Nissan 350Z: Affordable, Exciting Roadster

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As with most sports cars, demand for the 350Z has been clobbered this year by gas price jitters. Sales fell 52.8%, to 830 units, in June and were off 40.1% to 6,577 units in the first half of this year. That's almost as big a drop as has been experienced by Nissan's Titan pickup truck and Pathfinder and Xterra, which are among this year's worst-selling SUVs.

Behind the Wheel

The 350Z Roadster matches or surpasses the speed, handling, and road-hugging capabilities of the BMW Z4. However, in roughly the same price range I prefer the Audi TT. In my opinion, the 350Z can't come close to matching the tight feel and excellent handling of the admittedly far more expensive Porsche Boxster.

I clocked the 350Z Roadster with a manual transmission at around six seconds in accelerating from zero to 60 mph. That makes the Nissan considerably quicker than the Z4 3.0i, which BMW rates at 6.6 seconds. However, the entry-level version of the Audi TT ragtop, the 2.0T, which has a turbocharged 2.0-liter, 200-hp four-cylinder engine, is almost as quick as the 350Z.

The 350Z Roadster doesn't have quite the taut feel of the 350Z Coupe, but it comes close. The car handles hard cornering very well. Its steering is well balanced and responds instantly and precisely to input from the driver. The suspension is sport-tuned and provides all the road feel you expect from a car like this. You feel every bump on back roads and every imperfection in the road surface at highway speed.

The stick shift in the 350Z is designed for quick-shifting during the first five gears. Sixth gear is overdrive to provide better fuel efficiency on the highway. One of my few complaints about the way the 350Z drives is that the shift feels a little mushy compared to an Audi or BMW, and I'd like the clutch to be a little stiffer.

The 350Z ragtop actually has slightly more headroom than the Coupe, as well as a surprising (to me at least) amount of legroom. I'm 5 feet 10 inches tall and with the driver's seat all the way back, I couldn't reach the steering wheel without stretching forward. The seats move back and forth and the seatbacks adjust via two little toggle switches on the sides of the seat, a setup I found very practical because you can easily see the switches to operate them. However, Nissan really should add a tilting and telescoping steering wheel, which would make the car even more practical for tall and heavyset drivers.

Otherwise, the 350Z Roadster has many of the inconveniences of any sports car. The passenger compartment is utilitarian, with off-black carbon-fiber-style surfaces predominating, and some of the materials used (such as the plastic doors on the storage cubby holes) seem a bit cheesy. Rearward visibility is terrible, even by sports car standards. The back window is small and narrow, and the cowling behind the passenger seat creates a major blind spot over the driver's right shoulder. Storage space is tight. In lieu of a glove box, there are several cubbyholes scattered around the cabin, but if you have a briefcase it's still probably going to have to be stowed in the tiny trunk if two people are riding in the car.

Trunk space is limited to just 4.1 cu. ft., even though the convertible top automatically folds down into in a separate space under a hard tonneau behind the passenger cabin. There's a sticker explaining how to fit a golf bag into that small space, but getting two golf bags into the trunk would be a stretch.

Buy it or Bag It?

The big question you have to answer before buying a 350Z: How much extra are you willing to pay for a convertible top? The '08 350Z sells for an average of just under $33,000, according to the Power Information Network (PIN). But hidden within that number is a big differential between the price of the hardtop 350Z Coupe, which sells for an average of just $31,586, and the ragtop Roadster, which averages $38,448. So, if you're on a tight budget, the 350Z Coupe is the better bargain. (But then again, if you're that concerned about money, with gas at more than $4 a gallon these days, you probably aren't shopping for any kind of sports car.)

The two rival German models closest in price to the 350Z are the '08 BMW Z4, which sells for an average of $39,788, and the '08 Audi TT, which averages $43,218, according to PIN. The ragtop versions of both those models also carry a substantial premium over the hardtops, so they're pricier than the 350Z Roadster. (Like BusinessWeek, PIN is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP).)

The exception is the entry-level version of the Audi TT ragtop, the 2.0T, which starts at just $37,575 and is definitely worth test-driving if you're considering a 350Z. In addition to being extremely agile and almost as quick as the 350Z, the 2.0T gets better mileage than the Nissan (23 mpg city, 29 mpg highway).

Other, German alternatives, include the Mercedes SLK280, which has a retractable hardtop and sells for an average of $46,830, and the Porsche Boxster, which comes standard with a ragtop and sells for an average of $57,358. Both are more refined than the 350Z, but they're also far more expensive. In the end, it's hard to beat the 350Z's bang for the buck.

Click through BusinessWeek.com's slide show to see more of the 2008 Nissan 350Z Roadster.

Thane Peterson reviews cars for BusinessWeek.com.