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His eyes locked on us, their gaze cutting across two lanes of rush-hour traffic crawling up Woodward Avenue, his hand hovering, frozen, over the handle of a parked Daytona-blue 350Z. Although his own car showed evidence of careful tending--meticulous hand washings, wheels scrubbed clean and slow, deliberate wax jobs--those eyes betrayed him.He had lust in his heart. We know of such things. Sports cars wield a power over young men matched by few other things except attentive women and, perhaps, fantasy sports. And given that a new Nissan 370Z--long anticipated but scarcely revealed before now--happened to roll past this particular young man in a moment unawares, it’s understandable that his attention would wander. The 370Z is his car, only (as he well knows) so much more.“More” starts with the engine. The change in nomenclature makes it obvious. Nissan bumped up displacement of the Z’s V6 by 0.2 liter, giving it a corresponding 26-hp jump in output, to 332 hp. Peak torque increases just 2 lb-ft, at a slightly higher rev point (270 at 5,200 rpm) than in the 3.5-liter engine, but it certainly feels as if the car has more thrust off the line. It launches with exuberance; the revs swell quickly and shoot the car down the asphalt the moment the tires bite down, the torque thick all the way to its 7,500-rpm redline and 60 mph coming up in the low-five-second range.That propulsion is as much a result of the car’s lowered curb weight as it is of its upped output, because the 370Z weighs 88 pounds less than the equivalent 350Z--even given added standard content such as side and curtain airbags. And much of that weight has been taken out of the top half of the car, effectively lowering its center of gravity. Where the hood on the current car is built of aluminum and steel, the new car’s has an entirely aluminum construction. The doors are now aluminum, too, as is the previously composite rear decklid.The new six-speed manual transmission boasts what may be the coolest new feature of the car: Nissan’s SynchroRev Match system. Sensors in the shifter read what gear the driver is selecting, and the system blips the throttle to match revs on downshifts. The effect is immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with systems such as Audi’s dual-clutch gearbox or BMW’s sequential manual, with the benefit of leaving the clutch pedal where it belongs.Purists who have mastered their own throttle-blipping techniques will scoff, but the novice heel-toer certainly will appreciate the help. Shifts are quick and clean and consistent, much more so than most can achieve manually. The best part is that the system can be shut off, allowing the driver instead to play with the pedals to manage the rev matching. To this end, Nissan has moved the right pedals closer together, while changing the gas pedal to a floor-hinged design.For those who don’t care to use their left feet at all, a new seven-speed automatic transmission is available, complete with paddle shifters. As a bonus, the auto box delivers the same fuel mileage as the manual unit, with an EPA-estimated 18 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.Body control has been improved, too, even over the outgoing car’s serious chassis credentials. Nissan engineers increased the car’s torsional and bending resistance by up to 30 percent. Underneath, the 370Z sports a lighter, stiffer front-suspension cradle and a V-brace that runs the length of the car, while the formerly intrusive rear strut-tower brace gets inverted so that it now does its work under the rear hatch. An additional beam runs cross-car behind the seats.The front suspension benefits from a true double-wishbone design now, a single-piece bottom wishbone replacing the outgoing car’s multiple-link design. The four-link rear unit also is stiffer and lighter, and there are quicker-responding shocks at all four corners. The steering system has largely been upgraded, with a new column and rack giving it noticeably improved response and feel.All of the grip of the current car is evident in the 370Z, if not more so, aided by a track widened by 2.2 inches (to 62.. And although the wheelbase has been chopped by 3.9 inches (to 100.4), the car feels seriously planted; driving it is simply a thrill. The rear end comes alive under power, as a sure right foot easily keeps it tucked in through moderate turns or kicks it out at will, though the car’s stability-control system is far too intrusive if left on. It’s nice to know that it can now be shut off completely.The ride feels immensely improved. The tires resound over frost heaves and expansion joints but transmit little impact to the driver. Whereas the current car nearly bangs over any road imperfection, the 370Z smooths the harshest edges without sacrificing its fiendish agility. The ride is civilized, the handling roguish.Visually, the 370Z lacks its predecessor’s bulk. The skin is whittled tight over its bones, the slab sides give way to more surfaces, and the fullness of its roof is stretched flat over the greenhouse. The sharp angle at the windshield header recalls the silhouette of the 240Z, while the car’s lower height and shorter length give it a more compact overall feel.The front and rear ends see significant departure from the current model, too. The lights fore and aft echo each other with their dynamic, caretlike shapes, and the gaping maw of the 350Z is replaced with a less architectural air intake. The added roundness of the back bumper gives the 370Z a dash of Porsche 928 flavor, though opting for the sport package reduces the resemblance by tacking a spoiler onto the decklid. The sport package also adds a front chin spoiler and larger brakes (14.0 inches in front, 13.8 in back; the base 370Z’s brakes are carried over), upgrades the standard 18-inch wheels to forged 19s and throws in a limited-slip diff and the SynchroRev system.That sport package is one of only two available option groups. The 350Z comes in five versions, but Nissan breaks the lineup down to just two for 2009: the 370Z and the 370Z Touring. The navigation package, available only on Touring models, bundles a nav system with XM radio, iPod connectivity and a 9.3-gigabyte music hard drive. The car goes on sale in early January, carrying a price of $29,930. As lustful indulgences go, we’d call that well worth the outlay.
