Has Nissan finally made a worthy Z-car with the Z Nismo?

Power Boost and Sporty Upgrades

We’ll get into those specifics in a minute, but first let’s talk about the things we liked about the sportiest version of the current Z. The Nismo package adds 20 horsepower and 34 lb.-ft. of torque to the 400 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. found in the standard Z while also fitting Recaro seats; Nismo-specific springs, shocks and anti-roll bars; sticky 200tw Dunlop rubber; and some exterior flourishes that turn the otherwise somewhat mundane base Z into a real looker.

The Z Nismo’s red brake calipers might not help performance–the same parts can be found on the standard Z–but here they’re paired with 15-inch rotors instead of the 14-inch pieces found otherwise. Rear rotors are 13.8 inches in both the Nismo and Performance trims.

The $13,000 Nismo package also includes forged 19-inch Rays wheels–half an inch wider than the standard car’s Performance package, so 10-inch fronts and 10.5-inch rears. The factory Dunlop Sport Maxx tires may not be in the same league as the Bridgestone RE-71RS or Yokohama A052, but when combined with the revised suspension, they help deliver a responsive and mostly predictable platform. We’ll address that ominous “mostly” qualifier shortly as well.

So the performance upgrades–including the additional power and torque coming mostly from revised turbo tuning–are significant, but we’ll also happily shout out the upgraded looks. When the new Z first dropped, we felt it was too much of a simple evolution of the 350Z/370Z styling. 

The Nismo upgrades, including the 240Z-throwback G-nose, give the whole package a far more unified and aggressive look. More than any car we’ve sampled recently, this one was responsible for a lot of gas station interactions, both from folks who recognized it and those just curious.

A Mixed Bag on Track

Unfortunately for those fascinated onlookers, we had to tell them that the lap times and data charts simply weren’t up to Nissan’s hopes and dreams. While the Nismo felt a lot better than the standard car, the track data, sadly, doesn’t quite add up to a win.

First, though, the good: The Z Nismo–which only comes equipped with a nine-speed automatic–pulls harder than the six-speed-manual Z Performance down every straight. The Z Nismo also corners faster, with the bigger gains coming in long sweepers. The Z Nismo hung 3 seconds on the base Z, posting a 1:20.47 best lap of the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park.

And that’s not a bad time. It’s pretty good, even–for something like a Civic Type R, Golf R or GR Corolla. 

But it pales against the 1:17.85 we turned in a manual-transmission Supra–and also doesn’t touch the automatic Supra’s 1:19.59. The Toyota’s 3.0-liter, BMW-sourced straight-six that is almost certainly underrated at 387 horsepower just flat bodies the Z down every straight. 

1. Right from the first big acceleration zone, we can see the Supra (blue trace) out-accelerating the Z Nismo (red trace) north of about 70 mph. 2. While the Supra usually outruns the Z in the turns, the Nissan does a great job in the tricky entry to the FIRM’s Turn 8. The Z also displays excellent mid-corner speed here. Those sticky Dunlops get it done through T8 as well. 3. The Supra again outdrags the Z, raising red flags in the process: The traces look to separate earlier than before, and the Z seems to lag ever further behind here compared to the other straights. Has the hot lap taken its toll on intake temps, causing the Z to pull more power later in the lap as heat increases?

Turn-in speeds also favor the Supra in most cases, which is due to the Z’s most glaring handling issue: some vagueness when turning in. In all other phases of cornering–particularly steady-state extended loads–the Z feels stable and gives the driver excellent feedback. Corner exit, as well, is easily managed between the responsive engine and excellent chassis. 

But something weird happens when you initiate turn-in: The front goes a bit numb, and there’s a moment of dead space before it builds grip and starts to take a set as it heads toward the apex. This clearly hurts entry speeds, particularly on the FIRM’s squarer corners.

On more gradual turns, though, like the FIRM’s Turn 8, the Z actually exceeded the Supra’s turn-in speed. Call that a mark of its sticky tires and good overall balance. It didn’t feel great while doing it, but fortunately there’s enough feedback from the rest of the chassis where it’s manageable.

But maybe the most damning comparison can be made against another rear-drive coupe with a similar footprint, a similar curb weight, a similar tire, and its own set of upgraded shocks and springs–but about a hundred fewer horsepower. Our BMW 435i project can easily run a 1:18.5 lap. 

Our BMW routinely hangs a couple mph on the Nissan through the turns, while the Z Nismo can’t make up any time on the straights. In a couple acceleration zones, though, we can see the Nissan having a slight advantage around 60 to 75 mph, but outside that narrow window, the lower-powered BMW–also equipped with an automatic transmission–represents every bit its equal in the acceleration department. 

Handling: A Tale of Two Turns

So this raises a few eyebrows. Is the Z overrated when it comes to power? Stronger acceleration at the beginning of the lap and weaker acceleration at the end of the lap might suggest that the car is pulling power due to heat soak. So a Z Nismo at the ideal temperature might be delivering full power, but even during a lap of our short 1.6-mile test track, the temps never came up enough to cause the computer to dial back the aggression.

The shift feel might also indicate some power mitigation strategy in effect. Under part-throttle condition, manually shifting the Z in its sportiest mode delivers aggressive action–as long as those shifts are initiated before redline. Those shifts snap you back in the seat like your cousin’s old Monte Carlo with the Lightning Rod shifters and the engine he bought from some short-track guy who was going to jail and needed cash for his old lady to survive on while he was inside. But at full throttle, at or near redline, the shifts feel considerably softer with some clear torque mitigation strategies in place. 

So, do these preservation strategies extend to other systems, giving the Z a frustratingly narrow window of peak performance–one that doesn’t last a full lap and, even then, doesn’t match the Supra? Honestly, we aren’t sure, but even that convoluted theory is more comforting than confronting the fact that the Z Nismo might just be a weak performer.

And that’s where we’re left at the end of this review. There’s a lot to love about the Z in its Nismo trim. The handling is (mostly) crisp and responsive, the brakes are well suited to track use, the power is manageable, and the transmission follows the driver’s orders, albeit with some softness at high loads. If Nissan were advertising this as a 320-horsepower sports car for $50,000, in today’s market you could call that a fair deal. 

But it isn’t. It’s advertising a 420-horsepower sports car for $65,750 (plus inevitable dealer markup), and this ain’t it, hoss. The Z Nismo is close. Tantalizingly close to greatness. There’s so much to like here, but it’s just not quite over the hump into the conversation yet.