For over 50 years, the Z has been Nissan’s charming, if slightly under-the-radar, answer to American muscle: a two-seat, V6-powered, rear-wheel-drive sports car with a sticker price targeting the Everyman. It’s a niche, for sure. When the Z is mentioned in a car-shopping scenario it’s often with an “oh yeah,” as in, “Oh yeah, I forgot about the Z.”
Spend some seat time in the heavily revised 2023 model and you won’t have that problem. It’s faster, more daily-drivable and better looking than the outgoing 370Z. Recently, a $53,610 ’23 Performance model showed up on my driveway. Within minutes, I had the Bridgestone tires barking, inadvertently, on a run to pick up a couple pies. Though Nissan designed the Z for track day use, wringing fun out of a mundane pizza run seems a more common-use case.
It turns out Tony C’s was hiring delivery drivers. I briefly considered a career change as I walked back to the parked, two-tone, passion-red-and-super-black Z, admiring its tasteful redesign. Nissan successfully dialed up the retro charm without turning the Z into a cartoon, with smooth moves like lengthening the hood by five inches, and creating a squared-away open grille, both callbacks to Datsun Z’s from the 1970s.
Those design elements aren’t just artifice. Both serve a new engine with more cooling and intercooling demands. The outgoing Z’s naturally aspirated 3.7-liter V6 engine has been replaced by a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 shared with a few fast Infinitis. Here it’s tweaked for the high-heat demands of track use. The new powerplant provides more juice: It boosts the Z’s output to 400 horsepower, up 68 from the outgoing Z. More power is available in a lower part of the band—peak torque comes from 1,600 RPM—hence the barking tires. My test model came with a nine-speed automatic. Choose a six-speed manual if you want to roll your own.
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