2023 Nissan Z Review _ Born for the back roads!

If you're like me and you live in New England, you cherish the summer because it's sports car season. I'm kicking it off today with the 2023 Nissan Z. Quite honestly, this is everything I was hoping for. Rear wheel drive, big turbo power up front, only two seats, great sound and a great looking car. It's fully loaded as you see it here for $53,000. You could be fully loaded if you sell your car on CarGurus. In minutes, you can get a cash offer from dealers nationwide. They'll pick up your car and pay you. This is the first new Z in 13 years. Technically, the Z is partially new. It shares the chassis and basic structure of the 370Z from 2009. That Z was a milder update of the 350Z from 2003. Hey, what works, works. Nissan engineers have a great platform, but the designers, they made something so familiar look so different. The Z starts with excellent proportions. There's a long hood, a low shoulder line. The seats are way back toward the rear axle, and it's got a very short tail. Now, it combines elements from past Zs. The front is like a 240Z, the original. The side, very much like the 350 and 370Zs. And the back is most like the 300ZX. But combined, this is a shape that you're always going to remember and you better like it because for probably the next 10 years, it'll look like this. And you're not allowed to call it 400Z. The Z badge is here on the side. That's like the original Z, but Nissan just calls it Z. There's no other number. Now, when you look up here, I love these headlights. They're like footballs. The way the LEDs go underneath and over the headlights, they're disconnected. And the front, well, aside from this nice bulge on the hood and the way it creases down, it goes all the way vertical with these nice hash design. That's also like the first 240Z. Now, this one is the performance trim, so you see the upgraded brakes here and these 19-inch forged wheels made by Ray's. The whole car, especially in this blue paint, is really a looker. Back here, this is some of the cleanest, simplest, most classic lines I've seen on a new car. And when you get something like the Z, you know this is going to last for years and still look good. I love these lights. They're really thin. They remind me of oven filaments, like on an electric stove. They're also really, really bright. And they're nicely offset by all this black trim that surrounds it. Goes with the black trim and all the black glass here on the top of the hatch. If you look down, and you should, you'll see big silver exhaust tips because this Z runs on gasoline. The benefit of only having two seats and no rear seat is a very big hatch. I like that the release is just underneath that Nissan logo, nice and hidden. And it's kind of shallow in here, but it's wide, it's long, it's easy to put groceries or pack a whole weekend trip. Not only is this rear fender beautiful, it houses the largest fuel filler door I have ever seen. Take that, Supra. The Smurfs, all of them that gave their precious lives for this interior. I mean, really, have you ever seen a color combo like this outside of a McLaren or a custom Porsche? This is made by Nissan, the company that sells Altimas by the barrel that you can find at any rental lot across the country. I've never seen them do anything like this. Like the frame underneath, the interior has the same bones as the old Zs. There's air vents in the doors, the same upper door panels, and these tiny little lock buttons in the door handles. I actually like how this all looks. Now, the seats are a little weirder. They're half manual and they're half powered with buttons on the inner part of both seats. There's also some old switches like for the heated seats that you don't even see on any new Nissan anymore. Now, I say all this just to tell you that there's a lot of carryover parts on the Z, but that doesn't bug me, not really at all, because it feels good in here. The seats are supportive as they are. There's no adjustable side bolstering, but they feel great to me. All this leather and the faux suede on the doors, it feels rich. You don't have to like the color, but you will like the quality. The Z is a modern coupe, so it has a modern touchscreen, but you also have these three analog gauges up here, kind of like your Vin Diesel and Fast and the Furious. That's kind of neat. There's no NOS system, if you're asking, but you do see the turbo speed, your boost and the voltmeter. But to be honest, the Z accelerates so quickly that you don't want to be paying attention to this at all. The steering wheel is so thin, very retro. It's got all new controls that feel upscale. It's pretty snug inside here, but unlike the Toyota Supra, it's not claustrophobic. And even though the window cut line is angled similar to the Supra's, well, I can see out of it. There's a lot of headroom and there's a lot of visibility out the rear. Then you see the digital instrument panel with a special sport mode. It's got everything you need that other sports cars never show you, like the rear differential oil. Now, this screen is shared with other Nissans, but this sport mode is Z exclusive. And I like all the animations and how easy it is to use and to read. There's no semi-automated driving, no moonroof, no special cameras. It's all basic and simple, because to be honest, who wants all that when you can do this? Here's the good part. The Z has 400 horsepower and 350 pound feet of torque at 1600 RPM. So right off the line, this car, well, it's quick. And you hear the turbos whooshing up, not so much the hiss, but just the air induction on this engine. It's three liters, two turbos. It's the same V6 that you'll find in the Infiniti Q60 or the Q50 when you get the red sport versions of those cars. But both of those cars cost a whole lot more than this. So all these nice sounds you're hearing, that is the sport exhaust. But it's only available if you get the nine-speed automatic. It's kind of weird. If you get the six-speed, it's quieter. Why is that? Well, there are laws out there that call drive-by noise, and in states like California, they enforce it pretty harshly. Porsche couldn't sell their new 911 GT3 until they settled with the state. They had to fix the car. It was kind of crazy. The manual transmission cars have to be running at this test, apparently at full throttle in a lower gear. So they're always going to sound louder than an automatic. That apparently is the new state of the world that we live in. But Nissan has a sport Nismo muffler that you can buy after the fact. And believe me, there'll be plenty of aftermarket alternatives. But as it stands, I really do like the way this automatic sounds. And this automatic is decent, especially from third to fourth to fifth. The gear changes are pretty snappy, and it rev matches on the downshifts really nicely. But here's also the thing. So if I drop this back into D, because I was in manual mode, it really wants to upshift early and just stays there. So right now, it's just under 2000 RPM. You put your foot down. Response is good, but then you take your foot off just a little bit. It's all the way back down. Now, in most cars, when you have sport mode engaged, as I do now, it holds the revs for just a little while longer, but the Z just settles down like you don't want to move anymore. That's a bit frustrating. So the best way to do that is to drop this gear selector into M and just use these paddle shifters because they are from the Nissan GTR. So if you don't like paddles, you can get the six-speed manual. I love that there's a six-speed manual in this car. There are so many other sports cars like BMWs that don't have them. This one does, and it's no cost. And just like Nissan did many years ago with that really innovative feature that no one had, automatic rev matching on the downshifts, this one still has it. Nissan was the first, and the Z for a long time was the only car that did that. It really makes your downshifts and all your shifts that much smoother. As you'd expect, the chassis is pretty balanced. Now it does have some more weight on the nose than the Toyota Supra. It's a big V6 engine in the front of this. There's no getting around it, but overall it's pretty balanced. It feels good on a back road, low center of gravity, only two seats. It's a sports car, so all the elements are there. Nissan's been making this for so long, they know how to make the Z handle. It does a good job. Suspension is also really nicely tuned, and there's not adaptive dampers. There's really no trick anything going on except a limited slip rear differential. That's it. So it's really just elemental and back to basics, and just about everything is pretty perfect with it. I don't have as much road feel as I'd like through this steering wheel. That's really the only thing that kind of keeps me from fully realizing how much grip is on those front tires. But when you push it, and sometimes it does step out, it still feels really controllable. It's just balanced. I'll keep using that word balanced because that's what you really want in a rear wheel drive sports car. You don't have to have all-wheel drive to have fun. You really don't. This one's lighter. It's roughly 3,500 pounds, so yeah, that's a bit heavier than past Z models, but considering what the weight is on a lot of modern sports cars, it's just fun. To me, sports cars like this are why you drive on roads like this. We're just on a nice little country two-lane road. It's just so enjoyable. You don't have to be going super fast, but you hear that engine. It's in a low gear. The brakes feel good, mostly. Actually, the brakes do surprise me a little bit with how soft and long the pedal travel is. So if I come to a stop right now, it's good, but I would expect a little firmer bite. But I will give an excuse to these brakes because this car's got 5,000 miles on it. It's a pre-production car, and very likely other journalists other than myself have been hammering this car hard. So the pads may not be fully worn in properly. It just might be cooked. The whole system might not be what you'll experience on the production car. So until we get behind the wheel of another Z and confirm how those brakes feel, I would just say the jury's out. I mean, how many other cars are really like the new Z? You got the Toyota Supra, BMW M240i. You can get into a Mustang or a Camaro, but it's not like you have like two dozen choices. You can count them on just over one hand. This is fun. This is truly fun. A car like this really excites all your senses. And yeah, I know that the Teslas and a lot of other electric performance cars could outrun it. Yeah, I know. But they don't look like this, and they don't sound like this. Right there, kind of steps out a little bit. That's really more of a traction issue than anything else. But again, car balances itself perfectly, rides itself straight. That's what you want in a sports car. Nothing better than that. Well, I mean, there are better things, but for 50k? When we filmed this video, Nissan was still deciding how much the Z should cost. So here's our estimates and any final numbers if we have them. My test car cost $53,210 fully loaded. That's for the performance trim, the special paint, the electric blue interior, and the floor mats. A base Z costs so much less than a six-cylinder Toyota Supra or the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport. With options, a BMW M240i costs the same as my Z, and that BMW is a very good car. Or you could get a loaded V8 muscle car like a Camaro LT1 or a Mustang GT. The Z is not quite as affordable as it was, but just like it's always been, the Z stands for fun and value. Nissan has a formula, and I'm glad they're sticking to it. When you can go out and buy brand new a rear-wheel drive V6 coupe with a manual, that really speaks to me. I love this car. Now, it's not entirely all new, and that automatic transmission could use some reprogramming in the sport mode, but given all of this classic style and the speed, I'm loving the Z. But what do you guys think? Go to CarGurus.com for more, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and keep watching because we're going to pit this Z, or something like it, against one of its competitors. I think you could guess which one. See you next time.