Nissan 370Z Officially Revealed

240Z? GT-R? All I know is it looks good

Despite the fact a Nissan spokesperson has already told us “it looks better in the metal,” we’re reckon the new 370Z Coupe looks good.

Nissan Design America’s Ajay Panchal penned the 350Z in California, but this time, Japanese Senior Vice President of making Nissans look nice, Shiro Nakamura, has overseen the Z’s design.

Naturally there are similarities between the new car and the GT-R, especially the roofline and the aggressive front bumpers. But we also can’t help but think its looks hark back more to the 240Z. And that’s no bad thing at all.

You can also see that the power bump in the bonnet has been ditched, and a small lip spoiler has appear on the tailgate, while flared wheelarches and the vertical door handle remain. Shame they stole the wheels off an Audi A5 though.

On the inside, Nissan plans to push the Z upmarket to take on the Porsche Boxster. So the interior has nice leather trimmed sports seats, much tidier switchgear design and posher plastics. The interior is more of a subtle evolution of the 350Z’s, but at least the three pods – for oil temperature, battery voltage and the time - have been kept, and a bigger rev counter and LED shift lights have been added.

Unfortunately, Nissan is still keeping its cards very close to its chest about the tech stuff, with the full reveal happening at the LA Auto Show on 19th November. But, thanks to info from our spies and some educated hypothesising, we do know that the new 370Z shares a fair amount with its posher sibling, the Infiniti G37S Coupe that we drive in the latest issue.

It’s underpinned by the same chassis as the G, but has a 335mm shorter wheelbase to make the car more agile, and has a simplified suspension system which will make the Z much firmer and sportier than the more comfort-biased Infiniti.

Under the bonnet the new Z gets the same 3.7-litre V6 from the Infiniti G37S Coupe too, and it’ll have a similar output to the Infiniti’s 316bhp and 360Nm. However, the Nissan is shorter and has aluminium doors to keep weight down, so the 370Z will be faster than the Infiniti from 0-62mph – at around 5.4 seconds - but stick to the same limited 155mph top speed.

It’ll also get the two transmissions that the G37s has too – a slick six-speed manual and seven-speed auto.

There will be a roadster version too, but that’s still some way away. In the meantime, the 370Z goes on sale in dealers, starting at around £32,000, here early next year.