Early Design Decisions for the 350z

[Husky]

Time for some wild speculation on the origins of the 350z.

 

I was considering the 350z design choices and why certain parts are the way they are, I've been considering the way automatoive manufacturers change the directrion of vehicles as they are designed; the resulting vehicle may not be what was originally planned out.

 

The engine strut brace: This guy is clearly an add on at a later stage. To comply with pedestrian impact regulations, the brace has to be a certain gap from the bonnet, it also has to be a distance from the engine to not collide. In order to squeeze it in the gap and retain the thickness needed for the correct stiffness, the front of the plenum had to be lowered, slightly starving the front cylinders. This is how we know it was a late decision. So at some point, someone decided that the car was sloppy enough that losing a small amount of power was worth the stiffness. Also bear in mind that the bar isn't a light weight item; adding that much weight to the vehicle especially higher up is a big deal.

 

Rear strut brace. The big huge bit that gets in the way of you transporting your golf bags. They dressed it up to look pretty, but I really think this is a later addition. Again, they needed the stiffness and the original chassis didn't have what they wanted. The decision was made to whack this big thing across there to stiffen it up.

 

The massive empty space. Behind the seats there are some cavernous holes, it's a massive space just going to waste that seems an odd thing to add in, again I think this is something that came later after a redesign.

 

Infiniti G35 coupe. This guy is a 350z with rear seats and this is what I believe the 350z was originally destined to be: A 4 seat, 3.5L sporty coupe.

 

So my theory is that the original design intent was that it would be the 4 seat vehicle, after the chassis had been designed and they got quite far down the line in design, they made a hard call that a sporty 2 seater would be a better sell. Perhaps this decision was lead by competitors, it usually is. At this stage they didn't want to scrap the 4 seat version they had already worked on, so they moved it to their sister company, Infiniti. They then took the car out and figured out what would be needed to make it sporty enough to compete in the 2 seater market. They removed the back seats, added metal across where they were, they then added a big strut brace across the back and the engine strut brace across the front. They removed the big plastic engine cover the G35 has and left the plenum bare with a minimal engine dress so they could fit the brace.

 

TL;DR: I think the 350z was originally going to be a 4 seater, a late design change split into the G35 coupe and the 350z, 4 and 2 seaters respectively.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Husky

[HaydnH]

Or they could've been saving money and using the same car platform (chassis, ish) as the 4 seater? Google Nissan FM Platform.

[Husky]

Yeah, so they had the 4 seater design and somewhere down the line converted it into a 2 seater, the 350z is a 4 seater design at heart that's been modified. It wasn't initially designed to have 2 seats or a much stiffness as it currently does.

[HaydnH]

Yeah, so they had the 4 seater design and somewhere down the line converted it into a 2 seater, the 350z is a 4 seater design at heart that's been modified. It wasn't initially designed to have 2 seats or a much stiffness as it currently does.

 

The Stagea, Q50 and Q70 use the same FM platform... so technically you could say the 350/370Z is an estate or an SUV underneath.

[JetSet]

I often wonder at what stage in the design did they think about the roadster.

 

Pete

[coldel]

Having looked into Darrens 240z its amazing how much of it matches up - from the struts, to where the braces would go - with the boot open looking in you could be forgiven for squinting and thinking you are looking at a 350z interior make up.

[Husky]

Yeah, so they had the 4 seater design and somewhere down the line converted it into a 2 seater, the 350z is a 4 seater design at heart that's been modified. It wasn't initially designed to have 2 seats or a much stiffness as it currently does.

 

The Stagea, Q50 and Q70 use the same FM platform... so technically you could say the 350/370Z is an estate or an SUV underneath.

Indeed, it just shows that it's not purpose built like, say an S2000 is as a 2 seat sports car. Likely explains the weight!