Roadster Pricing

[jpit]

http://www.motorauthority.com/nissan...rom-36970.html

Base: $36,970
Touring: $40,520

[Robert_Nash]

Originally Posted by jpit

Nissan prices 370Z Roadster from $36,970 - [2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster] - MotorAuthority - Car news, reviews, spy shots

Base: $36,970
Touring: $40,520

Whoever wrote that write-up is, I think, an idiot.

[jpit]

I think it came right from Nissan.

Nissan/Infiniti News Room

[xiven]

i would think a hard top would be better

[Robert_Nash]

Perhaps Idiot is too strong a word but just for the record, I'm wasn't really talking about pricing.

The 350Z Roadster caught a lot of flack for its awkward top-up proportions, and while the new 370Z Roadster has the top-down look nailed, the lack of official top-up shots has us worried it too will fall prey to poor design.

No pictures of the roadster with the top up is incorrect - there is at least one picture with the top up on Nissan's website and I've seen others so I'd say that the author didn't do much research.

As to the pricing itself, while I'm not sure, I also suspect that the difference in pricing between the 7AT and the 6MT had little or nothing to do with the transmission chosen (as hinted at by the author) but is due to other considerations since there is no difference in price due to transmission in any other 370.

[Robert_Nash]

Originally Posted by xiven

i would think a hard top would be better

Why?

[xiven]

not sure how it would look but i'm just not a fan of the soft top

[Urban]

A hardtop doesn't make sense because there is the coupe...
and we should be happy that Nissan's designers go back to the roots.

[Robert_Nash]

Originally Posted by xiven

not sure how it would look but i'm just not a fan of the soft top

When the top is down what difference does it make whether it's a "soft" or "hard" top - after all, the point of a convertible is to have the top down.

The G37 gained 448 lbs going from coupe to convertible - while I'm sure a lot if not most of that is for the additional mechanics and bracing, etc. needed; I'm sure the "hard top" weighs more than a soft top would have and any weight they can keep off the Z the better as far as I'm concerned (of course, anyone who wants a "hard top" convertible can always choose the G37).


P.S....if you want to know how it looks with the top up there is a pic on the roadster's website.

[370Z_Fan]

If you want to see what the roadster looks like with the top up, visit my photo album:

Nissan 370Z Forum - 370Z_Fan's Album: 370Z Convertible

[FricFrac]

Originally Posted by Urban

A hardtop doesn't make sense because there is the coupe...
and we should be happy that Nissan's designers go back to the roots.

Back to its roots would mean no rag top.... maybe t-tops but that's it.... even that took nine years to happen so I'm not sure I'd call that the roots of the Z

[Robert_Nash]

Originally Posted by FricFrac

Back to its roots would mean no rag top.... maybe t-tops but that's it.... even that took nine years to happen so I'm not sure I'd call that the roots of the Z

Not that I need to speak for him but I suspect he meant "roots" in terms of the Z being a true sports car (and by the way, I think you'll find that the true roots of the Z was a convertible. )

Keep in mind that when the T-top versions came out EVERY nameplate had T-Tops; it was just the thing to do (convertibles, those that existed, were going away fast and if memory serves it was because of new roll-over mandates).

[dalparadise]

I think Nissan is self-consciously limiting views of the car with the top up, thus limiting the amount of flak they'll get for it until people can start seeing them in person. Most would agree the 350 Roadster's top-up looks were...polarizing.

For the record, I think the 370Z Roadster looks a lot like a Boxster that's had a few too many slices of pie and has put on the Freshman 15 in the buttocks area. It is quite a step forward from the 350, however.

[nicknick]

Originally Posted by Robert_Nash

When the top is down what difference does it make whether it's a "soft" or "hard" top - after all, the point of a convertible is to have the top down.

The G37 gained 448 lbs going from coupe to convertible - while I'm sure a lot if not most of that is for the additional mechanics and bracing, etc. needed; I'm sure the "hard top" weighs more than a soft top would have and any weight they can keep off the Z the better as far as I'm concerned (of course, anyone who wants a "hard top" convertible can always choose the G37).


P.S....if you want to know how it looks with the top up there is a pic on the roadster's website.

As nice as the Zed is why couldn't they do a folding harttop like Mazda's MX5, it only added 37 kilos to the equation.

[Robert_Nash]

Originally Posted by nicknick

As nice as the Zed is why couldn't they do a folding harttop like Mazda's MX5, it only added 37 kilos to the equation.

The better question is why would Nissan need two "sporty" cars that are hard-top convertibles? I would submit that one of GM's biggest problems was supporting the tooling and manufacture of essentially the same car under multiple nameplates when one version was probably enough. Nissan already has a nice, sporty, luxury-minded hard-top convertible in the G37; there is just no reason to do the exact same thing in the Z which would also have the side affect of limiting performance even more than the convertible already will. And there is especially no reason to do it in a TVM under 10M/year; barely sufficient to keep even well-healed manufacturers in business.

Also, the weight issue isn't insignificant. Assuming the hardtop added 37 Kilos to the MX5 (no other causes/variables) the MX5 is a smaller car than the Z; any hardtop on the Z would likely add more than 37K but even if that's all it added; do people really want to add an extra 80+ lbs to the car just to have a hard-top the will likely be down most of the time anyway?