When I was a child, seeing a performance oriented vehicle will always make me smile and curious to look. It’s just the urge to know more and your curiosity is heighten to observe and ultimately appreciate what you see. This recent father’s day we asked Nissan Philippines to relive this feeling and experience a sports car myself and ultimately for my father as a bonding experience.
Personally I was curious to feel and know the experience of driving one, while I want to give my dad the same experience and also let him experience as he is a natural enthusiasts to any car. Consider it as a bonding time with my dad as its rarely to bring him out of the house given his lifestyle and of course age.
So on this article, here are some questions in my head that were answered after a day trip to Subic, and several trips to Antipolo over the weekend with the Nissan 370z.
You like the look?
Outside is no doubt unique, across all sports car in the market this is the only one that is more curved and no solid straight lines.
Right off the bat you will see a lot of circle shapes, I specifically remember that this is the iconic design philosophy of the designer of Nissan similar to the Skyline. Here I now understand that each circle represents a body / part of the vehicle especially the gorgeous LEDs at the fuel and temperature indicator.
You will notice here the premium attention to details to let you be more attached to the vehicle. No clutter but all just essential details for you to experience the drive a notch better.
Even the subtle details at the aircon vents and handles, grills and even door panel all shows circular curves. This is to show a non-edgy design with sharp corners which has a strong emotional meaning of “continuity”.
Controls for the aircon are manual dials with the center console deprioritized lower as it’s not an essential part of the drive but it still has Apple Car Play or Android Auto so don’t worry. Overall, the unified look and style of curved bodies, circular segmentation just make this one unique looking sports car vs the rest.
Audio is one of the most picky details I check in vehicles, here it doesn’t disappoint. Despite a front positioned speaker system due to the car’s layout, the strong bass and speakers by Bose are immersive that adds joy to your drive and blocks out outside noise very well.
How is it like to drive a Nissan 370z?
For context first, we drove a total of 380+km with the Nissan 370z, the highlight is my solo trip to Subic Freeport which I was able to floor the 370z to moderate speeds with some sections trying the roar of the V6 engine.
It isn’t light to drive, scratch your expectation of a sports car should be light and agile. Instead, imagine you’re driving a on-the-ground car that gets lighter when its faster. This is given the larger wheel base of 19″ wheels and 2 door setup, weight is more concentrated to the vehicle to give more stability with the strong acceleration of the vehicle.
0-80km/h is no problem, driving going up to Antipolo the night my Subic trip was indeed a warm up. Overtaking is no question with handling in turning curves even at the outer lane is very light while the drive feels firm to the ground.
The cockpit style seats that are deep and comfortable sets you to sit-back and view in a panoramic style wind-shield so you have a more immersive driving experience.
You got to appreciate the simple two-color orange & white combination dashboard of physical dials and one mono-color graphic display for simplification but detailed menu options for the milage, brightness, etc.
PS: It’s my tradition to visit the church of Antipolo for asking safe voyage especially its my first time to drive such a powerful vehicle.
The journey to Subic was the highlight of the trip, both NLEX and TPLEX you can really maintain the 100km/h limit, but of course we got some opportunity to rev up in overtaking that made it a thrill of a drive. Still with defensive driving at priority, you can have better confidence in analyzing overtakes and patterns here with higher confidence in your estimates.
Comfort of the drive sticks you to appreciate the drive, the seat was curves to your body position with the headrest adjusting your spine position on those sudden G-Force moments of accelerating fast. Perhaps the only heads up here is the experience of sudden expressway road jumps that will have some bumpy episodes that will crawl down to your seat and body hence you are one with the vehicle.
The V6 engine roars with unique audible patterns across 1st to the top 6th gear that you will get to love and hear over and over. Perhaps its the one thing subconsciously that connects you to the vehicle.
You really need to have more time with the vehicle to be more confidently drive the Nissan 370z, but I was grateful to go behind a group of sports car on my way home from Subic. This gave me opportunity to observe some actions such as having a lead car and last car giving equal opportunity to each group to have that stretch of speed.
Clearly there is an etiquette that is needed to be learned in scenarios in runs like this. Such as a group with simple common love for vehicles, speed, and lifestyle. So it’s not all about the vehicle itself but also an adapt of lifestyle.
Is it rich in features?
No fancy 360-degree camera driving here, or large LCD instrument panels. It’s all essential features and physical indicators that you will love as you don’t see it from anywhere else. Even the menu for the instrument panel navigation are similar to joystick circular buttons, making you feel the traditional method.
Yes there is cruise control here, but we don’t think you will use it since most of your time will pay attention to the thrill of the drive. But you’ll definitely love the paddle shifts that are very tactile and responsive.
Any generation will love the Nissan 370z
While my father is now 72 years old, his ability to drive fast is no longer his priority but more of comfort and experience. But this doesn’t hinder his enthusiasm to appreciate a craft of beauty of the Nissan 370z
But definitely, I got the same enthusiasm with strong curiosity for experience to drive a Nissan 370z. Regardless of age, this is one strong attachment that any car brand will desire to consumers as it pushes the brand not to be only innovative but also aspirational.
After Driving One – Will you consider the 370z?
This one is indeed a tricky question, the answer is yes I want the 370z but setting reality of course I’m not yet there to own one. Ultimately the reason I see in getting one is the desire to have a personal vehicle that you will disregard the essentials, and concentrate to experience the premium in everything in a vehicle.
To break it down, here are some things you need to consider.
- 2.87M SRP for a vehicle that can only carry 2 persons and minimal storage, it’s really meant for escapes and light travels outside manila or anywhere you can floor some speeds.
- Don’t forget the premium of gas since this is a V6 engine, destinations where to bring this beast like Subic which entails tolls, plus the very reasonable insurance to cover you and the vehicle for peace of mind.
- Level-up lifestyle in having this kind of vehicle is indeed a mark of your success. Make sure you just don’t own one but also utilize it to its purpose of fulfilling your desire for speed, luxury, and going back to the feeling of seeing your first sports car and appreciate that you now have one.
From this experience – I’m motivated
The Nissan 370z is indeed one looker vehicle, anywhere I went would get attention cause of its very curve-rich 2-seater form factor, striking front headlight, sleek and premium back, and that powerful V6 engine when it roars. Simply, the vehicle is iconic from the beginning till now and I was more than grateful to experience the drive even just for a weekend.
For me, having this kind of experience molds you to have better appreciation of your goals in life, I now have more of an idea if its ideal for my personality when I grow up. Yes this more of a luxury of life, but that’s the goal cause there is no doubt that even as a kid your first sports car your also dreamt of having one and that’s the most powerful motivation / aspiration that you can always target.
That’s what I also saw from my father and myself experiencing the Nissan 370z, the undeniable joy, thrill and shine in our eye in experiencing is something priceless which is letting you remember your first time seeing a sports car in your youth. Much appreciation to Nissan Philipines for the experience, this gives us better understanding of this category.
Just in case you like to know more the Nissan 370z is available in both Manual and Automatic versions for Php2,779,000 and Php2,879,000 respectively.
