I had a testdrive in a 350Z roadster today.

Love the looks and luxury of the coupe, but the roadster looks likes it should have never been turned into a convertible

Inside was pleasant, comfortable and i could easily cruise about, and nice engine note too . I actually liked it, however it felt minutely faster (but on paper slower) but for a 3.5 v6 i expected alot more.

However it lacked the "special", "at one with", "racing and exilirating drive" that IMO the S2000 offers. It didnt really feel like a true sports car.

For me S2000 all the way!

 

I know what you mean. I had a friend that worked for the Nissan Vehicle Development section and he let me go out for a drive in one of their 350's and i wasn't that impressed with the performance, i expected a lot more from 3.5 litres of engine and the thing felt really heavy. I did like the engine sound but that was it.

I'm not into gas guzzlers so i would never of bought one even if i liked it.

 

Yes it heavy on the juice.

Its also worth noting, it shares the same engine with a renault exec class car IIRC vel satis!!

Not a fan of french cars.

 

I asked him about that and he said its a Nissan designed lump not Renault. I didn't like the thought of having a french engine under the hood, you would never know when its about to breakdown.

 

The 07 has more nuts on it IIRC they've added about 30 ish ? hp to it and it's made a difference.

The coupe looks fantastic though and would be a serious contender for my money if I wanted a coupe

 

 

After owning one for a year I have to say it never felt like a sports car, more like a powerful saloon car.
Not a lot of fun but very good predictable handling. Boring.

Too heavy, a stripped out, raw, light weight version would be a different matter though.

This often repeated jibe about Renault engines is a load of rubbish started by Clarkson I believe.
Renault bought Nissan and found Nissan had a very good engine which had one awards much like the S engine has, so they started using it in Renault vehicles.

 

The 350 is crap. I wanted one so badly since release, when I had the money and went to the dealers for a drive I nearly killed myslelf after.
Thank God for Hondas....

 

This is what i found on the testdrive.

I have got to say the S gets some stick for it age and power etc, but for its age the 2.0 na is a pure gem a classic engine, it still holds its own against more powerful cars even turbos etc.

 

Gotta say I agree, perfect amount of power for a roadster and a peach of an engine/chassis