Nissan’s New Z Is a Well-Balanced Two-Seater

But, of course, the new Z is a much more sophisticated car than the iconic 240. Although it has attractive styling cues to the early 350 and 370Z, the Z is all new this year. Under the hood is a three-liter aluminum twin-turbo V-6 producing 400 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, up 68 horsepower from the 370Z. It’s connected to an eight-speed manual with a high-performance Exedy clutch and launch control. On tap there’s more than double the power of that 1971 240Z’s 2.4-liter six—it had 150 horsepower and 146 pound-feet. Zero to 60 in under nine seconds was worth boasting about in 1971, but the Z covers the ground in exactly half the time—4.5 seconds. 

Yes, the new rear-wheel-drive car feels very fast, and just leaps forward—but then, most new cars are like that, especially the electrics. It’s become a race, with the fastest vehicles (Rimac Nevera, Tesla Model S Plaid Edition) able to get to 60 in less than two seconds. And it’s something of a parlor trick. What’s important is the car’s overall balance, and the way it feels when you’re not pretending to be a race driver. Another two-seat sports car, the Mazda Miata, has long gotten that balance thing right. The Z (long an upmarket Miata competitor) isn’t the fastest entrant on paper, but it gets good overall marks for handling (though the suspension is fairly stiff). 

“More than just powerful and agile, the 2023 Z is designed to be one with the driver for all kinds of on-road adventures,” said Hiroshi Tamura, the chief product specialist for the Z. Fair enough. But before you can release adrenaline behind the wheel of the Z you have to get into it, and a steady diet of high-off-the-ground SUVs leaves the test driver unprepared for the super-low stance of the Z. You drop down into it, and when behind Chevy Suburbans it feels like the windshield is even with their rear bumper. Getting out is a bit of a contortionist’s trick, though owners will quickly figure out a procedure. 

Although a nine-speed automatic is available, the Z is one of a dying breed of cars that still offers a manual. This one is a lot of fun, once you figure out the trick to get into reverse (push down). A minor irritation is the relatively close spacing of the pedals—a much bigger problem in the vintage British sports cars that were off limits to people with big feet. 

The Performance is the middle trim for the Z, and it’s topped by the US$55,085 Proto Spec. Performance grade gets you plenty of add-ons, including a mechanical limited-slip differential, performance disc brakes with red calipers, 19-inch lightweight Rays forged alloy wheels, a tuned suspension, and four-way power heated seats with leather and synthetic suede inserts. 

From a position close to the road, the driver looks out at a digital 12.3-inch display, complementing a nine-inch touchscreen hosting the navigation. Nissan deserves credit for using the available real estate (both in pods and as part of the display) to fully inform the driver as to what’s going on—not just with water temperature, speedometer, and tachometer, but voltage, engine oil temperature plus pressure, turbo boost, and even the differential oil temp. There’s plenty of neat customization possible. There’s an upshift indicator light, and you can set it to come on in a range between 5,200 and 8,500 rpm. It’s hard not to imagine that the latter setting isn’t asking for trouble. The meter screen has three different views. 

The stereo is a decent-enough eight-speaker Bose unit. Storage isn’t a central concern for sports car buyers, who tend to use their vehicles more for fun than serious work. But the hatchback on the Z lifts on a wide but shallow space that will accommodate that weekend getaway. There is a deep central bin and door pockets. But use the SUV to haul your bicycles. 

The fuel economy in this performance version of the Z isn’t great, 20 mpg combined (18 in the city and 24 on the highway). Reversing the usual trend and another nail in the manual’s coffin is the fact that the automatic version is better on gas—19 miles per gallon in town and 28 on the freeway. Cars, thanks to all the new features, have been gaining weight lately, and the Z hits the scales at 3,519 pounds. Remember that classic 1971 240Z? Just 2,301 pounds. 

The Z has a serious, quality feel to it. It feels like it was built by people who are passionate about performance. Competitors include the BMW Z4 (255 horsepower), the Porsche Cayman (300 horsepower), the three-liter Toyota GR Supra (382 horsepower), and the Audi TTS (228 horsepower).

If one of these works for you, great. But sports cars are a tiny niche in the U.S. market now, 1.5%, with just 240,000 sales projected by 2027, reflecting minor growth. More than 70%of sales is in a subset—muscle cars, specifically the Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger, and Chevrolets Camaro and Corvette.