Drive Flashback: 1989 Nissan 300ZX - RoadandTrack.com (blog)
I've just driven one of the best sports cars in the world. And, curiously enough, this sports car has the same name as a handsome boulevardier of note, the Nissan 300ZX. A little history may put things in perspective. The 240Z was a milestone design showing the world that sports cars didn't have to be stark, open, impractical or, for that matter, even British. But then softening of the arteries set in, as the 280ZX went sporty-car in 1978 and the 300ZX became positively boulevardier in 1983. A very nice boulevardier, mind: Diluted though the 300ZX had become, for a while there it attracted customers at... Even, for example, enthusiasts within Nissan. Witness the 240SX, the Maxima and the car described in this very magazine. Examine the new 300ZX and you will see some Z-car heritage, but only hints of it. Compared with the previous Z, the car is shorter (by 3. 9 in. ) and wider (by 2. 6 in. ). Yet its wheelbase is 5. 1 in. longer, with the result being less overhang... What's more, there's a new proportion of nose to rear deck with the cockpit farther forward, giving a suggestion of mid-engine potency to the car's front-engine/rear-drive nature. Source: www.roadandtrack.com
