We have been very naughty car enthusiasts here in Britain.
We did not buy enough Z-cars, so Nissan did not bring its latest Nissan Z to the UK. Which is a shame, because the last car to grace our isles, the 370Z, is a distinctly appealing device.
You get a front-mid-mounted V6, a six-speed gearbox bolted behind it driving a rear axle located unfashionably and excitingly close to your coccyx, all in a package feeling ever smaller as other cars get bigger.
What’s not to like, you may by now be wondering. Well, the hum, rumble and roar of fat treads over Tarmac is one thing, the 370Z, and the 350 before it, generating road noise equivalent to the drone of a phalanx of machine-tools on a factory floor.
This Nissan might have the mechanicals for long-distance drives, but not the manners. It’s also a bit of a drinker, Autocar’s keen road test department discovering that while it could manage a not-that-great 26mpg when driven with circumspection, any temptation to exploit its not inconsiderable appetite for speed would flame a gallon in under 20 miles.
Nissan priced the 370Z usefully below the Cayman and Boxster when you, though not, it seems, usefully enough.
All of which means that the 370Z is quite a rare car and one that despite its noisy thirst will provide an awful lot of muscular, rear-drive entertainment.
The cheapest are well under £10,000 now and being Nissans, appear quite capable of big mileages without the expensive problems that occasionally afflict the Z’s Porsche nemesis.
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