Proto Z
 

Why does this forum and so many others insist on referring to the future z as "400Z"? It has officially only been known as "proto Z", it has been announced that it would be powered by a 3.0 engine which would indicate it will be called a "300Z", which also explains their effort to take styling cues from the Z32.

I think it would be a huge mistake to depart from their history of the cars name being indicated by its displacement. Might as well make it FWD.


End rant.

That's just the way we roll around here. ;)

Me: “why do you xxxxxxx?”

My wife: “because”

THANK YOU.

In the entire lifespan of the Z, which may come to an end after the new Z....the engine displacement was always the nameplate.

In the "ZX" days, Nissan even reused the same name twice for the Z31 and Z32 300ZX.

Therefore, I like to think that Nissan would have ZERO issues calling the new Z "300Z" as it would be a never before used moniker.

Think "300Z" is less than "370Z"? Let's line em up and let the VR30 whoop some butt!

Nissan is even showing the new Z in USA with "Fairlady Z" badging.

Where the eff does the "400" come from anyways? Why not "380Z"? or "371Z"??
Nissan has yet to do arbitrary with their Z

Don't blow your load yet, wait till Z goes hybrid or full electric ⚡️.

Glad to hear I'm not alone on this.

They did use "380RS" on a hotted up version of the 350 with you guessed it a 3.8 liter engine.

I kinda wondered if their effort to use cues from the Z32 was a foreshadowing of them calling a "300Z"

Also, Z31 way underappreciated and the only Z car to come from the factory wiht a decent diff, the 87.5-89 Turbo's came with a CLSD. Why Nissan continues to use the viscous is beyond me.

They should just call it the Z.

Naming it after HP or displacement is not a scalable strategy.

If they call it 400z they should just increment the name the same way corvette does with C6, C7, C8, etc.

Only problem with that is the Z34 is the 6th generation of Z car. (S30, S130, Z31, Z32, Z33, Z34) Proto Z is presumably Z35, which is more agreeable to me that 400Z.

The VR30 engine is very flexible, so it would be scalable to call the car "300Z" or "300Z Twin Turbo" and allow a wide range of power levels.

In the Q's, the VR30 already has 2 very distinct power levels.

It'd be very easy for Nissan to make 3 power levels with the VR30.

This is why I see "300Z" based on 3.0 liters as being more reasonable than "400Z" based on one known Infiniti Q output. Or an arbitrary escalation of model number for the sake of being higher than previously.

Then it will be based on Megawatts.

I can see conversations in the future.

How many MW's you got there? Ohh about 3.5 MW's. Chitttt, that's child's play. I got 1.7 gigawatts with a flux capacitor. :driving:

I had 2 Z31's back in the day, a 1984 coupe and a 1988 coupe. I also had 2 V6 S12 200SX's. Those cars really were under appreciated, even at the time. I will say the contemporary RX-7 and Supra were "better" in different ways, but I clearly remember whooping on my friend's 1984 Corvette with the 305 "Crossfire" engine with my 1984 300ZX.

Sold the 1984 to my friend and we swapped the turbo system onto the NA block. It was actually quite alarmingly quick!

Speaking of diffs, I have a Eaton HLSD in the rear diff of my Titan. Love it. Never have to worry about it wearing out.

Then they could simply call it "ZeE" or "zEE" or "Zee"

Or my fav, "e-Zee" and have some big subwoofers in it to slap some beats to!

I've had a lot fo Z cars, at least one of every generation. A few of them Z31's, i did an N/A-T with one, MSNS, intercooler, etc made 315 whp and 400 lbft, was a hoot to drive, terrible suspension on those. Still have my series 1 240Z. It's also boosted, the old engine was 300 whp, the new one should be 400whp (L28ET). Something fun about putting down that much power with an L6.

It seems blasphemous to me to give a new chassis code (Z35) to Z that is cobbled together using existing Nissan/Infiniti parts :icon14:

And 300Z is a poor choice IMO cuz it's way too close to the 300ZX moniker.

400Z seems like a logical next step because it works with a 4.0 engine displacement or a 400 HP mark. The internet just ran with it.

They should call it the 345Z as a nod to the chassis code which should be Z34.5 :icon17:

One could argue the Z34 is just Z33.5. The S130 is more similar to the Z31 than the S30 if you're talking chassis.

What did the X signify at the end of the 300ZX name? Was it just marketing, sounds better, sounds more expensive, rolls off the tongue easier? If so, why not call it the 300ZX again instead of just 300Z? Toyota brought the Supra back from the 90s, now why wouldn't Nissan do the same with the 300ZX, especially with those tail lights?

I guess the question to ask, and I am sure this is what is going on in Nissan focus groups right now. If you owned a Z35, would you prefer to say to your friends or that cute girl "I have/drive a 300Z" or "I have/drive a 300ZX"?

I don't care if it's called Z, 300Z, 400Z, 375Z or any name. I just care how it drives and how it looks. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

So then you can argue the new Z is Z33.5.5 :icon17:

I don't dislike that idea :tup:

Nissan has been known to assign a new chassis code to a warmed-over refresh.

I had a 1997 Maxima, "A32". I bought a 2004 I35, "A33.5" as a swap donor to get a VQ35DE into that older Maxima. Very convenient that Nissan kept 95% of the car the same over the years for my swap shenanigans!

The "X" came into play in 1979 when they replaced the 1978 "280Z" Last of the S30 chassis) with the all new (S130) 280ZX. Completely different chassis but the drivetrain carried over with only minor tweaks. The 280ZX was more of a "Grand Tourer" and far more refined than the S30. The ZX got plushier interior, power windows, power steering, 4 wheel disks, vented front disks, over time it even got heated side mirrors, digital dash and even voice warnings. Then with a complete redesign for the Z32 model no single part carried over from the Z31 they kept the name as the displacement stayed the same even though t was a completely new engine, trans and diff housing.

If you tie it to displacement you run into all sorts of issues. From a marketing standpoint they always want to increment higher. Having a brand new car named exactly the same as a car from the 80s or 90s doesn't make too much sense.

If you tie it to HP you run into all sorts of issues. What if it has 436hp? Are we calling this thing the 436Z?

Z or 400Z.

Both work, but if they go with 400Z they should probably increment upward for each new model ... 400 -> 450 -> 500 -> 550Z something along those lines.

(though personally I prefer just Z with some internal code)

During the "ZX" years, Datsun/Nissan literally used the "X" to denote "luxury".

Even though the Z32 300ZX was more of a return to performance, with models being available with T-Tops (an original "X" feature) and leather, Nissan continued with "ZX".

For Nissan to name the new Z "400Z" would be wildly arbitrary. A confident product could easily pull-off a back-tracking from 370 to 300. We aren't such simpletons! I highly doubt ANYBODY who was considering a new 300Z Twin Turbo would have a hang-up over the name!
I mean, Toyota went ahead and had BMW make their Supra, they didn't feel people would have a hang up over BMW making it!

You mean like the Toyota Supra and the Acura NSX?

But the name has always been tied to displacement and that is a unique Z car thing. BMW uses part of their displacement as part of their model names, Ferrari did similar, but Datsun/Nissan was the only one to use a numerical value tied only to its displacement.

And on the supra thing. Toyota has been rebadging Subaru's for years now so rebadging a BMW was less surprising than dusting off their halo nameplate for use on the BMW. They should have put their V6 into the FRS and called it a supra, at least it would have a toyota engine.

It would be different if it was the Nissan Z with a 3.0 badge, but the way Nissan does it is different as it's actually part of the naming convention itself. To compound on that it has essentially always risen with each model. It would be an interesting marketing exercise to release a name that goes backwards and is essentially named after pre-existing model.

240Z
260Z
280Z
300Z
350Z
370Z
300Z again?

That's why coupling it with displacement is challenging.

HP is no different as things can get awkward quickly.

They need to just call it Z.

This thread suggests otherwise though...:rofl2:

"300Z" would be an all new name, "300ZX" was used twice already.

I've been thinking about it.

350ZX and 370ZX just sounds horrible, which is why I am sure they didn't go with that.

But for the number '300', it's a unique situation where ZX just goes better with it than Z. Thus 300ZX just sounds better than 300Z.


I understand the X denoted luxury, and I know some people here see the Z35 as a more return to form of the original 240Z, but let's be honest the Z35 has more luxury than the Z32 could have ever dreamed of.

Remember 2+2's? They occurred about the same time as "ZX" nomenclature.

The Infiniti G and Q Coupes are basically 2+2 ZX's. Makes sense why Nissan decided to go back to Z for Y2K....

I think Z32's are more luxurious than the upcoming Z. Ignoring the typical push of modern progress, the intent for luxury in the Z32 era was greater than the upcoming Z. The Z32 had trick AC controls on the binnacle, option for back seats, leather and T-tops and it stood out against other cars in the market. The modern Z35 has nothing an Altima won't already have....aside from a serious approach to performance.

Yes I agree the modern Q60 is the hard fork from the Z32 2+2.

About the T-tops, with the reliability issues the Z34 Roadster faced, a Japanese source stated that this time for the Z35, Nissan was considering some sort of targa removable roof panel to debut in the 2nd or 3rd model year instead of a retractable roof roadster model.

Because instead of expressing the value in liters, or milliliters they chose decaliters which is an unusual unit of measure.
The Numerical value has always gone up because the displacement has always gone up or stayed the same in as with the 280Z and 280ZX, and the two generations of 300ZX
240Z (S30)= 2.4 liters, or 240 decaliters or 2400 milliliters
260Z (S30)= 2.6 liters, or 260 decaliters or 2600 milliliters
280Z (S30)= 2.8 liters, or 280 decaliters or 2800 milliliters
280ZX (S130)= 2.8 liters, or 280 decaliters or 2800 milliliters
300ZX (Z31)= 3.0 liters, or 300 decaliters or 3000 milliliters
300ZX (Z32)= 3.0 liters, or 300 decaliters or 3000 milliliters
350Z (Z33)= 3.5 liters, or 350 decaliters or 3500 milliliters
370Z (Z34)= 3.7 liters, or 370 decaliters or 3700 milliliters
300Z (Z35)= 3.0 is the Obvious choice following the historical system

Yes I understand that very obvious observation. The name increased because the unit of measure increased. That's my whole point. Coupling the name with the engine puts you in a weird spot from a business and marketing standpoint. The general public is going to see this progression ... 350z -> 370z -> 300z and be confused.

What happens if a future Z is electric? Coupling name to power plant or HP creates marketing challenges.

Rather than be confused, I think the vast majority simply won't care or will be ignorant of the odd naming change. Those that realize the backwards shift will likely think 'retro' and be done with it.

If they call it 400Z (highly highly doubt that) I would just debadge it.
I debadged my Q60 simply because all Nissan/Infiniti did for my 2014 coupe was change the name from G37 Coupe to Q60. I disagreed with it and removed all 3.7 and Q60 badges (the "3.7" badges were tasteless and goofy looking, added on during the Q transition).

But, come on. Nissan is trying to acknowledge the Z lineage. 400 would seriously be totally arbitrary. They have shown the car with "Fairlady Z" badging, and most enthusiasts are already quite familiar with that name already. It may end up being Fairlady Z and everyone will be having a "duh!" moment!

If Nissan doesn't do it, I'm going to add the "TWIN TURBO" decal from the Z32 on the rear panel just like on the Z32s.

Honestly I hope they just call it "Z". Keep it simple like with the GT-R. I don't think these sports cars need numerical nomenclature anymore. Nissan Z. End of debate.

Agree on all points, "Fairlady Z" or even just "Z" would be better than an arbitrary number.

The bigger issue is we are on a website considered to be the authority on the current Z model and for them to name a forum for the upcoming model isn't surprising, it is however surprising to see them use the name coined by someone with no knowledge of the traditional naming convention. instead of calling it "Propt Z', Or New Z" or "Next Z" is just disappointing.

Also someone mentioned the 2+2 coming along wiht the ZX and that's not accurate. The 2+2 was introduced on the 74 260Z, which was the middle of the S30 production, the 280ZX wasn't introduced until 1979.

Y'all can call me anything but late for supper. ;)

I mentioned they came to be "about the same time".
2+2, T-Tops, and "ZX" within a few years.
Come on man! Cut me a break! The oldest Z I've ever been around was my friend's 1979 280ZX. Anything prior to that is just foggy. ;)