My Big Upgrade....

Originally Posted by FricFrac

Well some would say the X was the demise of the Z car. It was when Datsun was moving away from the pure sports car and adding a lot of the luxury features of the Touring cars. In the center of the dash there was a light that would flash through your electrical system and tell you if your washer fluid, head lights, tail lights, etc were OK or not. There were sprayers on the head lights, etc. Later a full digital dash came out and the car would actually talk to you (your door is ajar). But the car also got heavier and IIRC the 240Z was the fastest 0-60 until the 280ZX Turbo came out. When the 300ZX came out the non-turbo version was around $28K - that was 20 years ago - almost the same price as the 370Z is today! The Japanese Yen had become so valuable that it almost drove Nissan into the ground and IIRC in '94 the last Z (well ZX) car was made.... until the 350Z came out in '03. I think they were trying to get back to their roots and droped the X and the luxury (a little too much with the plasticy interior).

The 240Z was revolutionary. An amazing car and much like the 370Z being the same performance as the Cayman at half the price IIRC the 240Z was around the same performance as the Corvette at half the price. I made Americans pay attention to the Japanese car market. When the Z32 (300ZX) came out it was another giant step for Nissan. The Z32 is one of the most amazing cars ever produced. Even 20 years later it looks every part a modern vehicle - I don't know of any other car that has kept its asthetics like the Z32 has. On top of that the performance of the car and the ability to turn the TT into almost 500 HP with a few bolt on mods was unheard of before. The Z32 was definately another landmark achievment. And lately the 370Z I think is the third significant Z car to be produced. The 350Z was a very sucsessful attempt at bringing back the Z but I think it fell short in the styling and performance of the vehicle. The 370 brings the lines of the 240Z back and adds performance and some serious refinement to almost every aspect of the 350Z.

... ah well I guess I rambled a little more than I intended..... anyhow I hope the first part answered your question