Nissan is taking an increasingly aggressive approach where sportiness is concerned. For the past several months, a heated debate has been raging between the Japanese and German empires: will it be the
GT-R or the
911 Turbo that’ll beat the fastest time on the famous Nürburgring circuit? This goes way beyond the usual 0-100 km/h. We’re talking the highest levels of performance here.
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| Now a roadster down to the very nubs of its tires, it screams “classic in the making”: eye-catching looks, great performance, nice sound, two seats AND wind-in-your hair excitement! (Photo: Nissan) |
But the friendly war waged between Porsche and Nissan is spilling out of the territory of the incredibly exclusive, and some of their more affordable products are also being pitted against each other. Thus, Nissan is taking on another industry icon, the famous Boxster. To do so, the automaker simply divested the
370Z of its top. Now a roadster down to the very nubs of its tires, it screams “classic in the making”: eye-catching looks, great performance, nice sound, two seats AND wind-in-your hair excitement!
Randy Rodriguez designed the new Z, under the watchful eye of Shiro Nakamura. A fan of the previous generations of the Z, he wanted this Z to be his Z. He decided to drop the 240Z’s long, Jaguar E-Type hood. The car generally seems a little stockier. Is that good or bad, you ask? Good, of course! Popping the top considerably changed the car’s profile. Because of the soft top, the throwback to the original 1969 Z’s quarter panels is no longer visible. With the top down, this Z’s hind end is rather, well, buxom.
The rounded rear wings don’t increase trunk space. With the smallish trunk, travelling light becomes the norm – but isn’t that part of a purebred roadster’s charm? Another consequence of all those curves is the Russian roulette-like rear visibility. The roadster’s cabin is a carbon copy of the coupe’s. The three dials lording it over the centre console add a sporty quality to the dash board.
As for the instrument cluster, it’s obviously inspired from a certain Maranello-based, Italian prestige automaker. The centred rev-counter and the left-side screen display a wealth of information. One such piece of information is the fuel level. Alas, it seems form took precedence over function here: in full sunlight the displays are hard to read. The navigation system is well integrated into the dash. Straight from Infiniti’s playbook, it’s quite intuitive.
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| The three dials lording it over the centre console add a sporty quality to the dash board. (Photo: Nissan) |
