A blast from the past
A decade ago, the motor industry was riding a wave of nostalgia, thanks to retro designs and features of cars of that time.
As time went by, industry and consumer tastes continued to move forward with some of those retro cars becoming less desirable.
One such car that wowed us was the two-door, two-seater Nissan 350Z; the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car series.
The combination of a big 3.5litre V6 engine, rear-wheel-drive and aggressive looks meant the 350Z was in hot demand back in the day, but now, just over a decade later, adoration for the vehicle seems to have cooled down considerably.
In fact, the replacement of the 350Z in 2009 by the even wilder 370Z, Nissan itself has helped take the heat out of 350Z retained values.
Design
The 350Z is a front-engine, rear-wheel sports car with two-door, and two-seats designed by Diane Allen of Nissan Design America in San Diego, California in 2000. This program was inspired by the successful reaction to the 1998 240Z concept model.
The vehicle has the long-hood, short-deck design common to the Z-car series. The latest external design highlights include sloping fastback style arched roof -line, brushed aluminium door handles, high waistline and bulging fenders that push out to the corners.
The main gauge pod is mounted directly on the steering column, allowing their movement to coincide with steering wheel adjustments. Touring models are equipped with the Bose sound system accompanied with a six CD changer and an eight-inch Bose sub mounted behind the driver's seat.
Interior
When it comes to comfort, the 350Z has excellent seats; supportive and well-shaped, with plenty of lateral support, thanks to shoulder-level bolsters, grippy ersatz carbon-fibre upholstery with an unusual hump.
The interior though is spacious for people to sit in and less so for their belongings.
Though the interior is not fabricated with lavish materials, the overall mix of plastic panels, moulded in various shades and textures of dark grey, is quite tasteful.
The insides are delightfully detailed, such as the cast aluminium door handles, the metallic trim on the steering wheel, instrument surrounds, shifter, various switches and door-mounted ventilation registers.
The vehicle also houses an instrument cluster, with the ability to move up and down along with the steering wheel when the height is adjusted.
The three instruments that are angled towards the driver atop the dashboard is a throwback to the original 240Z's interior.
Engine
The vehicle employs mass-produced components from Nissan's part bins. The car's V-6 engine, for example, is the ubiquitous 3.5-litre, 24-valve, quad-cam unit.
For the 350Z, Nissan engineers have perfected this engine with slightly hotter camshafts and freer-flowing intake and exhaust systems, resulting in 287hp at 6200rpm.
The engine resides in the nose of a version of Nissan's Front Mid-engine (FM) platform that was recently introduced in the G35.
For use with the Z-series, this platform has about eight inches chopped out of its wheelbase, which at 104.3 inches is still on the long side, about the same as a Corvette's.
The FM chassis employs a sophisticated independent suspension with multilink geometry front and rear. Other than the rear diagonal links, all the suspension components, including the rubber-isolated rear sub-frame, are made of forged aluminium.
The FM platform also includes rack-and-pinion steering, anti-lock brakes, and an electronic stability control incorporating a welcome "off" switch.
Compared with the G35 application of this chassis, the ride height is set lower for the Z, with more negative camber all around.
Handling
With a 3.5litre V6 engine under its hood and well-chosen ratios in the six-speed gearbox, a healthy thrust is always just a twitch of your foot away.
There is plenty of poke in sixth gear, which drops engine revs comfortably on the highway. Both the 30-50mph and 50-70mph top-gear acceleration times are about nine seconds, thus indicating good flexibility.
Despite its performance, the 350Z does not feel as light as Mazda's Miata or MR2. Sure enough, at 3322 pounds it is heavier than a Corvette. Having said so, the Z is a very satisfying drive with terrific control feel.
Colours
The vehicle is available in three exterior colour variants namely, Carbon Silver, San Marino Blue and Solar Orange.
Nissan has been trading on heritage in its publicity ramp-up for the Z-car revival, inventing words such as "Z-ness" and drawing parallels with the glory days of the 240Z.
If you can live with the too firm ride and put up with the engine's harmonics, then the 350Z will start to make more sense as a good old-fashioned, fun-to-drive car.
