Kats, I don't know if you ever got your answers cause I got tired of reading through all these long-winded replies that didn't address your questions, sorry. I see lots of replies that don't even address Kats when he asks a question.
So let me try to answer you. I was 11 when my father purchased his new 1971 Datsun 510. Of course I had never heard of Datsun, it probably had no affect on me at that age. But I'll say this, my father is a German immigrant to the US. He went down to the Volkswagen dealer and looked at their cars first. Get the picture? But he said they were overpriced and arrogant. He later went to a Datsun dealer and paid $1995 for a 510 4-dr sedan plus $495 for the air conditioning. He loved that car and so did I. We went on many long trips in it. He could tell right away that it had some features similar to the BMW 1600. It was easy to work on and great quality. He always praised that car. I got to have it later in college (1977) and made some improvements on the interior. It only had one rust spot on it when ....well when I totalled it in an accident. Anyway, I was very disappointed when Nissan decided to get rid of Datsun. That was long before I knew about Mr K or owned my Z. I believed a lot of the myths you've dispelled here. I also have a degree in management and know exactly who to blame for a lot of Nissan's problems. Some morons at the top made some very fundamentally stupid decisions. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Nissan president did let his emotions get the best of him because of his hatred of Mr. K. They let the Z grow, until many could not afford it. Also if I remember correctly, at the same time that Nissan got rid of Datsun is when they had many of their biggest quality issues. Someone mentioned some of the uglier Datsuns, and forgot the F-10. Anyway, maybe the Z was a combination of Mr K and low cost choices, but something magical arose from it anyhow. I don't have a problem with the ergonomics of my Z. I have tons of leg room, something I can't say about the 350Z. You tell your Japanese friends that Datsun helped dispell the notion that things from Japan were cheap and low quality. That was the opinion in those days, but the Datsun car proved their quality was as good as it is today. My 510 was a tough, reliable car. I hadn't started my Z for over a year, and then it started up in 5 minutes. Talk about reliability. I hope that helps you get some of the insight you were looking for.
By the way, your english is awesome and don't you ever forget it. I speak Japanese as well as my dog, so don't you ever apologize for your English. Don't ever leave, I've been hoping for someone like you for years. We've needed someone on the other side of the water to help us understand the real story. Carl Beck has down about as good a job as any from here could.