Review: 2010 Nissan 370Z is Made for Drivers
 

Review: 2010 Nissan 370Z is Made for Drivers (from AutomotiveNews)

Quote:

It's been 40 years since Nissan introduced its sports car to America. Scott Burgess at the Detroit News writes that the 2010 Nissan 370Z roadster advances the stellar 370Z another step with its comfortable ride and rip-roaring, seat-of-your-pants cornering that will leave a big smile on your mug and your hair ruined by the wind. Click here for a photo. The 3.7-liter gives the roadster excellent power, 332 horsepower, and 270 pound feet of torque. Nissan uses aluminum on the hood, door panel, and trunk to help the convertible weigh in close to the regular model. When the roadster launches, you can feel it in your stomach as the carbon fiber driveshaft sends all that power to the rear wheels. Ramps to highways become rollercoaster rides in this roadster. Nissan has included SyncroRev Match with the manual to allow for throttle blips on downshift where the engine revs jump to match the lower gear, eliminating the engine braking. The technology Nissan uses on this roadster is impressive and seamless. You never notice the technology, only its results. The fully independent suspension keeps the car connected to the road but it's never harsh or overbearing. Click here for Burgess’ entire review of the 2010 Nissan 370Z.

That guy was not exactly an auto aficionado....(but as usual the cars just get outstanding reviews.)

"Nissan uses aluminum on the hood, door panel and trunk to help the convertible weigh in close to the regular model. "

Huh?

Maybe a lack of knowledge; maybe misscommunication but as far as I know, the body panels in the 370 coupe and roadster are the same material (they were to save weight but not specifically for the roadster compared to the coupe). I haven't checked the rear quarter panels however but I assume they are the same as well (if not I'll have to order all new autocross numbers for next season!).

I will say that the rear deck lid on the roadster weights practically nothing compared to the hatch on the coupe but I'm sure the missing glass from the rear window is 98% responsible for that (the lack of weight does require a bit of extra force to close the rear deck lid).

Bingo. So, how many miles on the odo so far? :driving:

About 500; most of from a quick trip from Nashville to Knoxville for a late in the season car show weekend before last. I also had it out last Sunday for a short time.

Top down weather is going to be more and more difficult to come by from now until things start to warm up again in about March or so. :)

Right now, my daily driver is my coupe but it will get replaces by a new Murano sometime after the first of the year.

The rear quarter panels are steel. Magnets do stick if they are able to conform to the surface.

Huh? The convertible should weigh a LOT more than the coupe just due to chassis rigidity due to the lack of a roof...

Just shy of 200 pounds according to the specs. They probably didn't need to add a whole lot of extra body stiffening as they designed the coupe with the roadster in mind.

175 pounds difference (per the specs) between my Touring Coupe and my Touring Roadster (optioned the same)

I know they are in my coupe (which is where I placed my numbers this past season) and I assume they are in the roadster as well, I simply hadn't checked yet. :)

so if I bought a roadster and just lost 175 lbs of excess body fat...I'm Good!

That will work! Although if I did that I would cease to exist as I would then weight 0.