I was reminded again this past weekend that our long-term 2009 Nissan 370Z is a helluva sexy sportscar.
When I left the office Friday night it was already dark. As I left the parking garage I was greeted with a view similar to the above pic. The instruments are bathed in an orange-reddish light -- if it's too bright for you, turn it down with the rheostat.
The ambience is quite attractive -- and sexy (except for the Atari-inspired clock and fuel gauge.)
Adding to this feeling is that the car is low and that you're also sitting low -- damn near on the deck. As you accelerate and watch the HID lamps cast their eerie pattern, you feel like you're flying a UFO through traffic.
Is the BMW 135 a better all-around performer? Yup.
But all it takes is a night drive at speed in the 370Z to remind you that this isn't yet another two-door sedan.
Albert Austria, Senior Engineer @ 13,700 miles
arm51 says:
05:20 AM, 10/20/09
This is one of the things I love about my 328i, the orange\red LED ambiance lighting with the black interior makes is very cozy on a nighttime drive.
super_ongoy says:
06:45 AM, 10/20/09
Oh yeah that's nice. I would just sit in the car for a good minute or two after I get home just to stare at that as I do in my car once in awhile now, especially if I had a long day at work. Yep Bimmers do have a nice looking dash in dark but they don't little fancy gages like this.
rick8365 says:
08:52 AM, 10/20/09
Enjoyed the post - makes me wish I was the one behind the wheel.
stingray454 says:
01:54 PM, 10/20/09
Nice, but that funky yellow backlighting on the LCD display on the left gauge doesn't match any of the other backlighting in the car. Nissan seems to have a problem with mis-matched instrumentation lighting, as they did something similar with the GT-R with blue and orange.
hybris says:
02:33 PM, 10/20/09
The blue backlighting really does kill the look of the display at night.
SnakeDoctor says:
03:01 PM, 10/20/09
hybris -
The tach and speedo are actually backlit with white light, if that is to what you were referring. It photographed a little bluish, as you noted.
Thanks,
Albert
Rage0329 says:
03:37 PM, 10/20/09
Only thing that annoys me about the 370Z over the 350Z is the lack of a digital speedometer.
hybris says:
07:48 PM, 10/20/09
@SnakeDoctor Now that I'm looking on a better monitor at home rather than work I can see the difference.
Still white or blue it kills the look.
mjp16 says:
09:37 AM, 10/21/09
Looks sweet. I love it when automakers pay attention to their instrument lighting.
I wish Nissan would make its gauge cluster displays light text on black instead of black text on a bright orange background though. That's what I disliked most about my friend's Rogue--the bright orange circle smack in the middle of the gauges.
Oh, and I seriously doubt many modern cars still use rheostats to control brightness!
cr_driver says:
10:31 AM, 10/22/09
Well I have that red/orange lighting ambience and yet I dont drool over it. Well maybe now I should LOL. Yeah right..