Quote:
Originally Posted by takemorepills
Personally, I absolutely disregard the modern Supra. The fact that it is a BMW 100% completely turns me off. And if it doesn't turn off others I know, I'd just point them to some YT videos on the perils of slightly older BMW repairs.
The Supra may be competitive in the new car space that attracts short-term owners, but many long time Supra fans who value a car that performs AND has legendary Toyota reliability will be turned off by the BMW Supra.
OK, so rant over.
I agree with your pricing assumptions, but let me point out even more positive points:
The current Q60 3.0T starts at $41K MSRP.
This includes rear seats, dual screen infotainment, presumably a more expensive interior, and other obligatory Infiniti doo-dads.
The fact that the base 3.0T is 300HP leads me to believe a few things:
Nissan will NOT call the new Z "400Z". I think people are assuming the new Z to be 400HP. I think Nissan will choose either "300Z" because the VR30 is here to stay and will come in many different tunes with many different available outputs. It's a very flexible engine. If Nissan doesn't choose "300Z" they'll likely chose a "Z" term of some other sort, but not 400.
The VR30 is available in 300HP and 400HP. There is not a very big cost difference between the two, nor are either drivetrains much different from 300HP to 400HP. As far as I know, Nissan turns up the boost on the 400HP VR30 and uses turbine speed sensors on the turbos to monitor turbine speed. No big, expensive parts differences between the two engines.
The Proto Z has the turbine speed sensor on the trio gauges, leading me to believe Nissan will definitely have a 400+HP Z available on initial rollout.
But, don't be surprised to see the lower output VR30 in a "base" model Z. Sure, it might have less HP than the VQ37 (although, I don't see why Nissan couldn't tune up the base VR30 to similar VQ37 HP) but it does have better torque available for a wider rev range.
Also, it didn't stop Infiniti from releasing the 3.0T 300HP even though the previous VQ37 cars outperformed the base VR30. So, wouldn't surprise me if Nissan played the same pattern this time with the Z.
Thank goodness we won't be getting that horrid MB 4 banger!
Lastly, those who are fretting over the front bumper grill. I wouldn't put too much into it, to me the front bumper grill looks wildly "under baked". No matter if someone likes it or not, it seems like an unfinished design detail. Way to elementary of a design to be an actual production piece. I'd expect a few more details to be added to the front bumper cover to make it look better.
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You know what I think they will do? They'll put out a lower tuned "base" model engine with 350HP and then the "sport" model with somewhere between 400-425HP. That way it still keeps the new "base" gen Z a step ahead of the current gen 370Z, besides the current Nismo, in terms of power.
The thing that throws me off is that they have the big GTR brakes on the Z Proto. If those actually make it to production that tells me that the car must have over 400HP. As cool as they are, I think it is a bit overkill for a 400-425hp car. The regular Akebono brakes would be just fine for that power range. And honestly I'd rather have the Akebono brakes since the GTR brakes are heftier on your wallet for maintenance.
And to add to that, I agree that the exterior design isn't completely finished. I can say with 97.35958% certainty the side crevices in the Z Proto will be either vents or LED DRLs. And I'm sure we won't see that big plain square. The rear may be production ready, they might tweak a few things, but I think that will be very close to the production car. I'm sure the interior is production ready, which I'm perfectly fine with.