2012 Nissan 370Z: The Rough and Tumble Sports Car! - Ignition Episode 30 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 So I just spent about 20 hours traveling back from Europe,

00:22 and I am exhausted.

00:23 So this week on Ignition, I figure

00:25 I'd show you my patented cure-all for jet lag

00:28 and how to re-acclimate to California.

00:31 It takes three things-- a good mountain road, a sports car,

00:34 and later to help you digest it all, a big old burrito.

00:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:40 So why the 370Z?

00:45 Well, if you look at the typical sports car formula,

00:48 it pretty much nails it.

00:49 The design is right.

00:50 The proportions are good with this low-slung cockpit

00:53 and that fastback.

00:54 The hardware is right, too, with that big 3.7-liter V6

00:58 making over 330 horsepower, sending it

01:01 to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission

01:04 and a limited-slip differential.

01:06 You have aggressive suspension.

01:08 You have forged wheels with sticky tires

01:11 wrapped around them.

01:12 This thing pretty much gets it.

01:14 And I like this interior, too, with this big center-mounted

01:21 tack.

01:22 This is a very bare-bones example of the 370Z.

01:26 We don't have navigation.

01:27 We don't have Bluetooth.

01:28 We don't even have an iPod hookup.

01:30 So that means we have less distractions

01:32 when we're driving fast.

01:34 That's kind of what you want when you're charging up

01:36 a mountain road at full speed.

01:38 It's just sort of the pure engagement of it all.

01:43 The driving experience is interesting

01:44 because this isn't the sort of sharp, precise, and delicate

01:48 sports car like the Porsche Boxster.

01:51 This thing's more rough and tumble, a little bit more

01:55 manly and hairy-chested.

01:56 There's a heft to everything.

01:58 The car feels heavy.

01:59 The steering has some weight to it.

02:01 The shifter buzzes and rattles and shakes.

02:03 The clutch can be difficult to modulate.

02:06 The car feels a little bit clunky.

02:09 But at the same time, through all that,

02:11 it's a very good driving car.

02:13 There's just so much grip in the chassis and in the tires.

02:17 It has a very neutral behavior at the limit.

02:21 It tells you exactly what it's about to do,

02:23 whether it's understeer or oversteer.

02:25 And it tells you exactly what you

02:26 need to do in order to fix whatever

02:28 it is you're going to approach.

02:29 It might be a little bit more exhausting to drive

02:33 as a result, but there's certainly

02:35 an argument to be made for the sort of manly sports

02:38 car that this is.

02:40 But this is sort of a rough and coarse car.

02:44 Everything shakes.

02:45 Everything vibrates.

02:47 The engine kind of sounds like a vacuum

02:50 cleaner through an amplifier.

02:53 If you leave the shifter in sixth

02:55 and roll off and on the throttle,

02:56 you'll actually see it move, responding

02:59 to the torque of the engine.

03:01 It's not the most comfortable car day to day,

03:03 but it is a no-holds-barred sports car.

03:07 And this may not be the best example of a Z,

03:09 because this car seems to have had a pretty rough life.

03:13 The parking brake light will come on sometimes

03:15 when you upshift, as will the stability control light.

03:19 I've been able to grind second gear and fifth gear just

03:22 driving around its own.

03:24 When you apply moderate brakes, the front end

03:26 shudders quite a bit.

03:28 And then when you're going really fast

03:30 and trying to take some corners at a high rate of speed,

03:33 you notice that the rear diff isn't really locking.

03:35 It's just letting the inside rear tires spin.

03:38 This car has 8,800 miles on it.

03:41 That gives me some pause over the long-term durability

03:44 of this car.

03:45 I have to say, though, this is a press car,

03:47 and you kind of have to treat miles on a press car

03:49 like dog ears.

03:50 [ENGINE REVVING]

03:53 One of the things we have to talk about with this car

03:55 is synchro rev match.

03:56 Now, that's the system that automatically blips the throttle

03:59 when you downshift.

04:01 And I have to say, 99% of the time, it works really well.

04:04 You just clutch in, throw it down a gear, and clutch out.

04:07 You can shift too fast, though, because it

04:09 can take this engine an extra beat to hit the right revs.

04:13 Fortunately, though, you can turn synchro rev match off

04:15 at the push of a button here and simply do it yourself.

04:19 Now, overall, this is sort of a rough and coarse sports car.

04:23 But there's a part of me that really

04:25 enjoys driving it, especially on this road,

04:28 just leaving it in fourth gear and taking in all the Gs

04:32 that it's throwing at you.

04:33 This can be a very nice driver's car.

04:36 It's just kind of fun, though I'm realizing now we still

04:40 have to test this car.

04:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]

04:44 The Z likes a bit of wheel spin off the line,

04:55 gaining traction just when you reach the end of first gear.

04:58 You have to be deliberate with your shifts.

05:00 The transmission does not like to be rushed.

05:02 The large brakes worked well, providing repeated stops

05:09 around 106 feet from 60 miles an hour.

05:12 On the figure eight, the Z offered lots

05:19 of grip and neutral handling.

05:20 It was very effective at cornering,

05:26 but was hurt at corner exit by a limited slip

05:28 differential that refused to lock.

05:30 Driving like a car with an open diff,

05:36 the Z's 25.1 second lap time was a few tenths off the best

05:40 time we've recorded.

05:41 The 370Z is a sort of rough and tumble sports

05:52 car that awakens the senses.

05:54 It's the kind of car that forces you to remember what

05:56 driving hard and fast means.

05:59 If your clutch engagement is slightly off,

06:02 the whole car shakes disapprovingly.

06:04 Get it right, though, and it is satisfying.

06:07 Although the sound of the V6 has this rather truck-like quality,

06:11 the engine delivers acceleration energetically.

06:14 The 370Z makes you feel like you're

06:16 driving an old school sports car, one that

06:18 requires a bit of muscle and alertness to drive quickly.

06:22 It's the kind of stuff that wakes you up,

06:24 forces you to focus.

06:25 And when it comes to fighting jet lag,

06:27 it's exactly the kind of car you need.

06:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:32 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:39 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:47 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:16 (bells chiming)

2012 Nissan 370Z: The Rough and Tumble Sports Car! - Ignition Episode 30

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