Nissan Z NISMO Is (a Tiny Bit) Better at Everything

• The NISMO version in the Nissan Z arrives this fall, with 20 more hp and slight improvements inside and out.
• We might have wanted bigger changes and even more performance, but it’s possible we’re just malcontents who demand too much. Or not.
• Pricing will be released closer to the Z NISMO’s launch in fall.

Only 20 more hp? That’s it? Wild internet speculation had said it could be as much as 500 hp. Shows you what you can do with wild internet speculation. And what’s with the name, Z NISMO? Shouldn’t that be NISMO Z?

You can’t really complain when Nissan goes to the trouble to beef up its iconic Z, and it did make changes in all the right places: more power, stiffer chassis, better tires, better brakes, etc. But only incrementally better. And the manual transmission, available on the regular Z, is not even an option on the Z NISMO, which can be had only with the nine-speed automatic. Asked about the transmission at the Z NISMO’s launch in L.A., Nissan execs said that owners they spoke with wanted faster laps times with a Z NISMO, and the fastest lap time came from the automatic.

Is it worth selling your current Z and buying the NISMO? Just on specs alone it doesn’t seem to be a big enough leap in character or performance to warrant, but that’s said without having driven the new Z NISMO, scheduled to arrive in fall, with prices coming just before that. Three-time Formula Drift champion, and Nissan Z driver all three of those years, Chris Forsberg has driven it and says he loved it. All the changes listed here sound like exactly what you’d do to make a sporty car even sportier. So we’re hopeful that it will be an even more enjoyable car to drive.

Check out these improvements and decide for yourself.

Updated Design

Outside it looks new, with a new nose they’re calling the “Grand Nose” (?) that sticks out further; restyled grille; what Nissan is calling “canards” at the front corners; a taller, wider rear spoiler; and more aerodynamically efficient rear corners. All of that is supposed to “improve aerodynamic performance on the race track.”

Better Grip

Nissan says it revised every element of the car’s suspension to optimize precision, predictability, and cornering grip. That includes Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT600 tires measuring 285/35R-19 front and 275/35R-19 rear wrapped around lighter-weight gloss-black 19-inch RAYS wheels.

The chassis gets additional front, rear, and rear underfloor bracing that ups body rigidity by 2.5 percent (not much!), while stiffer bushings front, rear, and at the steering rack increase lateral rigidity.

Front brake rotor size is increased to 15 inches front and 13.8 rear stopped by performance pads.

Barely Stronger Engine

Those 20 extra horses—and 34 lb-ft—are arrived at through improved cooling, revised electronic wastegate control that makes more boost, and a new ignition spark timing that Nissan says was “inspired by the GT-R NISMO.”

Inside, the Z NISMO gets a cabin that Nissan says “amplifies the car’s visual appeal without creating unnecessary noise.” But they’re subtle and you might miss them: a red anodized start/stop button, red trim on the digital TFT meter display, and a red flash during startup animation. The Recaro seats get NISMO logos in the headrests, and the steering wheel gets red accents.

Will it all work? Likely, it will. We are looking forward to a chance to drive one before the car arrives in showrooms later this summer.

But we really can’t complain. In the current market it’s a miracle that any carmaker is still selling sports cars. So far this year Nissan has sold only 996 Zs in the U.S. Compare that to almost 150,000 Rogue compact crossovers in the same time period. Nissan blames at least some of the slow sales on remnants of the chip supply problem. But larger than that is the market’s obsession with crossover utility vehicles like the Rogue.

The closest competitor, the BMW-based Toyota Supra, brought in almost 5000 sales last year and is on track to move over 3000 this year.

It’s a weird market. Cars we lust after and claim on the internet that we want, we don’t buy. Cars we claim are boring we buy, buy, and buy some more. The Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro have announced their own demises, leaving the Mustang as the last musclecar standing. Last year Ford sold almost 50,000 ‘Stangs. Toyota’s GR86 is another bright spot among affordable sporty cars with almost 12,000 sales in 2022. Yet bland crossover SUVs – the blander the better – sell ten times that much. What’s wrong with us? We must vote with our wallets and buy more of the cool cars we say we want. Who’s with me?

So, what do you think? Are the incremental improvements enough for you to swap your current Z car for the new Z NISMO? Share your thoughts in the comments below.