Nissan with the introduction of a redesigned Z sports car for 2023, and the company’s solution to the potential-sales-versus-development-dollars dilemma is to follow the same basic strategy it did with the recent redesigns of its
Frontier pickup truck and
Pathfinder midsize SUV: Instead of a clean-sheet, from-the-ground-up redesign, take the basic bones of the long-in-the-tooth previous-generation vehicle and give it a fresh powertrain, completely revamped styling, and a significant technology-feature upgrade.
The 2023 Nissan Z was unveiled in show-car form as the Z Proto
concept vehicle in mid-September 2020, and the production car’s styling
is carried over pretty much intact from the concept. Even though it was
widely speculated that the new Z car would be called 400Z, Nissan has
elected to do away with numerical prefixes—the name is just “Z” now. The
previous-generation Z car, the 370Z, debuted for the 2009 model year
and lasted through the 2020 model year with no major revisions. Twelve
years on the market is a long time for any vehicle, and by 2020 the 370Z
felt well behind the times in terms of technology features and overall
refinement. The Z car went on hiatus for the 2021 and 2022 model years,
but 2023 Z is scheduled to arrive in dealerships this summer.
To start, the new Z gets a serious horsepower upgrade over its
predecessor’s 332-horsepower 3.7-liter V6: It’s powered by a twin-turbo
3.0-liter V6, borrowed from Infiniti’s Q50 and Q60 Red Sport 400 models.
This engine puts out 400 horsepower at 6400 rpm and 350 lb-ft of torque
from 1600 to 5200 rpm, and offers the choice of a 6-speed manual
transmission or a 9-speed automatic. One of our favorite features on the
manual-transmission 370Z, the SynchroRev Match downshift rev-matching
system, is carried over to the new Z. It automatically blips the
throttle on downshifts for a smooth transition between gears, making
even novice drivers feel like heel-and-toe pros, and it can be turned
off if you’re an experienced driver who wants to heel and toe on your
own.