DEARLY BELOVED; Saying goodbye to the Nissan 350Z.(News)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: natalie neff

With heavy hearts and deep regret we bid our fair Nissan 350Z adieu: heavy hearts that our time together has come so quickly to a close, and regret that we did not-could not-effectively maximize our time with its Daytona Blue aspect.

And yet we should not be sad, as adventures await our dear 350Z. It leaves our nest to search for new companions and a new home.

Our journey together took us 23,326 miles down this road we call life. We bask-ed in the glory of the summer sun and drudged our way through a discontented winter, never once sorry for the 350Z's company. And it pleased everyone who turned an eye its way, it seems. Everywhere, jaws dropped and people flocked, and many, many rides-to friends, family and strangers alike-were proffered in return.

Sure, we flirted with prettier faces along the way, and danced with some more fleet of foot. That Ferrari 360 Modena-in which the most rabid 350Z proponent in the office disappeared for hours-comes immediate- ly to mind, or that Porsche GT3, for which the same staffer said he would sell his soul. But those dalliances were brief (though glorious) interludes in our yearlong romance with the Nissan.

For one thing, our 350Z Track model cost but a fraction of those others, its $35,633 price tag making it one of the biggest bang-for-the-buck cars to be had. The cash it takes to buy one GT3, for example, will get you three and one-third Zs-and we'd argue the GT3 isn't three and one-third times the fun (well, perhaps three). Even as we welcome the Mazda RX-8, with its closely matched sticker and similar sporting intentions, to our long-term fleet, it can't replace the Nissan, just distract us from our loss.

The Z also bore well the unfortunate reality of having to share us with others. Other long-term vehicles occupied much of our attention, from the Mini Cooper S (21,140 miles) to the Honda Element (18,377), and though we turned to each of them to fulfill various needs, the Nissan still managed to eke more of our attention-though not nearly as much as past long-termers. In fact, the Nissan falls in the bottom half of our long-term list based on miles tallied in one year. Such is the extent of our regret, that we failed to ply it with yet more of our love.