The 370Z that swaps its own gears might shift a few perceptions as well.
Chief among the benefits of working atCar and Driver—driving as a job responsibility, Platinum Elite status on Northwest Airlines, lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings on Wednesdays—is the fact that, when it comes time to debate test-car options, there’s no voice in the back of the room asking, “Hey, why don’t we get the automatic?” We are committed to the three-pedal manual. This sometimes feels like being the captain of the Titanic about an hour after meeting the iceberg, however, so we’re always on the lookout for automatics that can satisfy.
Hey, We Found One!
Cars that we already like are often the best place to start that search, which led us to the all-new 2009 Nissan 370Z. While we would never call an automatic and one of our favorite sports cars a match made in heaven, this one at least seems made somewhere north of purgatory. For starters, the shift paddles are affixed to the steering column, meaning hands always know where to find them. Pull the left for downshifts and the right for upshifts. The shifter can also be used to effect gearchanges.
Moving the shifter to the left from D to manual mode puts the car in a sporting mindset, with the paddles calling forth sharp, lightning-quick shifts that helped this car set the quickest acceleration times we’ve yet recorded from the new Z: 0–60 in 4.6 seconds and the quarter-mile in 13.1 at 108 mph, quicker by 0.2 and 0.3 second and 1 mph than our quickest manual car. With either the automatic or the do-it-yourself transmission, the 370Z is EPA rated at 18 mpg city/26 highway. We saw 18 with the auto, down 1 mpg from the manual 370Z.
Keep Reading: 2009 Nissan 370Z Automatic - Short Take Road Test
0 comments:
Post a Comment