2014 Nissan 370Z

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Nissan cut the price for 2014 by just over $3,000 to $30,800. 2. The as-tested Touring model with a sport package and extras costs $41,260. 3. Nissan offers a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic. 4. EPA estimates suggest 18 mpg city, 26 mpg highway.

PREVIEW

When we heard that Nissan was dropping the price of the 370Z to $29,990 ($30,800 with destination fee) for 2014, we just had to review it. Our goal: To see if Nissan could deliver the true "Z experience" in a stripped-down car.

That said, the stripped-down Z hasn't actually been stripped down; Nissan simply slashed the price by three grand. The $30,000 base-model Z delivers gives you the same bits as last year's 370Z, including a 332 horsepower VQ-series V6 engine, six-speed manual transmission, 18-inch alloys shod with Yokohama ADVAN Sport tires, keyless entry and push-button ignition.

Alas, finding an actual $30,000 Z turned out to be a lot trickier than we expected. We had correspondents all over the US and Canada check their respective press fleets, and while most were stocked with high-end Nismos and roadsters, there was not a single cheap Z to be found.

Then we were invited to a press event near Nissan's corporate headquarters in Tennessee and we asked if there might be a base-model 370Z hanging around the office. Pay dirt! Nissan quickly agreed for us to spend a day in the car. That was easy, we thought. Too easy. Sure enough, a few days before our trip, Nissan's one and only base-model Z was in a wreck. No human casualties, but the Z was a goner.

INTERIOR

It soon became clear that the Nissan PR staffers were deathly afraid of our reaction to the base version, as if our butt cheeks might melt if they contacted a seat upholstered in something other than leather. They needn't have worried, as the base-model Z's cabin is quite a nice place: Aside from the simplified stereo, a giant storage bin in place of a navigation system, the lack of cowhide on the seats and a plastic slug where the rev-matching button normally goes, there wasn't much to differentiate the $30,000 Z from the $41,000 Sport-Touring model we drove (which, we hasten to add, has also received a price cut of $2,550).And so we came up with a compromise, which plays out in our photos. Nissan found us a white base-model Z at a friendly dealer, the interior of which we were free to poke, prod and photograph. For driving, though, we were given the red car in the photos, a $36,080 Touring model with the $3,030 Sport package, optioned up to $41,260 -- about as far away from the Base model Z as you can get without buying a Chevrolet Impala. We'd just have to turn off the rev-matching downshift feature and pretend.

UNDER THE HOOD

Sorting out the driving experience was a bit more difficult. The Sport package on our tester included larger wheels and tires, a stiffer suspension, and bigger brakes, as well as the aforementioned rev-matching gizmo for the manual transmission. We would have to draw on our experience with Zs past and essentially work downward.

The star of the show is the 3.7-liter V6 engine. The VQ, and its EPA fuel economy estimates of 18 mpg city and 26 mpg highway on premium gas, is a bit of a throwback to the days when fuel costs weren't terribly important. Nothing throw-back-ish about the performance, though: The 370Z accelerates with a soulful wail that four-cylinder turbo engines just can't recreate. And while the fuel economy figures aren't stellar, they are honest; we saw right around 19 mpg in our day of driving.