370Z Focus Group 08.21.08 in West Los Angeles, California

AK370Z · 10-02-2008, 04:27 PM

One of the member from another Z forum was lucky enough to join the 370Z focus group that was held in West LA on 08.21.08 at 7 pm. He has seen the new 370z but any picture taking devices were prohibited there so he couldn't snap a picture for us. But, his good memory gave us an idea of what to expect on the New NISSAN 370Z. I'll quote his exact quote from the forum so that you guys can read from his perspective.

Quote:

I signed up for a focus group service that my friend had been participated in. Usually, they have call me to review products like Verizon FiOS or a new tea that was going to hit the market, but I'm never available.

Well, about 5 minutes ago I got a call from them asking is I was willing to go to a focus group regarding the Nissan Z....tonight.

I am so excited!!

I will update this post tonight and I'll be sure to relay what we all have been asking:

We want a lighter, more powerful car that doesn't have a sabertooth front end and doesn't have weird boomerang lights..

I already know my cell-phone won't be allowed in there, but I can at least try to verify some of the speculative stuff that we have all been wondering about..

Quote:

Ok, just got home. Sorry to keep everyone in suspense.

The actual car was not there, but I they showed some pics.

TV Ads - We first reviewed 3 tv ads they were still in the beginning stages which were very similar to this ad that all have us seen already: The car was a drawing, so nothing new to report http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-C2WSYLk5c

2nd we reviewed 4 print ads most were photoshopped, but one had a side shot that was clearly the new design profile. It's much sexier then anything I've seen so far.

Now for info about the car:

Front end- had the tooth-style front bumper, but much smaller then in previous photos. I did'nt note anything else drastic about the front bumper. The pics that have been posted on this site in various sections are pretty spot on.

Hood- Has the design accents of the 03-06, non-bumped hoods. There were two slots that followed the body lines in equal fashion.

Lights - boomerang lights, they had a R8 type led-mod that wrapped around the housing, very similar to the design that Cin-city has been doing. The boomerang design did'nt take away from the overall design of the car. I Noticed that it looks exactly like the new Maxima.

Rear-view mirrors- The pictures that I was shown had a two tone theme with the top color matched to the car and the bottom blacked out. I did'nt notice a side-marker indicator on the actual mirror.

Front fenders - Z emblems like the 350z, didnt notice anything else that stood out.

Side skirts - looked lower than ours, they had a slight design to them as well. To me it looked like a half-nismo skirt, but nothing too crazy.

Wheels - Had a similar design theme to the new maxima, pictures were not that clear, looked like 19"s.

Side-rear windows- very similar to what has already been shown. They are very squared off at the top.

Roof- side profile seems lower. It looked mean.

Overall Length - seemed shorter than ours, and by a noticeable margin. I think the rear

Rear - The below camo pic is very true to what the car looks like without it.

Rear bumper- There was some sort of tow hitch item at the bottom. It looked really out of place. As the camo pic shows, the rear exhaust exits are a little bit flared, adds a nice touch to the rear end.

Lights - were boomeranged as well. Nothing major to report. Gone are the rear-turn signal/reverse lights.

High-mount stop light- I didn't notice one on the car itself. The camo pic doesn't have one either.

Hatch- the hatch was quite high looking, but flowed well with the car. Also, there was an antenna shark on top of the roof, looked pretty cool. I didnt notice a rear-wiper either.

Interior- very, very similar to the picture that was captured below. I forgot to see if there was paddle shifters, but the shift nob was very similar to this one. The gauge pods were very high on the dash, and had less of a recessed look to them, they were almost sitting on top of the dash in the manner that a portable navi would sit.

Engine - confirmed that it would be the 3.7, with 330hp. No 0-60 times were discussed nor curb weights.

Transmission - One thing that kept being brought up was the rev-matching. I thought nothing of it since it is something we have all been hearing for some time now with auto-trans Z's when shifting into manual. They asked what we thought about the following "worlds first rev-matching manual" I will let you guys determine if this is even plausible.

Color - Maybe was a photoshop, but its was killer. A combination of the the Ultra yellow and the solar orange. It really popped.

Price - TV ads & print that we were shown reiterated a starting price of $29,500.

Overall, I think what I was shown was very close to the final product. The camo pictures and the pictures from the Nissan 360 event are really telling. The big grey-area is the interior and of course the curb weight.

Alright, thats all I can really remember. I thought it was pretty thorough, but if you need clarification on anything just let me know..