New Car Test - Nissan 350Z Track

5 May, 2003

The Nissan 350Z car offers hard edged looks and performance for the money.

By Nathan Huppatz

Nissan's new 350Z aims to carry on the Nissan's 'Z' car tradition of rear wheel drive 6 cylinder powered sports cars, the last of which to grace worldwide markets was the 300ZX. In Australia we were unlucky enough to miss out on the high performance twin turbo engine, so the arrival of the 350Z has been eagerly anticipated. It has high performance from the willing engine, and great handling and features for the price.

So was the wait worth it?

The 350Z Track model as tested receives extra goodies over the already feature rich Touring model, including Brembo brakes, 18" Rays wheels, front and rear spoilers with rear underbody diffusers, and Vehicle Dynamic Control (or VDC).

The 350Z has a sleek, European look, reminiscent of the Audi TT. It has a wide stance on the road at 1815mm, and a cool but menacing presence. It looks as if it means to go about its business in a professional, purposeful and stylish manner. It does all three.

Climbing into the driver's seat instantly makes you think sports car. Don't expect a 2 door coupe, with a few hot options to make it 'sporty'. From the contoured low slung seating position, the 3.5 litre tuned V6 engine growling to life to the leather bound steering wheel and metal pedals, this car means business.

The Z retains a three gauge binnacle on top of the dash in 'Z' heritage - Volts, oil pressure and closest to driver a trip computer. A Tacho is centrally mounted with programmable red shift light. 260km/h Speedo to the right, fuel and water temp to the left. The steering column is adjustable up and down, with the gauge binnacle above it moving as well. The center console area contains the 7 speaker 240watt Bose stereo (a subwoofer enclosure is behind the driver seat), which has an in dash 6 CD player and cassette deck. Sound volume rises and falls according to road and cabin volume, which is handy because volume can certainly rise as that tacho needle flicks around towards redline - but we will get to that soon... Above the stereo is a flip down cover, presumably a space in Japan for a navigation system display. Although the compartment looks ok, it doesn't work too well in practice. It is not deep, and closing the lid requires yanking it out from the dash and pushing it... It seemed flimsy, and might be prone to breakage.

Indicator and wiper switchgear is within finger reach and the gear lever is located easily with the left hand. The supportive leather seats are also power activated, with high and low heating to keep your bum warm - and certainly they do, believe us!

Other cabin features include a sunglass holder between the push button activated courtesy lights, intuitive but slightly cheap feeling heater, climate, demister and fan controls (below the stereo) and numerous small storage spaces - two small rear bins, and center console bin, small armrest cavities and a large glovebox behind the passenger seat. The is also an obligatory cup holder for the passenger.

The steering wheel mounted cruise control is easy to use and locate when driving, and controls for dash backlight brightness and trip computer are on the side of the driver instrument binnacles. These buttons are not too easy to operate offering only one way to scroll through options.

Expecting some cavernous storage space behind the front seats will leave you pretty disappointed. There is a rear strut brace bisecting the rear luggage area. It has a nice 'Z' logo embossed in silver plastic, but this doesn't help you fit more luggage in. There is enough for 2 people only, and not much room for long trip packing! But, this is a sportscar, to be used for Sunday sprints, cruising to Bed and Breakfast retreats or the like. For these sorts of excursions you shouldn't be too stretched for space.

Visibility is good considering the low roofline and sloping C pillars. Rear view mirrors offer a wide angle view of surroundings helping the matter considerably.

Now, onto the good stuff! What does this baby drive like? Well, pretty damn good. There isn't too much wrong in the way this car handles and steers but we do have a few negatives. But we will start with the engine, the heart of any sportscar.

The VQ35DE is Nissan's current flagship 3.5 litre DOHC 24 valve V6, pumping out 206 kw and 363 Nm of torque. It delivers power in a smooth and steady fashion, reminiscent of the Boxster. Good torque is available from 2000rpm, allowing strong acceleration even in higher gears from cruising speeds.

The engine has been 'warmed' a little over the standard VQ35. The intake is tuned to be loud at high rpm and to enhance the 'experience' says Nissan. The mated exhaust is a big one, around 2.5" in diameter, loud between 1500-2000 rpm, quiet at cruising revs, and going up in dB at higher RPM.

The exhaust system was developed after Nissan engineers sampled and tested Maserati, Ferrari and of course the Nissan GT-R. We can only assume that "maximising exhaust sound" means making it loud, as it is quite loud at high revs.

The VQ35DE also has - get ready for it - Continuously Variable Valve Timing Control System (CVVTCS for short!) providing efficient control of intake and exhaust valves providing infinite variation in timing.

When this engine is on song and you are streaking down twisty roads you don't want to have to continually check the tacho. The user configurable red LED shiftlight will begin flashing some 500rpm below your preset RPM and turn solid when you hit it. Great for timing those gear changes and keeping your eyes on the road - engine revs rise pretty quickly when the pedal is being pressed into the carpet!

Acceleration will see the car reach 100km/h in around 6 seconds and 400m in about 14 seconds according to factory literature. In real world conditions, we found it about half a second slower in both times.

Other trick driveline components as standard include a carbon fibre reinforced plastic single piece drive shaft to reduce weight and NVH. The tailshaft also improves passive safety, as it is designed to break, and allow the engine to move downwards under the vehicle in the event of an impact, thereby further reducing risk of occupant damage.

The optional Brembo system utilizes 324mm front ventilated rotors with four piston calipers, and 322mm discs with twin piston calipers (as found on the Nissan GT-R) at the rear.

Handling is very impressive, thanks to a tight double wishbone independent suspension setup front and rear. The front suspension is a compact design, patented by Nissan. This patent applies to the lower control link setup, which is effectively split in two, creating two links each with their own ball joint. This gives the Nissan 350Z effectively 2 lower pivot points.

The development focus was on a 'flat ride' and boy did they achieve that. The ride is very firm creating great stability especially on smooth surfaces, but quite jittery on some rougher roads. The seats don't offer a large amount of padding to help soak up bumps and thumps, but the ride is compliant enough to stop your passenger from complaining.

Coupled with sharp responsive steering, a flexible engine, and instant throttle response, the Z is set up for corners and straights. Making your trip to the milk bar becomes a concentration of cornering line through the roundabout, finding the right apex, and smooth throttle out to ensure the traction control doesn't cut power momentarily.

Overtaking on the freeway could get you fined, as it is all too tempting to clutch down to 4^th or 3^rd gear, and let her rip past unsuspecting Camry, Commodore and Falcon owners.

Traction Control (standard on both Touring and Track models) works by sensing wheel speeds and interrupts by altering the fuel injector pulse and controlling the Electronic Throttle Control motor. Enhancing stability when driving 'on the edge' is Nissan's implementation of stability control, called VDC. Standard on the Track model as tested, It is impressive. Working with ABS and the TCS, VDC can also reduce engine torque, and/or apply individual wheel braking in adverse conditions.

We trialled a number of different situations, turning in to corners too quickly, wrenching steering mid corner, and even swerving and using excess throttle on dirt roads. In all situations, VDC worked very well in maintaining the car's stability and poise on the road.

On fast flowing bitumen roads, we occasionally felt there was slightly too much retardation used by the system, but for every day fast driving it proved to be safe and secure. We did not get to test the car on wet roads but we feel after our experiences on dirt that VDC on the 350Z should work well.

So, after 1500km of driving to and from work, out to dinner, and country drives - what does AutoWeb think? Well, it is difficult to pinpoint real competitors (Maybe the RX8 to arrive later in the year?). The BMW M roadster is double the price ($132,000), the Z3 doesn't offer the same performance, and costs $75,000. The Mercedes SLK200 starts at $86,600, Porsche Boxster at $108,500.

The 350Z is a very good sportscar. It isn't a giant leap forward for the genre, but it has looks, poise, and solid performance. Everything works fluidly and drivers can certainly extract a lot of enjoyment from the car, whether it be from sheer speed and handling or cruising down to your local sidewalk coffee shop to let people admire your pride and joy. There isn't a lot of luggage space, NVH could be improved, and the gearbox had a clunky gate action, but this is a car worth checking out..

So if you are in the market for a modern well equipped 2 door sportscar, we recommend you sample the 'Z' experience.