Nissan 370Z

Executing a perfectly smooth downshift in a manual car is almost like making a hole-in-on in golf or scoring a perfect 300 bowling game - often aspired to but usually elusive.

At least you don't need extraordinary physical attributes for those sports. Operating all the pedals in a manual car at the same time - which you need to do if you want to blip the throttle while braking - is always going to be a challenge if you weren't born with three feet.

Nissan has come up with a wonderful solution in the manual 370Z, called SynchroRev Match. This automatically blips the throttle when you shift down, which completely eliminates drivetrain backlash when the clutch pedal is released. Sounds complex, but it works brilliantly.

You feel like a driving demi-god every time you go through the gears, and there's never a worry that you'll mismatch the revs and unsettle the car.

The rest if the 370Z isn't half bad either. While the car is smaller and tauter than the 350Z it replaces, is still serves up old-school brawn rather than the edgier feel of, say, an Audi TT.

The 333 bhp engine has deep reseves of power through the range and though the car's chassis doesn't feel that crisp initially, it's astonishing balance quickly becomes evident as you push harder.

The 370Z is a driver's car through and through. As long as you can stomach the road tax bills, it's currently one of the biggest bargains in the world of sports coupes.

Nissan 370Z Photo Gallery