Take the headlamps, for instance. They are sharper, angular and more aggressive. Aggression can shift_more Zs than lineage and Nissan understand that. The grille is deeper, the ridges on the bonnet more prominent and the tapering bumper completes the reptilian look. The profile feels tauter and apart from the headlamp casing, there’s not much to distinguish between the predecessor and the new-age Mugen (that’s Z for you in Japanese – meaning infinity). The brushstroke of the headlamps now ends at the tail, with the sweeping in tail lamps completing the new look. Though under all those cosmetic changes are a new set of aluminium front and rear fenders as well as the bonnet and tailgate, to put the Z right behind the Cayman’s hindside up a mountain pass.Back then though, I was struggling to get a grip of the 370Z on Odawara’s downhill sections as the convoy of two Zs had to slow down. A lone yellow Toyota estate with lights blazing had just blown past us. We had been warned by Nissan’s PR about the presence of keisatsukan in the area and got off the gas. A run-in with the police was the least we wanted on our passports and the presence of two of Nissan’s newest coupes certainly had the police officer on duty on high alert. After all, Japan’s rich youth are known to burn rubber on the hill sides of mainland Japan and the 350Z has an infamous reputation of sorts. But this lone keisatsukan would have been in for a surprise had he given chase. The new 370Z has 15 per cent better torsional rigidity and newly designed front and rear strut braces. And with new aluminium double wishbones at the front and independent multi-link units at the rear, he’d be totally gobsmacked to notice the 370Z take the cleanest possible line with ease.
We kept at 50 kph, admiring the chirruping birds, the rustling of leaves and nature in general as the 370Zs coasted down, in what had become the longest and most boring drive since my fuel efficiency runs for a cheap hatch at a rival magazine years ago. I could see the curve at the end of the slope, but the lights of the Toyota were still flashing atop the hill. Curve negotiated and flashing lights no longer visible, the tyres lit up like a Guy Fawkes night and we were back to doing what we were at for the last one hour. The animal instincts of the 370Z were back, and this time with renewed ferocity. For the first time, my attention wasn’t distracted by thoughts of wildlife or jailhouses. It was now aimed squarely at the new V6 that was singing tunes under the hood.
The 3.7-litre mill from the Infiniti G37 saloon uses a front mid-mounted position to close the gap on Porsche’s mid-engined layout for the Cayman. But where the Cayman S delivers about 320 bhp from its Boxer-6, this one delivers 332 bhp. Even the G37 produces a tad over 300 bhp, which goes to show this one gets the royal treatment from Nissan R&D. The all-aluminium unit with double overhead camshafts and variable valve tech is as far as Nissan can go with this unit, as far as fiddling with the bore and stroke can go. But it sounds brilliant. Brilliant enough to reverberate off hill faces and enough to cause a smirk on our friendly cop’s face half a valley away. This engine feels like it developed an additional set of biceps and shoulders overnight to keep all the pretty college girls in its arms during prom night. It burbles at 2000 revs and as it ticks over at 4000 revs, you would be hard pressed to find the difference between the audio note of a full-blown V8 and this. It’s only at six grand that the hills start to hear the shriek and the full realisation that it’s a V6 hammers in. As fantastic as it sounds, it moves even more fantastically. The full force of 27.5 kgm of torque wrestled with the 19-inch Yokohamas, but I didn’t feel a thing with all kinds of electronic trickery still switched on. It made me feel invincible and the harder I dived into corners, the better it got. And that’s because I didn’t need to heel-and-toe to maintain momentum.
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