What is it?
2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster
What's special about it?
New York is Nissan's only official stop on the 2009 U.S. auto show circuit, so there's no shortage of new product, and the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster is the headlining act. The convertible version of the 370Z goes on sale in July.
The Z roadster's debut follows the 370Z coupe's launch by less than a year. Unlike the previous 350Z drop top, the 370Z roadster has always been part of the 370Z game plan from the time Nissan designer Randy Rodriguez made his original sketches.
"We knew that we would have to do a convertible version," Rodriguez says, "so when we were choosing the designs, we were trying to look at ones that would look good in both coupe and convertible versions. With the 350Z, we didn't do that. We did the coupe first and later Nissan decided to do a convertible, so the A-pillar, the windshield header and some other areas are a little cleaner on the 370Z Roadster."
Specifically, says Rodriguez, the Nissan Design America staff developed design proposals that "put more visual weight at the rear, so that it looks like the passengers are more sunken into the car."
With the Infiniti G37 hardtop convertible on the way, Nissan is sticking with the simple roadster formula for the 2010 Nissan 370Z convertible. That means a soft top, available in black or red. It's an all-cloth design this year, in lieu of the previous cloth/vinyl design, and there's an extra layer of acoustic insulation.
This new top is also longer than the one on the 350Z convertible, and it has to fold into a car with a shorter wheelbase (100.4 inches, some 3.9 inches less than before). It seems like a packaging challenge, but Nissan has made the power-folding mechanisms smaller, so it all fits. Even better, the 370Z Roadster has 6.9 cubic feet of luggage space whether the top's up or down — significantly more than the old Z roadster's 4.1 cubic feet.
Along with the compact wheelbase, the 2010 370Z Roadster adopts all the weight-saving aspects of the coupe, including an aluminum hood and doors. It weighs 100 pounds less than the 350Z drop top, with all versions coming in at under 3,500 pounds.
Just as with the Z coupe, structural rigidity is a priority with the Roadster. The 370Z Roadster has an additional M-shape underbody bracket, while its A-pillars, side sills, front crossmembers and steering members have also been reinforced. Compared to the 350Z drop top, the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster's bending rigidity has improved 10 percent in the front and 60 percent in the rear. Torsional rigidity is 40 percent greater up front and 60 percent better in the rear.
The Roadster's suspension changes amount to little more than a subtle retune of the springs and dampers to offset the extra weight and the reduction in structural rigidity. The suspension calibration for the car was vetted during an engineering staff road trip up the California coast, starting in Ventura County and ending north of San Francisco in Marin County.
"We do it because this is one of the most popular roads in the U.S. for driving convertibles," a Nissan engineer tells us.
In terms of acceleration, the new Roadster shouldn't feel much different from the 370Z coupe, as the convertible uses the same 3.7-liter VQ37VHR V6 rated at 332 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 270 pound-feet of torque at 5,200. Still, the open-air cockpit might drown out some of the coarseness and vibration we've experienced in the coupe while pushing hard to the engine's 7,500-rpm redline.
With the six-speed manual gearbox driving the Nissan 370Z Roadster's rear wheels, plan on a 0-60-mph time that will be less than half a second away from the 370Z coupe's. Of course, you can also get a seven-speed automatic transmission with shift paddles and rev-matching on downshifts. Nissan expects both drivetrains to be good for an 18 mpg city/25 mpg highway rating from the EPA.
Trim levels and option packaging will be consistent on 370Z coupes and roadsters, so Nissan will start out with base and Touring models. If you choose a 370Z Touring Roadster, you can have the same Sport package available on the coupe.
The Sport-package treatment swaps out the otherwise open rear differential for one of the viscous limited-slip variety and replaces the standard 18-inch wheels with forged 19-by-9.0-inch front wheels and 19-by-10.0-inch rears wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE050A rubber (sized P245/40R19 94W and P275/35R19 96W, respectively). You also get better brakes with larger, thicker rotors (14.0-by-1.3 inches up front, 13.8-by-0.8 inch in back) and four-piston fixed front calipers and two-pot rears. Z Roadsters with the Sport package and manual transmission gets the nifty SynchroRev Match feature as well.
Of course, you can outfit your Roadster with Bose sound and a navigation system as well. The one option unique to the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster is a feature that both heats and cools the front seats. How useful are cooled seats in a performance convertible? You'll find out the first time you park it top-down on a hot, sunny day.
Inside Line says: If its body structure is as tight as its character lines, the downsize 370Z Roadster should be a serious challenge to the Porsche Boxster. — Erin Riches, Senior Editor
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