Used Nissan 350Z (2003-2009) review – a Japanese muscle car for less than £10k
The 350Z was both a nod to the classic 240Z and a thoroughly modern coupe. Today it’s an icon in its own right, but does the drive live up to the memories?
Favourite films, holiday destinations, cars… Revisiting any of them after a lengthy gap comes with a slight sense of foreboding, a mild fear that they won’t be quite as good as you remember, given how everything – including you – has changed in the meantime. There will be a few tentative minutes while you try to match current reality with a memory that has almost inevitably been polished smoothed by the passage of time, the negatives buffed away, the positives made brighter.
I last drove a 350Z in 2007, more than 17 years ago, and my abiding memory is of it being a handsome, uncomplicated and appealing driver’s coupe, a bit hefty and a bit rugged compared with its German rivals but with well sorted, exploitable rear-drive handling. But am I looking back through rose-tinted spectacles?
Dropping into the driver’s seat of this remarkably box-fresh example, the cabin aroma is instantly familiar, confirming that memory is most closely coupled with our sense of smell. But I’m soon worried that I’ve forgotten a few flaws because initially I can’t get comfortable. The instrument pack moves up and down with the wheel, but there’s no reach adjustment. Also, I feel like I’m perched on the driver’s seat. The (re)discovery of two handwheels on the right of the cushion solves everything, dropping the seat dramatically and setting my preferred under-thigh angle. Good: I’m not losing my mind just yet.
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I now feel snugly cupped by the cushion and backrest. The 350’s seats are asymmetric, the passenger’s being wider, one of a number of ways Nissan prioritised the driving experience. Another example: in the very first drive of the 350Z we ran (evo 046, August 2002) our American correspondent, Phil Berg, reported a driveline vibration that buzzed the gearlever at 4500rpm and said the engineers decided to leave it because the cure made the shift feel a bit numb. Ditto the rather earthy note that spilled from the fat, twin tailpipes and traced to the stiff engine mounts. Softer mounts sorted it but allowed the engine mass to move in cornering, corrupting the fidelity of the steering, so they kept the stiffer ones.
This car, from 2005 and with just 4500 miles on the clock, presents neither of these characteristics so perhaps Nissan found solutions along the way. Meanwhile, the pedals are well positioned for heel-and-toe shifts and the gears are well stacked, with sixth a bit of an overdrive, but my first few downshifts are rather clumsy, mainly because I’ve not finessed my rev-matching.
A few hours later, I absolutely adore the 350Z. I was expecting it to be fun but to feel only moderately fast and a bit old-fashioned, but there’s a real sophistication about its dynamics that makes it compelling even two decades on. It still looks great, too. It seems hard to believe now but when Nissan was planning the 350Z, debate raged inside the company over whether it should be retro-styled, an homage to the 240Z of the ’70s, or a fresh, modern take. Looking at this pristine, totally standard example finished in silver – the colour favoured by design studios because it best shows off form and detail – forward-looking was an excellent choice; this first-generation car looks as fresh as the day it was launched.
I can’t recall the last time I saw one on the road, but rumbling around in this one for a few days, I can confirm it draws a lot of admiring looks. Its styling is credited to Ajay Panchal, a Brit from Leicester who graduated with a BA Honours in Transport Design from Coventry University and, aged just 24, turned up on the doorstep of Nissan Design America in California with his portfolio. They were so impressed they interviewed him that afternoon and offered him a job. Soon after he found himself shaping the upcoming 350Z, deploying a design theme he’d developed which he called ‘a fusion of contrasts’ and explained as ‘a juxtaposition of clean surfaces and high tech details’. You can see it in the 350Z’s fuss-free lines and stylised light units, door handles and wheels.
Nissan was desperately in need of the influence of someone like Panchal. It had shown a 240Z concept at a couple of US shows in 1999, and what an ugly duckling it was. A few of the ideas of the production 350Z were there, notably the clean surfaces and the ‘Le Mans Sunset’ paintwork, the bronze/orange hue that became the 350Z ‘launch colour’. But it was an awkward-looking thing: bob-tailed, short wheelbased and riding high like it had just had its bum pinched. It’s remarkable how in almost no time it morphed and matured into the car pictured here. Thankfully, the technical spec evolved too, from the concept’s 2.4-litre four to the 3.5-litre V6.
For a while it looked like European enthusiasts would be denied the new Z-car but, soon after its launch in the US and Japan, Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn announced it would be coming to Europe. It wasn’t just a case of making provision for European number plates; engineering the 350Z for European compliance would take 40 engineers at NTCE (Nissan Technical Centre Europe) at Cranfield the best part of a year to complete.
It proved to be valuable work. As well as increasing cooling capacities for the rigours of the autobahn by including bigger radiators and adding cooling fins to the diff, NTCE embarked on a ride and handling programme to make the 350Z’s dynamics more suited to European tastes and surfaces. This was a good thing. We flew to the US for another early drive of the 350Z and while we found its handling inspiring, its ride was unyielding, ‘connected to every imperfection’, as Meaden put it. The ‘race-tuned suspension’ clearly met American expectations because the 350Z was a best seller in its first year. However, Nissan Japan was so impressed with the suspension NTCE had developed that it decided to roll it out worldwide.
No fewer than five different models were offered in the US – Base, Enthusiast, Performance, Touring and Track – though they were essentially the same car with a different mix of options. In the UK the choice was much simpler: just one model with most of the good stuff standard, including the viscous-coupling limited-slip differential, electronic stability control, 18-inch alloys and an aero kit – the blade rear spoiler and flat undertrays. There was a pleasant surprise on pricing, too. In the US the 350Z started at about $27k and we reckoned we’d be lucky to get one here for £27k, yet the launch price was just £24k. This meant it properly undercut rivals like the Audi TT 225 and BMW Z4 3.0i, so you could price-match them by adding options like cruise control and a Bose sound system and still have a power advantage of around 50bhp.
Turn the key and the 3.5-litre V6 starts and idles with a rich, bass-heavy drawl. It’s quite gruff, and then as the revs begin to rise there’s a strong whine that returns between 3 and 4000rpm, but the underlying character is fruity and encouraging. The shift action of the six-speed manual is pleasingly precise and mechanical and not too weighty, though as I struggled to finesse my shifts early on, it was tempting to think that the Nissan lacked the polish of its German rivals.
It sounds obvious, but the secret to smoothing out those shifts is to get the measure of the clutch and the throttle, particularly the latter, which is a little unusual, being very responsive to small inputs. Tip in, whatever the gear, and the V6 responds immediately, pushing the car forward. At first I put this down to it being a big-capacity, naturally aspirated engine when just about everything today is forced induction. Yet it’s more like the throttle is on a snail-cam that gives you a lot for a small input but when you get the throttle wide open there’s not much more to come. As a consequence the mid-range feels a bit flat. Press on to the red line and there’s a bit more vigour about the delivery from around 5000rpm, by which time the V6 is howling its approval. It’s rated at 276bhp (the agreed industry maximum in Japan at the time) at 6200rpm with peak torque of 268lb ft at 4800rpm, which feels about right.
The steering efforts are quite weighty, adding to the sense that the 350Z is a chunky car, yet at 1446kg it weighs in about 30kg lighter than a contemporary Mk4 Golf R32. And with the V6 set well back, the static weight distribution is a useful 53/47 front/rear. It gets better, with multi-link suspension front and rear incorporating cast aluminium components, and the platform tied together by strut braces, a workman-like one spanning the slabby top of the V6 and a rear one that’s a prominent feature of the open luggage space.
That rear brace is something of a compromise – in fact there’s a diagram on the underside of the tailgate showing how to get two golf bags in the boot space, working around the bridge-like structure. The practicality of the rest of the cockpit is somewhat compromised too, sacrificed on the altar of style. The design of the facia and door casings is clean and simple to match the exterior, resulting in tiny door pockets, one pop-out cupholder on the passenger side, and, at first glance, no glovebox. Closer examination reveals a collection of cubby holes and spaces in the bulkhead behind the seats, including a lockable glovebox. A large rev-counter is front and centre in the instrument pack, supplemented by a dash-top trio of auxiliary gauges angled towards the driver, all with yellowy-orange markings that match the rather punchy ‘Burnt Orange’ perforated leather trim. This fully kitted example features the upgraded Bose head unit, which has slots for both CDs and cassettes, which is a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
Happily, the tyres mounted on the timelessly handsome, six-spoke Rays alloys are bang up to date: Bridgestone Potenza Sports rather than the RE040s originally fitted. There’s quite a lot of road noise and I wonder if part of this is down to the new tyres, which we know deliver high performance but aren’t the most refined. The 350Z’s essential demeanour is very settled, the steering measured, though on lumpy asphalt the car can get jostled, feeling stiff in roll. However, pick up the pace, drive with more purpose, and the ride smooths out and the dynamics start to show their class.
With a bit of lock and cornering load the steering feels ideally weighted, if still not the most detailed in terms of feedback, but you feel properly engaged with the 350Z when you start using more throttle to balance it or even steer it from the rear. On dry roads, traction and lateral grip feel very strong, almost undefeatable, only strong provocation getting the rear to budge at all. It’s different on wetted roads; you still have to be pushing, but a stab of the V6’s torque can loosen the rear enough to trigger the traction control.
It’s still not obvious how the car will feel when you’ve pressed the ESC button hidden down by your right knee – just a single press turns it off, rather than the modern ‘do you really want to do this?’ press and hold – but it turns out you shouldn’t be concerned. Turn in, give the throttle a decent press and the back moves smoothly out, slowly enough to get a calm twist of opposite lock on as you steady the throttle, and when the rear comes back into line it does so without any fuss.
It’s all so calm, so composed, that your confidence builds quickly. The steering is quick but not nervous, the kick from the naturally aspirated V6 is easy to modulate, and the rear tyres break and regain lateral grip progressively, helped by rear suspension that transitions from steady state to power-on oversteer and back again in one smooth, natural action. On greasy winter roads you can get the rear to step out just as far as you want, which is very satisfying.
It’s not just satisfying on and over the limit, though. Get up to speed on a challenging road and you can string the corners together with a wonderful, natural rhythm and rewarding precision, while that eager throttle gives the 350Z a sense of effortless pace at speed, even in sixth. It’s an accomplished cruiser, too, the V6 fading to a background murmur on a light throttle, the ride quiet and settled on smooth surfaces.
Back in the day, the 350Z got two bites at eCoty, the first year as an import, the second as the official UK car. It was a mid-pack finisher both times but, as is the fate of many cars with a broad range of abilities, it didn’t shine as brightly as more focused rivals. I reckon its appeal has only increased with time. It’s a simple enough recipe – front-engine, rear-drive coupe with a beefy engine – but one that is executed with considerable flair, notably in dynamics and design, both of which are appealing and impressive today. Right now it’s a bit of a bargain too: the very best examples cost £13k-16k, around ten grand is the midpoint, and £5k gets you started. Yes, I have been looking.
The Z’s mid-life update saw it gain a more potent, 309bhp V6 (and a bonnet bulge to clear the new, taller engine) and then in 2009 it was replaced by the all-new 370Z, designed by Randy Rodriguez. It sat on a shorter wheelbase and was wider of arch and fitted with wide chrome alloys. Distinctive though it is, for me it hasn’t aged as well as Ajay Panchal’s original, which is well on its way to becoming a design classic. The lad from Leicester was right on the money, as were Nissan’s engineers, in Japan and Cranfield. The 350Z hasn’t simply stood the test of time, it’s even better than I remember.
