressure up to 3 bar, and then you wouldn’t even need any more power than it has now. It’s surprisingly benign for such a hardcore car, even on the standard suspension setup. And, they’ve definitely got the look absolutely right this time around. A very nice car all round.”

What’s more, it’s soaked up these trying ordeals we’ve thrown at it with aplomb. These drift guys are brutal on the engine, a lot of the time simply burying it in its limiter for seconds on end. The ‘box is still tight enough to be baulky on upshifts and the engine still immediately responsive. It hasn’t once let us down, or put much of a foot wrong really. It’s dynamically excellent, makes you feel special to be driving in it, and looks gorgeous from all angles.

Just, honestly, that engine note! For God’s sake, give it back this crucial element of its sportscar soul and it would make for surreal value to an enthusiast at its R500K list.

In the end.

In its nine days with us the 370Z has blown hot and cold. The first impression is dominated by that nasty, very intrusive engine thrum and utterly uninteresting note leaving a taste of sadness in your enthusiast heart, but live with it a bit and the killer aesthetics and deeply engaging handling abilities at least dull this constant aural disappointment.

In the end I’d grown really fond of it, fond enough to be deeply upset to see it go, which I think has to be the truest measure of a successful sportscar – the overall emotional appeal. Get past the Nissan badge on the nose and you’ll find the 370Z can run with the biggest players in the game and offers the driver entertainment and involvement little else in this price range can match.

Reviewer name: Russell

Liked

Shapely sheetmetal

Composed but adjustable handling

Gorgeous forged Rays alloys

Disliked

Grating mechanical noise

The price

Drive Vitals: Nissan 370Z Coupe M/T

Engine: (V6 petrol)

Induction: (Nat-asp)

Capacity (3696 cc)

Power (245kW @ 7000rpm)

Torque (363Nm @ 5200rpm)

Kerb weight (1461kg)

Driven wheels (Rear)

Price: R505 500

For more information visit the Nissan SA website.

Press images courtesy of www.quickpic.co.za.

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