Talking Cars 364: Driving the 2023 Nissan Z
The clock is turned back to when high-performance sports cars were plentiful
By Jon Linkov
Main theme: They said it couldn’t be done. They said consumers only want SUVs. They said small four-cylinder engines and electrified powertrains were the future. They said the manual transmission was dead.
Well, all that appears wrong. On this episode, we discuss the Z, a (kinda, maybe) redesigned two-seat sports car from Nissan that has the modern chops of a 400-hp turbocharged V6 engine and nine-speed automatic transmission (don’t worry, there’s a manual available) packaged inside a shapely body that harkens back to the original Datsun 240Z of 1969.
We discuss the history of the Nissan Z, what—if anything—is carried over to the new version from the previous generation, the transmission, how it handles, and just how much fun we had driving it.
Audience question: A “Talking Cars” enthusiast is ready to move on from his Ford Mustang GT, and wants to know if a BMW M550i xDrive or Mercedes-Benz AMG E53 is the wiser choice.
"Talking Cars" panelists Ryan Pszczolkowski, Jon Linkov, and Mike Monticello.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
As with other “Talking Cars” episodes, this one is available free through Apple Podcasts. (Subscribe to the audio or video.) You’ll also find the audio on Spotify (log-in required) and video on YouTube.
Driving Subaru’s First EV, the New Solterra, episode 363
Driving the Ford Maverick Hybrid, episode 362
Driving the Rivian R1T, episode 361
Driving the 2023 Genesis GV60, episode 360
Driving the 2023 Mazda CX-50, episode 359
Have a Question?
We’d love to include it in a future show. Upload your video questions to our Dropbox folder. Please send high-definition (1920x1080) MP4 video files with high-quality audio. Or send an iMessage question to our TalkingCars@icloud.com account.
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