2021 400Z Thoughts?

tvfreakazoid

Well what did u expect from a company that is having financial issues and QC issues.
Probably better off not making the the Z and the gtr anymore.

I'll be in my bunk!

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wyso

My last 370 was traded in on a GTR.
Never could get comfortable in the narrow seats, no headroom either.

tvfreakazoid

Nice trade up though. Do u still have the gtr?

I'll be in my bunk!

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takemorepills

Nissan would have been totally justified to throw in the towel.
Nissan does a lot wrong.
I am very grateful Nissan is giving us a 21st century 300Z Twin Turbo.

ltullos

Another OG here. I'm on my 6th Z car including:
- 1972 240Z coming out of college,
- 1990 300Z 2+2,
- 1995 300Z 2+2,
- 1995 300Z-TT (my favorite),
- 2010 370 40th AE, and now
- 2016 Nismo 370Z.

All have been my daily drivers and have clocked 40+ years and over half million miles. I always thought that I would have a 400Z at some point (though much longer ago); but gave up on the idea when I saw that 2019 Heritage stickered insult. I concluded then that Nissan no longer had money nor interest to keep it going and was giving up.

So, my impressions of Z35 are mostly favorable, though front grill needs work as does addition of spoiler or lip to rear hatch. I'm actually very happy with design cues from 240Z & 300Z (particularly side view), V-6 turbo, MT (an absolute must), 6-piston calipers, and that they are apparently retaining the 370Z chassis. Having logged 40+ years of seat time, the thing I've always appreciate most about Zs is the driver engagement it provides on the street and track; so I'm confident that the Z35 will retain that with power and performance boost over 370.

I'm mostly interested in what the new Nismo will bring and hoping they will retain the Recaro seats, add a real 25 or 34 row oil cooler, and finally fix the saddle tank fuel starvation problem. And I would be delighted if updated electronics finally gives multiple traction control / stability options and GTR type data panel.

The words of the great Texas musician Ray Wylie Hubbard "the days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations - I have really good days" seem appropriate here; so I'm mostly grateful that the line is not ending.

wanker

Sadly, the new Z does not interest me.

My next car will be a used Corvette C8. It's light years ahead of anything else out there for the price. It's only downside is that it will become wildly popular and associated with sh#$heads and douchebags; but that's the downside of any American Muscle car.

takemorepills

The new C8 is an amazing car. It's amazing that the "base" engine version that is currently available is able to put down such good numbers.

I have also considered the C7, I prefer it due to being a hatchback. I personally prefer a hatchback car, performance stats not as important. That's kinda why I like the new upcoming Z, still a hatchback.

takemorepills

A couple of "wishes" that Nissan probably isn't gonna do:

1. T-tops. It's not really a full "heritage" car unless they throw in some T-tops!

2. Name the car "Datsun Z"

3. Louvers, I'm sure there's plenty to choose from in the aftermarket. Be cool to have it as OEM though.

4. Rear window wiper. So, I have had both Z31's and a Z32 many years ago (plus a pair of V6 S12 cars) and all had rear window wiper. Extremely useful, and I believe available in other countries.

5. Fog/driving lights. Not so much for actual light output as most OEM fogs seem weak, but more for aesthetics, the ProtoZ would look a *little* bit better with something to break up the current proto nose.

wyso

No, GTR wasn't that fun to drive. I got a 2ss Camaro next. Then a C8.

nismo13807

hahaha i for one always do a rear window wiper delete on my cars, but then again its my weekend cars and find it cleaner without it.

Skiwi

Absolutely loving the interior upgrade, stoked they dropped that awful left hand multifunction gauge they used on the the 370Z

I like it from every angle except the front so I'll be waiting until NISMO get their hands on that front grill before prising open the wallet.

Cheers
Skiwi

takemorepills

Yeah I know it's quite popular to delete them.

Here in WA State with our seemingly never-ending rain and tight parking spots it's nice to have a rear window wiper when you are trying to back out between two SUVs in the rain and the rear-view camera video is distorted by water drops.

Also, as a JDM fan from the 90's, many of the JDM versions of our cars here, or the higher level trims, came with rear window wipers. So, I see it as a useful tool that also signifies a higher trim level.

abm89

I guess I'll post my initial thoughts here on the new car now that i've had some time to process it.

Exterior:

I don't really feel inspired by the looks of the Z Proto. While I can appreciate the heritage styling cues, I was never a huge fan of the swept fastback look like on the S30s. I feel like the car flowed better with he ever so slight decklid as seen on the Z33s and newer. Going on with the rear, I never liked the Z32s; they can scrap that honestly. The rear quarter panel proportions are excellent though, and the flush door handle is something I hope they keep. If it has functionality like the new 992 Porsche's where it will pop out so you don't get many nail scrapes, that'll be cool. I'm kind of with the consensus that the front needs work, but this seems easily fixed by replacing the bumper cover. I kinda would wait to see the NISMO version to see if they go with a long-nose design, something akin to the Voltex kit for the Z33 (maybe less aggressive).

Interior:

The interior is a huge upgrade over the Z34. This is probably the best part even if it is a slight facelift. The driver-aligned center console makes sense and I never thought those vertical air vents were useful, so I'm glad they changed it. the materials look high quality and the steering wheel design looks good. The digital dash brings this cockpit up-to-date, but i worry it will be outdated by the time it is released. Feature-wise, I'm glad they added the oil pressure and diff temp readings to the UI, but I'm assuming this is configurable so, why not replace the voltmeter with something more important? Also, what is that center gauge, turbo airflow? Idk why I need to see that if I have boost pressure. Seems redundant. Piano black needs to go; not a fan. The last thing I'm glad they did was keep analog dials for HVAC. I HATE cars that use digital only for the HVAC controls as I find I adjust them frequently when driving. It's the main reason why I didn't get a Model 3 for my daily. I wish car companies would go away from that trend.

Powertrain:

The VR30 seems like the obvious choice, but I have not heard good things about the motor reliability when you start to tune them. As someone who would tune their sports car, that's not very promising, but I see it as adequate for most people who will buy the car. The retention of the manual is a smart move by Nissan, but I hope they fixed the issues with the syncros and moved back to an outboard slave cylinder. I absolutely dislike this transmission with my list of "Better shifting" manuals I've driven being my WRX, a stock Mazda 3, a NA1 NSX, and a 987 Cayman S. A mechanical diff option would be nice instead of viscous for the more hardcore enthusiasts, and it would be nice if that traction off button can do a full kill. It's still kinda lame I cant turn the traction off ALL THE WAY without killing the yaw sensor.

Verdict:

There are definite improvements over the Z34, but I am just not liking the styling overall, (specifically the rear). I think it will be a hit with most people and the manual transmission is a big check-mark for many people who actually would buy this car. However, I'd personally go for the Supra, mainly due to me being brand (and increasingly car) agnostic. I don't personally care that the Supra's powertrain is a collab with BMW, so long as it is a good product, and it looks like it is. Styling-wise I prefer about 80-90% of the choices made versus the Z where I feel I only like about 60% of it. As far as Manual vs Auto, the ZF is an excellent transmission, so if I had to pick right now, I'd still get a Supra.

...I just have a hunch that Toyota (or BMW) will release a 3-pedal Supra conveniently when the Z is released.

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takemorepills

A couple of counterpoints....

On the triple gauges of the ProtoZ, I think you mean turbo RPM gauge? That's a clear sign that the ProtoZ has the 400HP VR30 in it, as the 400HP VR30 utilizes turbine speed sensors, whereas the 300HP VR30 doesn't. Really a bit of data that wouldn't be very useful to the avg Joe, and if you do a turbo upgrade you may lose that function and have a useless gauge. Maybe the 300HP variants will have an alternate gauge there (unless all Z's use the 400HP VR)

As for tuned reliability. I have never seen any German turbo car or Japanese turbo car have perfect reliability when tuned. Tuning a turbo car makes significant gains and really pushes many things. I owned a 2016 GTI DSG with a JB4 and I popped the DSG at 20K miles. There's plenty of YT content on how unreliable a slightly older turbo BMWs are.
The issues some VR30's have are not out of line for any turbo car. Heck, compare a tuned VR30 to a turbo VQ37 and I am quite certain the VQ37 can have just as many issues.

Keep a few things in perspective: Many enthusiasts who tune their cars hard also realize something may break. The VR30 will not be expensive, for an enthusiast, to repair if they break something. It's been out for a while now, and parts will be plentiful. If you want really fast and reliable, probably need to look at a recent Corvette, they are very fast and somewhat similar to a Z. No boost means they are fairly reliable.

When I was researching cars in 2015, I seriously looked at the WRX. WRX's don't do huge HP gains like German cars, and they have a bunch of issues like ring lands, wonky fueling, and their transmissions aren't all that great either.If you put $3000 into a GTI and $3000 into a WRX, the GTI would make much more power than a WRX. Same for a BMW.

As for the Supra, I have a HUGE issue with BMW making it. I would totally buy one if it were an actual Toyota. Toyota cars do NOT respond to tuning very well at all, but they are RELIABLE. I'd buy a Toyota-made Supra in a hot second because I'd feel it'd be reliable for 20 years. The BMW Supra is great because it inherits BMW tunability and can be easily tuned for big gains with modest $$$, but I wouldn't want it past it's warranty.

The new Z is all Nissan, and that is a huge benefit. The VR motor in the Z is just as responsive as German turbo engines. I have scoured the Q50/60 forums for VR30 issues and they are manageable and quite typical of any turbo car that is tuned. I have also seen that Nissan has made an actual effort to improve the VR30 reliability. (I generally don't trust Nissan here as I have owned a few of their vehicles that had issues that are never resolved) The repairs made on the VR30 are usually done with updated parts, and the belt-throwing issue is quite manageable itself.
After constantly having my GTI in the shop (10 times for repairs) over the course of 3 years I was so happy to buy my Q60, and in 2.5 years of owning it I have never ever had one issue with it. If the new Z fell somewhere between my Q60 and my GTI in reliability I would be OK with that.

BTW I 100% agree with you about the MT...I was surprised when I learned about the CSC. The last Z I replaced a clutch on didn't have such a weirdo setup, but that was 22 years ago! Knowing Nissan, they'll continue using the same, crappy CSC. Many Z enthusiasts believe they can maintain the CSC through fluid changes until the clutch needs replacement, it's just a quirk of owning a Nissan, I guess. Again, if the Supra was made by Toyota, I'd be all over that!

viiv

Ok, not sure how reliable this is, but according to a Japanese site instead of a roadster, there may be a t-top model but it won't be available at launch.

If true, it's a wonderful idea from Nissan to bring this back from the Z32; it's simple, no breakdowns and no warranty headaches for them (via Google translate so I don't think electrified is the proper word there, probably means something closer to reinforced):

"It is expected that the new Fairlady Z will be equipped with a hardtop roof (T-bar roof) model later.
It is said that the T-bar roof will be electrified with a new structure. Rigidity increases because there is a line connecting the front and back compared to a general open"

https://haru27.biz/26529.html


It's not all good news though, if this site is correct; say goodbye to our wonderful hydraulic steering and hello to Infiniti's Direct Adaptive Steering (DAS)