Nissan 370Z

''What a cute butt!"

Turning around to look, we had to agree, it was a cute butt. Soft and round but still muscular and altogether very purposeful-looking. We smiled.

Our 370Z roadster test car sat outside the bagel shop, on full display through the large plate-glass window. Passersby paused to look, sipping their morning coffees, admiring its wide rear stance, the curvature of the trunk line where it hugs the wheel flares, the dual rear cowls tucked in behind the fixed roll hoops--less mechanized and cold than its predecessor overall and entirely more sensuous in effect. We'd like to think that we brightened a few folks' mornings. Or, rather, that the car did.

Just a year after the 370Z coupe supplanted the fantastic 350Z, the roadster is set to do the same this September. And while it largely carries over the mechanicals from the coupe, the roadster has its own styling--and lifestyle--statements to make.

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