The 350Z is my kind of car. Brutally powerful, butch and blisteringly fast.

So when Stuart Milne got his hands on the Nissan 350Z, hopes were high. After all, his 350Z had all the right ingredients - a sexy body, explosive performance… and a faulty alarm.

One of my abiding memories of my stewardship of a bright orange 350Z happened in a flash.

Stepping out of my front door to put the empty milk bottles out, I glanced up and on an eerily-still and cold night, the car looked achingly beautiful.

The sodium street lighting bounced off the car's curves – and it has plenty – it looked stunning.

If John Constable was around today, he wouldn't have bothered painting The Haywain - he would have set up his easel outside my front door.

It was one of those magical moments petrolheads get every now and then.

And then the alarm started going off. And didn't stop. For an hour.

Fortunately a quick call to Nissan revealed it was a glitch in the security system fitted at the dockside rather than the factory on the first batch of cars.

But that was the only fly an otherwise fast and noisy ointment.

The 350Z is my kind of car. Brutally powerful, butch and blisteringly fast.

Floor it in first gear and the revvy 3.5-litre V6 snarls and growls all the way around to its 7,500rpm redline. And you could do it in each of the remaining five gears if only it wouldn't launch the driver to Warp Nine.

The revised engine in my car produced 309bhp and dispatched 62mph in 5.5 seconds, before hitting an electronically-limited 155mph top speed. Without the limiter the top speed could well be on the sweaty side of 170mph.

That puts it virtually face to face with the final Skyline in performance terms – and that had a clever four-wheel drive system.

The 350Z has a wheelspin-reducing limited-slip differential and rear wheel drive, meaning turning off the ESP system is likely to result in a lengthy stay in A&E.

It’s a handful in the dry, making every corner a masterclass in heroics. But in the wet it’s pretty intimidating.

But that means whenever I took the car out, every nerve in my body was tingling with excitement.

I found myself making excuses to go on journeys I didn't need to, just to feel the surge of power and hear the roar of the engine.

Drawbacks? There were a couple, mainly the bootspace (none) and the road noise (lots).

But at less than £30,000 for the standard car, its huge value for money. I've not driven the new TT, but I think I'd struggle to find as much character in the Audi's engine, gearbox, styling or general demeanour.

Only the RX-8 has a heart so big - and that's mainly to do with its crazy rotary engine.

The 350Z is a lot of car for the money, especially as discounts of around £5,000 are available if you look hard, while used examples are coming in for less than £11,000.

Search for a used Nissan 350z now.

L.A.T.W.O.T. Video of the Week

Recreating the lunacy that was C'etait un Rendezvous, a short film featuring a nutter in a Ferrari racing through Paris at 140mph, Nissan took the 350Z to the streets of Prague. Don't try this at home…

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