GTP Cool Wall: Nissan 350Z 35th Anni.

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Nissan 350Z 35th Anniversary

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BKGlover

BKGlover

6,117
United States
Texas
Nissan 350Z 35th Anniversary nominated by Murcie_LP640

nissan-350z-35th-anniversary-edition-photo-5297-s-429x262.jpg


Stats that Matter:
Production: 2005
Style: 2-Door Coupe
Engine: 3.5L V6-300/287 HP
Transmission: 6-Speed Manual, 5-Speed Automatic
Layout: Front-engine, Rear-drive
0-60: 5.8 Seconds
1/4 Mile: 14.3 Seconds/101 MPH

Wikipedia
Car & Driver

Nomination Thread​
 
And with this, we have started on the new nominations.

Umm, well...yeeaah.

It's a Z, It looks good, but it doesn't feel cool. Meh.
 
I voted cool. While I don't personally care for this specific models looks (much prefer other years and models etc), overall it birthed a cool car with good performance, not too flashy etc. I wouldn't want to own one though, that's a personal feat.
 
Back when the 350Z came out in 2004, it was one of the coolest new cars I'd seen. I loved the bubbly, modern shape, and I wanted one for myself in black, badly. One of my uncles had a 350Z, a blue convertible. The performance is still pretty respectable, but I no longer like the car with the same passion that I had for it when I was seven. The car's aged surprisingly well for what was such a contemporary design at the time. That said, it almost looks a bit bland these days. It's also just too heavy for a car that's barely longer than the newest Golf. 3188 lbs in its lightest form isn't that bad, but 3600 lbs for the convertible is just too heavy for what's supposed to be a sports car. I prefer its sister car, the Infiniti G35 Coupe.
 
Uncool.

Decent performer, but looks like a big deformed jelly bean, and I swear those door handles came off my parent's old microwave.

That and I have yet to meet someone who drives one that isn't an 🤬.
 
In 1995, the 25th Anniversary Nissan Z-car had 300 horsepower, accelerated to 60 in ~5.5 seconds, and had a silky smooth V6 engine.
In 2005, the 35th Anniversary Nissan Z-car had 300 horsepower, accelerated to 60 in ~5.5 seconds, and had a silky smooth V6 engine.




Except the latter was a blobby looking design that dates it practically to the day it was penned (as opposed to the original concept design that was much smoother flowing), and was a post-Ghosn car with the corners cut at the right places to prevent the driving dynamics from suffering but at the wrong places to keep the car from feeling cheap. The G35 Coupe almost makes the Z irrelevant, because it is nicer looking and better put together car for what wasn't that much more money.

Meh.
 
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I was originally looking at buying one of these to replace the WRX and I thought for the hell of it I'd chuck it on the Cool Wall Noms.

I've been of the opposite opinion to Doog. I never really liked the 350Z when it first came out as it looked odd from the front and it was a fairly porky GT car that never seemed to "quite make the grade."

Now however with the advent of the 370Z and after test driving the both of them I actually prefer the 350Z's feel, however there's two little thing that's spoiling the show from me buying one and indeed from rating it as "cool".

The first is the styling. I'm still hung up on that front end and the rather cheap-looking details. The rear-end looks superb in my view but the front just doesn't have that look of a car that cost here when it was new the best part of $70,000. And I agree with Adamgp, the door handles are, at the best, :censored:house.

The second is, as has been alluded to already, the V35 Skyline Coupe/Infiniti G35. Better styling, standard VQ35DE instead of the RevUp so no oil consumption issues and slightly more torque at the (irrelevant for my needs) expense of power, it has most of the same performance bits but substantially more practicality, a similarly large aftermarket catalogue, down here it's cheaper to buy on the used market...I don't think I should go on really.

The 35th Anni is a great car to drive, and I love the yellow, but it's a Meh on the cool scale for those two reasons.
 
It brought the Z badge back, and was really the only affordable import sports car on the market for a while. Classic style with a great engine.

Sub-zero
 
I've never liked the Z, because of it's (in my opinion) ugly Beetle-bubble-shape. I chose seriously uncool.
 
I personally like it; it's what brought the Z name back after the end of the 300ZX (which is better, in my opinion.)
I prefer the headlights of the 350Z to the 370Z's, and it also doesn't have the two upward points on the lower part of the front bumper.

Voted 'Cool'; while I like it a lot, it just doesn't have the charm that the 300ZX (and especially the 240Z) has.
 
I think it's just about "Sub Zero". Clean, unique looks (it has better looks than the 370Z, in my opinion) and tremendous potential (for different kind of motorsport categories, for example). I like the whole car very much.
 
See, I think the 370 looks better. Details like the cheap-looking door handles and such are removed, it's silhouette is more sporting and more Z-esque, but mostly it's because it stands out. Not just in the industry, but in it's own lineup. This may be a stretch, but I honestly think Nissan was trying to make the corporate design seen in the other cars onto the 350, and while it wasn't bad, it just doesn't work for me.
 
Based on my brief experience with this car and my long term experience owning two other Nissans, I've decided the company has a brilliant designer who gets bored quickly or suffers from narcolepsy. Nissan tends to do some things brilliantly, but then gets sloppy with other details, so I've yet to drive a Nissan that really felt "whole." That includes the G35 I test drove (and I even found a sedan version with a manual).

With the 350Z (and the 370Z) I see a car that could have been great but went a little too far in form over function, one that sacrificed a few things like rear visibility, reasonable road noise and--from what I recall reading--effective oil and brake fluid cooling. It's also kind of a muscle car in sports car guise.
 
The sound of these is almost enough to warrant my "cool" vote. They have the best-value engine sound of recent times, IMO. They are relatively common in the UK though, for some reason the 370Z seems a lot more scarce so they catch my eye more.
 
I have never liked the looks of these; too soft, too cute. Not cool at all, especially with its bubbly shape, that flat front end, and the big square grill...it looks like something out of a cartoon. It's like they saw the goofy Mazda-style smiley-face front ends of the time and tried to do the same thing. The 370z went some way toward making this right, but hasn't quite left this dorky design behind.

The only things keeping this from being Seriously Uncool are the Z name, a 300hp engine, the variety of colors it's available in, and RWD.
 
I've seen both the 350Z and 370Z side by side and the 370 looks a lot more athletic and more aggressive in it's stance. Compared to the 370, the 350 just looks plain, boring and fat.
 
The VQ is one of my favorite motors, I love how they look, they sound FANTASTIC, they perform very well, they have so much potential, you can do nearly anything with them, and they remind me of the 240Z. Sub Zero.
 
Older Z cars are cool, newer Z cars are not. There's nothing glaringly wrong with them and the 350 is decently enough to drive but the only people I see driving them are either nerdy engineers or really cocky Asian kids, neither groups help make it cool.
 

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