Ever considered how easy it would have been for Nissan to produce a very different 350Z? After all, mass-market carmakers normally take a far more well-trodden path to creating a (relatively) mass-market two-door. Re-shell an existing saloon or hatchback, leave it with a zingy, high-revving four-cylinder motor because it’s already there and is cheap, and keep it front‑wheel drive for the same reason. Give it four or five seats to expand its appeal to the college kids market in the US, heaps of trim options to cover all bases, and safe if predictable handling. Job done.
Instead, some proper car guys got the 350Z gig – as they do occasionally, and mass-market sensibilities be damned. So the Zed got evocative, bespoke bodywork, just the two seats, rear-wheel drive and a 3.5-litre V6 knocking out 276bhp. Goodly ingredients for a real sports coupe. Yet, on their own, not quite enough for greatness.
What’s remarkable about the 350Z is that the car guys were allowed to do justice to the project. Rather than the V6 being rich and silky and refined, it was loud and gargling and snarly, the way sports cars used to be. The six-speed gearbox’s shift could have slid delicately and effortlessly around the gate; instead it required real heft, while the lever vibrated and zizzed in the old-fashioned way. Nissan’s engineers were perfectly capable of giving the Zed all the grip of a Velcro factory, yet they opted to sacrifice lateral G bragging rights for a chassis that slid and drifted and entertained in well-balanced fashion.
The hairy-chested, vaguely uncouth yet hugely desirable sports car made a welcome entrance to the UK market in 2003 – a year after its Stateside debut. Priced at £24,000, it undercut established coupes such as the Audi TT, and even if its ultimate lack of finesse meant that it didn’t win every group test in which it was entered, no drive in the Zed was without a smile.
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"I wanted rear-wheel drive combined with good power and torque. The Zed ticked all the boxes. I test- drove most of the competitors, but none came close."
"Now I have an office job that’s not so far from home, I don’t use the Zed on a daily basis. But I prefer it that all my miles in the car – about 6000 annually – are fun miles, which you don’t get with a regular commute. I’ve found that by using it less, I appreciate it more."
