by David Finlay (27 Sep 07)

After three years of leaving things as they were, Nissan has been doing quite a lot of tweaking to the 350Z lately. A revised model was introduced in spring 2006 boasting more power than previously, and for 2007 there have been further modifications to increase the bhp total still further.

The 2006 upgrade brought the 350Z's output up from 276bhp to 296bhp, but at the expense of low- and mid-range performance. The later work, which involved replacing 80% of the original engine parts, increases the figure still further to 309bhp, as well as raising the rev limit from 7000rpm to 7500rpm, but more importantly it also means that the car is much stronger at the kind of revs most people will use most of the time.

You can see the difference from outside; not because the engine itself is visible, but because it's taller and has therefore obliged the designers to modify the shape of the bonnet. Other changes include a switch from Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tyres to RE050As for improved ride quality, along with the introduction of Temper Orange, Twilight Grey and Night Blue exterior colours to replace the previous Sunset, Gun Metal Grey and Azure Blue (you can still get Solid Red, Universal Silver and Ebisu Black).

Changes to the headline performance figures are minimal. The 350Z is still limited to a top speed of 155mph, and its 0-62mph time has improved by just 0.1 seconds to 5.7 seconds. Officially, the combined fuel economy remains as it was, at 24.1mpg (equating to 280g/km) of CO2 emissions, though in real life a current 350Z will probably use a bit more petrol than previous models did.

The overall effect is that the 350Z is now more interesting than before in a straight line, and there's no doubt that the 3.5-litre V6 engine sounds fantastic every time you floor the throttle. But despite Nissan's claims that this is "a true, no-compromise sports car" employing lessons learned from various motorsport vehicles, the 350Z has never really been that sporty, and if anything it's less so now.

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