Fun in the Z car

The Nissan Nismo Z is the latest in a long line of the famous Z car mark. Originating with the Fairlady Z back in 1969 – called the Datsun 240Z outside Japan. The Z car was Nissan’s two door RWD sports car. Always fun and occasionally fierce make for a tuner’s favorite. Yet from 1989 it lived in the shadow of the incredible GT-R. With the R 35 edition of that supercar retiring as of last year, the Z car is now Nissan’s only sports car.

The Z always had a striking design, although the designs of the 1990s got slabby and less attractive. But as the sole sports car in Nissan’s lineup, Z has had a lot of attention from the designers pen and the latest iteration looks great. Many aspects are downright handsome. Most who saw it didn’t always know what it was. They always guessed that it was some rather more expensive European model. That said, it looks more ‘clean’ than ‘wild’ that you might expect from a Japanese Halo car, and I expect that there will be plenty of modification on the aftermarket,

It’s a reassuringly Japanese go-fast interior. Well executed, efficient and effective without bothering luxury. It’s a return to the glory days of the 1990s – when Japanese cars ruled the roost in bang for buck. 
A couple of things came to my attention that I appreciated plastics. Yes, but quality plastics throughout, there’s a leather like material in certain areas and Alcantara on the door panels, and partly on the steering wheel. A red 12 o’clock index on the steering wheel is a nice touch as is the engine start stop button and drive mode selector – although these are strangely located. 
Oh, and it’s got a real handbrake – bonus!

Three performance gauges spice things up with Volts, turbo RPM, and boost, pointed straight at the driver. It’s a good addition. Being Japanese, the whole car is functionally excellent. and it’s grounded. 
It doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. Being a two door coupe, it isn’t aimed at practicality, but you do get a couple of drinks holders and an excellent Bose stereo and wired phone integration. Recaro seats remind me of 1990s fast 4s, manually adjustable, very comfortable. Air-conditioning is manual and really effective. fan speed, temperature, direction, fresh or recirculating, real buttons, just about everything you do on the car uses buttons. 
All I want to screen for is navigation and media, and it does that well. If tech is your thing, then it’s got warnings sensors and a variety of driver assistance and safety functions. The voice assistant couldn’t do much for me. I bet if you spend a bit of time, it would be no problem. Maybe it didn’t like my accent. Also the screen OS was a little dated. Typically in a car like this, tech is not the reason you buy it: You know you’re in a car with real potential when one of the most prominent buttons is to turn off traction control. Well played Nissan. While it is a 2 door, there is actually an enormous amount of space. Under the rear hatch. 
And on my trip away, there was oodles of room. It would easily accommodate a week away for two people. Probably including a couple of helmets.

The driving experience is engaging although there’s quite a bit of road noise. It’s compact: small dimensions mean it’s a joy for driving in just about any situation. The steering is accurate without being too aggressive : 
It pivots easily while the back is predictable.. The suspension is not adaptive, but it is set up well. Exterior looks, it’s got lovely 19” Nismo wheels, but thankfully aren’t too massive with 255/40R19 tires on the front and 285/35/R19 tires on the rear. 
Dunlop SPORT MAXX are not a tyre i’ve tried before but they seem to suit the car.

The engine is a V6 3.0L. You might’ve thought it was tempting to use the 3.5 from the GTR, but the brand have kept to their lineage here. Nissan are masters with a V6 and the engine in this Nismo sounds lovely. The tuned exhaust is superb with handsome exhaust tips. 
And it feels like an old school turbo with a little bit of lag and a wild top end, surprisingly rewarding to drive and delivers a reported 4.2 second 0-100 sprint. This engine is a honey. It revs sweetly with a sonorous how you just want to hear more of. The nine speed auto. does a good job of delivering the power to the back wheels, and its close ratio nature was ideal for windy roads with lots of stop start. 
I did feel that the engine while it was good, it probably had a lot more headroom on it. The redline is indicated at 7000 But I’m fairly confident that tuners would run it much higher.

The ICE generates 309 kW at 6,400 rpm and maintains a flat torque plateau of 520 Nm between 2,000 and 5,200 rpm. This drives a curb weight of 1,680 kg which is rather more that I was expecting. I want it down a few hundred KG. That mass presents a physics challenge for the suspension during hard cornering, though the broad torque spread ensures driveability throughout the rev range.

We had no issues with traction, and overall the Dunlops were good. However, the performance handling was rather less than we were hoping for. We pushed the car to its limits, and we found them with the handling. Despite the strong strut reinforcement behind the driver, and across the front engine uprights, the body did not feel as strong as it needed to be. And the suspension seemed a little lost when we pushed it hard. 
The front end managed very well, but under load, the rear did not hold up: there was a diving when the rear got overloaded. Up until this point, it was a very tasty little sports car. 
There’s such a letdown, what is otherwise a brilliant engine? I put this down to the weight distribution of 53% front. So this is No Skyline, yet I think for most owners, they won’t get it to that point, On gravel, the back end would easily break away if you pushed it, even when the understated traction control was on. but it was never a surprise and driving sensibly, I didn’t experience any understeer. But this car isn’t built for gravel. It’s for curvy, twisty roads.

With all that front end this would make a great drift car – 
I have no doubt. Japanese engines always give a huge headroom for modification. And while the wheel arches can’t take a massive wheel, the ones that are on it are pretty good already. 
So people who are gonna like this are those that want that genuine sports car formula. It’s not the car you have if you’ve got kids. But it’s a ton of fun. 
And don’t get me wrong, suspension was good, but not up to the capability of the rest of the car. You just accommodate for it.

Overall
I almost loved the whole package. I loved the engine and the sound. Every time I got out I wanted to get back in. That doesn’t always happen. Sometimes cars are fast and all that, but they leave you feeling numb. Not this – it’s a lovely machine – one of my first picks for interesting roads. And it was only when I pushed it hard that its negative handling characteristics appeared, by which time it was performing better than most cars with a significantly higher price tag. A good test for me for a car is whether I want to keep it or get the next one or go back to my car. I always enjoyed this one. I wanted to hang onto it all summer.

This 2024 model year Nismo Z is $108,500

A non Nismo Z is available from $89,990 and you can get a 6 spd manual!

ORCs apply.