It may be one of the oldest sports car platforms on the market, but we wanted to see how the 2021 Nissan 370Z would go around our race track ahead of the arrival of the Nissan 400Z. We put the CarExpert professional race driver, Chris Atkinson, behind the wheel to set a lap time and see where it places on our leaderboard.
Compare lap times: https://www.carexpert.com.au/lap-times/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=other-video
More Nissan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan
More Nissan 370Z content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan/370z
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Acceleration and braking figures: 00:28
Initial impressions: 00:44
Hot lap (no talking): 04:06
Hot lap debrief: 05:17
Atko's verdict 08:30
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#nissan #370z #review
Compare lap times: https://www.carexpert.com.au/lap-times/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=other-video
More Nissan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan
More Nissan 370Z content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan/370z
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Acceleration and braking figures: 00:28
Initial impressions: 00:44
Hot lap (no talking): 04:06
Hot lap debrief: 05:17
Atko's verdict 08:30
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#nissan #370z #review
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Hey guys, Chris here from Car Expert,
00:01 and we're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track.
00:04 Today, we've got the Nissan 370Z.
00:06 My first go in this car,
00:08 so interested to see how it performs.
00:10 It's a V6 with 245 kilowatts and 363 newton meters of torque.
00:15 A rear wheel drive and a seven speed automatic
00:18 acting as a manual transmission.
00:20 We'll see how that performs.
00:21 First, we'll do an acceleration run,
00:23 zero to a hundred and back to zero, see how that goes.
00:25 And then we'll get on the track
00:26 and see what sort of lap time it can do.
00:29 (car engine roaring)
00:32 All right, so initial impressions.
00:45 I like the seating position.
00:46 I'm in a really good angle.
00:48 There's lots of adjustment on the side
00:50 so I can get the back down low,
00:51 the front up high, angled back a bit.
00:54 I really like that.
00:55 I feel like I'm in a nice place in the car.
00:58 Little bit of movement.
00:59 So we'll see how the lateral support is.
01:01 They seem reasonably deep.
01:02 They should be suited to a lot of different body shapes.
01:05 Steering wheel, I like the Alcantara finish
01:08 where your hands are holding on.
01:10 So that's a nice touch.
01:11 Does feel a little bit big,
01:13 just a little bit larger circumference wise
01:15 than I would like.
01:16 And also, I messed around for a while
01:18 going up and down and round
01:20 and I just couldn't quite get the wheel
01:22 exactly where I wanted.
01:23 I don't know whether the dash actually moves with the wheel.
01:25 So I don't know whether that was playing with my mind
01:27 or what, but just something a little bit different.
01:30 It could be just me, not a big issue at all.
01:33 I noticed the pedals are not quite set where I'd like them.
01:37 I've actually got to reach in to grab the pedals.
01:40 But remember, this is an automatic transmission
01:42 so you're not really gonna be using those pedals a lot.
01:45 And I think it's a car where you're probably more likely
01:47 to go with a manual transmission,
01:49 a bit like your 86 or your Mazda MX-5, things like that.
01:54 So not a huge issue, but I just,
01:56 'cause they don't move with the wheel as well
01:57 and they're a bit out of reach,
01:59 I'm gonna be interested to see
02:00 whether that's an issue at all.
02:02 Steering, steering's just a bit light,
02:04 a little bit disconnected initially,
02:07 which is not a great sign
02:09 'cause that's what gives me connection to the track
02:11 and confidence to fire into turn one here with speed.
02:14 Pedal position feels fine.
02:16 Brake pedal actually feels really good.
02:19 That's exactly what I want.
02:20 I want a pedal, you're not expecting a race car solid pedal,
02:24 but you want a pedal that as you load it,
02:27 it builds force and then you can modulate
02:30 at a sort of a higher load.
02:32 You don't want something that's changing,
02:34 changing pressure and adjusting.
02:36 So hopefully that stays together
02:38 'cause the initial feeling there, yeah, that's awesome.
02:40 I like that.
02:41 (engine revving)
02:43 So the engine, naturally aspirated and 245 kilowatts,
02:48 so decent power numbers and a V6, 3.7 litre V6,
02:51 so a pretty decent size engine there.
02:54 Good torque numbers.
02:56 Doesn't feel bad.
02:58 (engine revving)
03:00 More when you get up the top end of the rev range,
03:02 that's where it works a bit better.
03:04 Takes a little while to get going,
03:07 but once it is up there
03:08 and I think once we're going to speed, it'll be okay.
03:11 Suspension actually feels nice.
03:14 It feels like it loads up a bit,
03:15 like I said, with the brake pedal,
03:17 it rolls over, but then builds support.
03:19 So some of these other cars have support there
03:22 and then when they hit something, they fall through.
03:24 And so when you get aggressive and you get on the track
03:26 and you get up on the curb here and you hit that,
03:28 they fall over, where this actually feels
03:31 nice and stable.
03:34 Roll gives you some traction, gives you some rotation,
03:37 but then support as well,
03:39 so then you can carry the speed through the corner.
03:42 All right, so I've turned traction control off.
03:44 There's basically just one button for that.
03:46 So switch that off.
03:48 That's basically all I can do.
03:49 I crossed into manual mode,
03:50 so I'll use the paddles
03:51 and see what sort of time the 370Z does.
03:55 Yeah, I've already noticed that I'm reaching
03:59 for that gear shift, which isn't great,
04:01 but anyway, let's focus on the lap.
04:03 (car engine roaring)
04:06 (car engine roaring)
04:09 (car engine roaring)
04:13 (car engine roaring)
04:16 (car engine roaring)
04:27 (car engine roaring)
04:37 (car engine roaring)
04:40 (car engine roaring)
04:47 (car engine roaring)
04:56 (car engine roaring)
05:04 (car engine roaring)
05:08 So there you go, Nissan 370Z.
05:22 That took a bit more out of me than I thought it would.
05:24 Some issues there,
05:25 but so much potential with this car as well.
05:28 And just want to be clear on this,
05:30 the best time we did was a 101.0,
05:32 and we actually achieved that in the morning.
05:34 We knew we were going to film a few cars today,
05:36 so to be fair to this car with the heat going up,
05:38 I got a quick lap time in early,
05:40 and I tried to match it on camera a bit later in the day,
05:43 and the closest I got was a 101.5.
05:44 And it shows you what heat does to a car,
05:48 the tyre, the track.
05:49 And 101.0 actually fits in pretty well.
05:52 I think Nissan should be pretty happy with that time-wise.
05:56 A lot of positives about this car as well.
05:57 Suspension is fantastic.
06:00 I really like it.
06:01 The way it loads.
06:02 It's not too soft,
06:03 but it's soft enough in the right areas,
06:05 but it builds support.
06:06 And that connects really well to the brakes as well.
06:08 So the brakes has that feeling of loading,
06:11 able to modulate that.
06:13 And the suspension goes with it.
06:14 It connects together with it.
06:15 So really like that.
06:18 Didn't have a big issue with the paddles
06:19 like I thought it was at the end of the day.
06:21 Just something I noticed driving the car around slowly,
06:24 but I was still able to get them, no problem at all.
06:27 The engine is good.
06:29 Obviously there's lots of power there,
06:31 but the power band is so focused to the top end.
06:34 And I really like a bit more torque down low
06:36 to get the car moving off the corners a little bit quicker.
06:40 Just everything happens up above
06:43 sort of six and a half thousand RPM.
06:45 And you don't spend a lot of time up there.
06:47 That's the thing you got to think about.
06:48 In a car on a track,
06:49 you spend a lot of your time accelerating,
06:51 say from four up to seven.
06:53 And that last little bit's only a fraction of the time.
06:56 So now this wasn't bad at all.
06:58 I'm not complaining.
06:58 But I think it could have just flowed
07:01 a little bit freer throughout.
07:02 Transmission is what I expected.
07:05 The gear shifts were a bit slow.
07:07 Downshifts were okay.
07:08 Didn't really have a big problem there,
07:10 but the upshifts you obviously noticed
07:11 that it just takes time to engage the gear.
07:14 And so you just lose a bit of performance there.
07:17 The issue I had,
07:18 actually let's focus on one more positive.
07:21 I love this little knee pad here.
07:23 They put into it to brace yourself.
07:25 That works really well.
07:26 I can lean my knee against that in the corner.
07:28 Nice soft cushion.
07:30 But back to the issue.
07:31 My issue comes that I've got traction control off,
07:34 but the car's still doing things that aren't consistent.
07:37 Basically the first time I fired it into turn one,
07:40 it tried to straighten me up.
07:41 It thought that I was in an accident
07:43 and I'm trying to rotate the car around.
07:45 And the car grabbed a brake and turned it left.
07:47 Now the strange thing is that later in the laps,
07:50 I found that it actually let it slide a bit
07:52 and occasionally would do it and occasionally wouldn't.
07:55 So mentally, as I'm trying to go in
07:58 and push the limits of this car,
07:59 I couldn't quite trust what it was gonna do.
08:01 And if you're gonna turn everything off,
08:03 turn everything off.
08:04 Let me have the car, let me control it.
08:06 If I know it's gonna be controlled,
08:07 I know it's gonna be trolling.
08:08 If I'm not sure what it's gonna do,
08:10 it's hard to push it to the limit.
08:12 And that should be an option.
08:13 Maybe there is a way to do it.
08:15 I did a quick search in between runs
08:16 to see if I could figure it out.
08:18 Let me know if you guys know anything about it
08:20 or had any issues with it.
08:22 So not a bad overall package.
08:24 A lot of good things, but just missing out
08:27 because of that restrictive control.
08:29 So there you go guys, the Nissan 370Z.
08:34 This was a really interesting one
08:36 because the car was actually trying to control me
08:38 even though I had the traction control off.
08:40 So I struggled to get the lap time that I wanted.
08:43 That being said, the lap time that actually achieved
08:45 was really solid, a 101.0 for this level of car,
08:48 I think is a pretty good number.
08:50 So hats off to that.
08:51 To get the most out of this car,
08:53 it's got great suspension and brakes.
08:55 So use that to your advantage.
08:57 You're gonna lean on the car a lot.
08:58 You can trust the brake slot.
08:59 So really do that well.
09:01 But the risk is when you push to the limit,
09:03 the car wants to intervene and control what you're doing.
09:06 So you have to be a little bit careful
09:08 and I couldn't actually drive to the absolute limit
09:10 of what I wanted to do with this car.
09:12 That being said, it is actually a fun car to drive,
09:15 just missing a few of the details
09:16 that could make this an amazing car on the track.
09:18 If you guys enjoyed the video, hit the like button
09:21 and don't forget to subscribe to the channel as well.
09:23 Lots more content to come and we'd love to hear
09:25 what other cars you'd like to see on the track.
09:27 So thanks for watching.