Nismotastic! Nissan Nismo 370Z @ 2009 New York Auto Show Video Code
Nismotastic! Nissan Nismo 370Z @ 2009 New York Auto Show
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The first Nismo Z didn't come around until the end of the Nissan 350Z's model cycle, but Nissan isn't wasting any time with the 370Z version. The 2009 Nissan Nismo 370Z hits U.S. dealerships in June, and this time it has a little more power and torque than normal Z-cars, thanks to a 350-horsepower version of the 3.7-liter VQ-series V6. Nissan expects the track-focused Nismo model to account for 5 percent of all Z coupe sales.
As with the original Nismo Z, the chassis and bodywork for the 2009 Nismo 370Z have been developed by Autech, the Japanese company that prepares Nissan's entries for the Japanese Super GT (JGTC) racing series. But Nissan has been more heavily involved in the engineering of the 2009 Nismo Z, and the automaker had final approval on the design.
Probably that's why Randy Rodriguez, the Nissan Design America designer who's credited with the initial sketches for the regular 370Z, is pretty happy with how the 2009 Nismo 370Z turned out.
"I think it's much better than the last version," he tells us. "The last Nismo was kind of busy and didn't really accentuate the design very much. There was a lot of stuff added to it, and this one seems to be a little bit more refined."
At a glance, though, the 2009 Nissan Nismo 370Z appears to compromise the new Z-car's effort to slim down to pure sports-car dimensions. The Nismo's wheelbase remains 100.4 inches, but at 174.3 inches in overall length, it's 7 inches longer than the normal 370Z. It also has a 0.6-inch wider track than the Sport-package 370Z, due to the wider rims of the lightweight forged-aluminum Rays wheels. They measure 19-by-9.5 inches in front and 19-by-10.5 inches in back.
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