The front suspension uses a double wishbone design, while the rear has a multi-link setup. There are new monotube shocks, and the performance cars we took on the street and track get larger 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels and telescopic tires instead of the 18-inch alloy wheels and square tires.
The Z is a stable ride vehicle that lets you know when the pavement is less than perfect, but the smoother roads in southern Nevada prevented getting a clear picture of how taut ride quality translates to potholed roads. We see her regularly near Cars.com’s headquarters in Chicago. We’ll know more when we test one closer home, but the solid tuning made for a fun-to-driving car that felt right at home on the winding desert roads outside of Las Vegas. Although the roads we drove were pothole-free, they weren’t completely smooth, and the result was a lot of road noise in the cabin at moderate speeds.
Nissan did some follow-up courses on the road track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway complex, and it was fun at this venue. There is noticeable but not excessive body roll when cornering in tight turns at speed, and the vehicle stays on the line you set. The ability of the automatic transmission Z is also shown here, with the car adding speed quickly. Other than the upgraded brake pads, Nissan said cars on the road track were stocked.
Interior repaired
The cabin has an all-new design that includes more technical features. Sport trims come with an 8-inch dashboard touchscreen that features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for smartphone connectivity, while the Performance variant has a larger 9-inch screen and adds navigation. Both models have a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel that replaces the previous car’s analog instruments. However, some design elements have been carried over, such as the three-gauge pod above the dashboard and the circular air vents in the doors.
Despite the new design, the Z’s interior looks familiar, with sight lines and driving position similar to the 370Z. I’m about 6 feet tall, and while there wasn’t a lot of extra room in the cabin, I didn’t feel cramped or claustrophobic either. The steering wheel now had telescopes in addition to the tilt, making it easy to customize the driving position to your liking, and I had enough head and leg room.
I particularly like the Z sports seats. The seats on the Sport model have cloth upholstery and manual adjustments, while the Performance model gets leather trim, seat heaters, power adjustments, and various side bolsters. Both the cloth and leather seats have large suede-style inserts that firmly grip your butt and do a good job of keeping you from slipping into the seat — even on the track.
Storage areas include pockets in the doors and corners behind the seats. The revised center console now also includes a second cup holder. Raising the rear hatch reveals a suitable cargo space.
Safety and driver assistance features
Standard safety features include forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot warning with rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high-beam headlights.
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Should you buy a Nissan Z?
With a starting price of around $41,000 (all prices including destination), the 2023 Z offers plenty of driving fun for the money, and the price is the same whether you get a six-speed manual or a nine-speed automatic.
However, advancing to the performance limit brings a significant price increase of $10,000: This model costs $51,015. That’s still less than the base price of the six-cylinder Supra, but the extra $10,000 seems to be a lot of money for the performance model’s extra features. In addition to the aforementioned upgrades, the Performance model has larger brake rotors, larger brake calipers, a mechanical limited-slip differential, a front and rear spoiler, and premium Bose stereo.
For some shoppers, the available manual transmission in the Z could have tipped the scales in their favour compared to the Supra, but Toyota’s high-performance sports car will also offer manual start on the 2023 models.
While both sports cars are powerful and have an impressive performance-oriented automatic transmission, I would have chosen the Z because it felt more consistent overall in the track environment, the interior fits me better, and I prefer its design. Overall, the Z is more fun to drive, and with these cars, that’s the most important.
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