ZilviaBot

12-17-2008 12:55 PM

Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Nissan, First Drive

Stand on any corner in any city, close your eyes and open your ears. Eventually you'll hear the telltale swell of an engine as someone blips the throttle while braking before the bend. This secret auditory handshake among gearheads signals the arrival of a driver schooled in the art of heel-and-toe. And when the 2009 Nissan 370Z goes on sale in January, you won't be able to tell an aspiring Schumacher from Joe the... shoemaker. Nissan's simple yet brilliant "SyncroRev Match" will relegate the artistry of rev-matching to the annals of motoring history. Other automakers compelled to offer manual gearboxes for the dedicated few will doubtlessly adopt the system, and those of us who care - who've unconsciously conditioned ourselves to crane our heads to catch a glimpse of what's coming - will cease to do so. Progress is a double-edged sword and rarely balanced, but don't fret. The 370Z's overly hyped rev-matching system isn't the end of the world, and it's hardly the best part of Nissan's new Z. Follow the jump to find out what is.


Photos copyright (C)2008 Damon Lavrinc / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading First Drive: 2009 Nissan 370Z

First Drive: 2009 Nissan 370Z originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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silly_13

hmm looks weird shouldve made it look like the s30...

LoneStarSilvia

I love it.

Basically I'm already sold on it, think its time to give up my S14 for something newer. Can't wait to see what January brings along

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I10cruiser

id hit

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OptionZero

wtf heavier than the old model? What happened to 15% weight reduction?

LoneStarSilvia

Yea I read that too, it said basically the base version was 96 or so pounds lighter, but the grand touring version will be heavier. Thats supposed to come with like leather heated seats and side curtain airbags, so naturally that'll be alot heavier.

It doesn't mention the weight for the so called sport package though. Which it said comes with Nismo engine oil, which I don't care for much....but it'll have a LSD cooler which seems like a nice edition until Kaaz makes a 2 way for it, granted its not just sharing the same diff from the 350.

Very interested to see how responsive the engine is to mods though. I really haven't seen much reason why I shouldn't take a crack at getting one. (Aside from the $35k+ projected price tag. Do'h!)

Something weird though I remembered while looking through the video comments, a video I think Road and Track made said the Z ran 13.3s, not 13.7s and was considerably lighter. I bought the new issue that features the Z on front, gonna do some comparisons on the 2 stories...


Edit: Just scrolled through the new issue of Road & Track and some interesting conflicts come up...

-R&T says the new Z is 200lbs lighter, weighing in at est3175lbs. AutoBlog said it shaved 95lbs and finishes at 3232lbs.
-R&T says weight distribution is 53/47. Autoblog, 54/46.
-R&T says its 2.5in shorter, and is 1.7in wider. AutoBlog says its shortened by 2.7 inches, wider 0.5 inches up front and 2.2 inches in the rear.

I realize the last 2 points are nit-picky as hell, but its kind of weird that the 2 articles don't agree. 95lbs and 200lbs is a noticeable difference.

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RedStage

hate the head and tail lights.
rims need to go too...not liking the "Z" style spokes.

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Marc - Yokohama, Japan

LADii Z

I'm in total agreement with ya.

Since day one, I'm in total disgust with the headlights and the tail lights.
and rims...just no.

drift freaq

Autoblog is not the most accurate of sites on the web. I would honestly take Road and Tracks word over Autoblog. Also truth be told they are speculating about the touring package. The really don't have the info. I found their whole article to be on the biased side and looking to pick fault. Hell they were harsher on the 350 than most other people are. I would not take Autoblog as a defacto.

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JeremyR

UGH
UGH UGH UGH

i can heel toe my damn self

i dont want the car to heel toe for me.

what happens when i try to heel toe in a car that does it on its own?? can i turn it off? WHAT THE H.

heel toe is like second nature to me i dont think about ti i just do it. i odnt want my car to do it for me, fuck fuck FUCK

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hai1206vn

There is a button to turn it off. Happy?

LoneStarSilvia

Lol yes there is an off button for the S-Mode or whatever its called. That being said, I think its a welcome addition granted it doesn't break and malfunction really fast.

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ZipTied

They should have put some newer styled schwastika's (sp) on it!

SexPanda

i dont get it.

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muddafakka

He's probably talking about 280ZX wheels aka Swastikas.

They would look worse than these Z-styled wheels.

The 5-spoke Rays that were offered on the 350Z were nice though.

LoneStarSilvia

I think I'm blind, I don't see any Z's in the wheels.

And for the headlight haters, this was posted in another thread:

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ESmorz

Someone succeeded in making it uglier.

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allntrlundrgrnd

that paragraph makes me feel stupid

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MongolPup

As far as the auto rev-matching goes, I think it's impressive they could pull that off, but at the same time it scares me a bit.