2009 Nissan 350Z Roadster

When spring nears, brilliant white wild dogwood blooms brighten the otherwise dark, bare Carolina hardwood forest that lines the curvy and empty backroad. A hundred explosively yellow daffodils mark the site of a long-demolished farmhouse. A trio of wild turkey gobblers, their heads red, white and blue from passion, display gaudy tail feathers to a harem of disinterested hens. This is a perfect time and place for the Nissan 350Z Roadster with its top down and its potent V6 screaming at almost 7000 rpm. It gets even better when the turkeys respond with involuntary shock gobbles to sweet exhaust sounds and the slight squeal of Bridgestones.

NewZ

The Nissan 350Z Roadster is among the best-performing and best-handling convertible sports cars of all time. The 350Z’s acceleration and nimbleness even rival that of its legendary fixed-roof ancestor, the Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Thanks to a pair of turbochargers, the 1996 300ZX Turbo’s 3.0-liter V6 produced peaks of 300 horsepower and about 280 pound-feet of torque. In 2009, the 350Z’s naturally aspirated (aka non-turbo) 3.5-liter V6 tops out at 306 horsepower and 268 pound-feet of torque. Both weigh a bit more than 3500 pounds.


If a time machine could bring back a new ’96 300ZX—and nobody fiddled with the turbo boost—the advantage would likely go to the ’09 350Z Roadster. Part of this assessment comes from the fact that the 350Z offers about 250 pound-feet of torque at just 2000 rpm and doesn’t suffer from turbo lag. In addition, its super-sticky Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires, 225/45WR18 in front and 245/45WR18 in the rear, offer more grip and are easier to drive at the limit than the Goodyears that came on the 300ZX Turbo. (Nissan did not offer the 300ZX Turbo as a convertible. Open-top 300ZXes were available only with a naturally aspirated 220-horse V6).

Road Manners

The 350Z Roadster’s excellent road manners come in part from a very stiff chassis. Compared to the 350Z Coupe, the Roadster gets several under-body cross bars and other reinforcements. The car exhibits none of the cowl shake and chassis flex that used to plague convertibles of all types. Grippy tires on a convertible often make a chassis seem made of al dente pasta. Not so with the 350Z Roadster. One complaint: It felt as if shock absorber valving lacked adequate control over significant undulations, such as the depressions on either side of a freeway overpass. This did not appear during assertive driving on curvy roads.


Springtime sunshine can quickly turn to showers and back to clear skies. The 350Z Roadster’s power-operated top opens in about 20 seconds and closes in about 18. With the roof down, the soft top is hidden under “tonneau” style bodywork, giving the Roadster a concept car appearance. A heated glass rear window provides excellent rear vision with the top up. With the top down, a glass partition between the seats keeps the cockpit impressively free of wind buffeting and rain. A sudden rainstorm caught us with the top down on a rural Interstate highway with no overpasses. We drove more than 10 miles in a downpour to find a sheltered place to raise the roof. Almost no water entered the cockpit. However, with the top down fuel mileage fell about four miles per gallon. With the top up, we exceeded the government’s 24 miles per gallon highway rating. City economy is rated at 17 mpg. Both black and gray tops are offered.

Features and Dynamics

Exclusive to the Roadster are six-way net-style power-operated seats. The Roadster also has a briefcase-sized lockable interior storage area. The trunk is small, but it’ll accept a golf bag: The passenger will have to share your clubs.