Nissan hints to a new RWD sportscar?
- Thread starter Leonidae@MFT
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- SpacedustDaddy
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This is sad but true. The obsession with crossovers, the utter disinterest from the millennial generation in cars in general, and unfortunately, the trend of catering performance cars to the mega-wealthy while excluding the low-margin, budget performance cars is probably just going to get worse. The crossover thing still blows by mind. I have a theory that car makers are pushing them because they are vastly easier to disguise all of the additional structural elements needed for the small overlap crash test + pedestrian safe hood-engine gap.
Do you guys remember when, aside from the anomaly Mclaren F1, basically every car made was under $200k? That was like 1999, and there hasn't been that much inflation since then. I know many among us car-enthusiast lot get excited about the next $1M+ hypercar, but I'm feeling pretty cynical about it lately....Sorry this is off topic.
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It depends what cars you're using for comparison. $200k is a pretty arbitrary amount - and it equates to about $300k today, which I'd argue the vast majority of cars are probably still under (incidentally, I'd consider nearly 50% inflation a fairly significant number...)
Regular cars for regular people are no more expensive, and in many cases cheaper, than they were 10/20/30 years ago. I wrote about this in another thread recently - a Golf GTI is cheaper now relative to inflation than it was back in the 1990s when Golf GTIs were catastrophically bad cars. A GT86 or BRZ is far cheaper today than an S2000 would be, relative to inflation. Something like a 911 isn't much different either.
A £600k McLaren F1, as it was in 1994 at launch, would be a £1 million car today - so admittedly some hypercars have gone up, but then a) they're out of reach of most of us anyway and b) modern hypercars are unbelievably technologically advanced, so you might say the cost is justified.
The bigger problem, at least from what is relevant to me in the UK, is that wages haven't risen with inflation. So while a Golf GTI may be better value than it was back in the day, it's become less affordable in real terms.
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I understand your point, but I think if you compared the quantities of "affordable" performance-oriented cars vs "unattainable" performance cars in the year 2000, and then put that against the same comparison today, the results would show a trend towards unattainable. It's not only that there is less to choose from in the affordable category, it's that the unattainable category has grown substantially.
Put another way, think how many cars cost more than £1M (adjust for inflation) new, in the year 2000 and then how many are available for that price, or more, today. Its probably a 5-10-fold increase, if you include the limited runs that didn't seem to exist 17 years ago. Then think about all the budget-oriented fun/performance vehicles that don't exist anymore and haven't been replaced.
To be fair, it's hard to compare Europe to the US, because the market is much, much different. I think Europe probably has it a little better due to the plethora of European-made hot hatches that we don't receive.
Maybe this should be a separate topic...
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Ah, well as you say I think that's kind of market dependent. Over here attainable performance cars are still fairly thick on the ground - there's a huge range of hot hatchbacks available at relatively sensible price points, plus the fun RWD stuff from Mazda/Subaru/Nissan/Toyota, and there's a good selection of performance sedans and coupes too. Stretching the definition of attainability there's also a seriously appealing selection in what I consider the £80k-£120k bracket in the UK market: think AMG GT, various 911s, Nissan GT-R, BMW i8, Jag F-type, Evoras and Exiges etc.
I do think there's a bit of rose-tinted spectacles about some of those older budget-orientated fun cars, not least because most of them - the sporty Japanese stuff particularly, in the US - made their most significant impact as used cars, as that's when they became truly affordable to most people and the tuning culture took off around them.
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- SpacedustDaddy
These points could still be narrowed down for this discussion.
Was there a need for the Z when it first came out? Today, is having a Z, being selfish? Meaning, no room for more than another passenger. Are people today that conscious or self conscious?
As in the Mustang thread, in lAustralia, that car is sold out. The Z could match that, with the right package and price.
Was there a need for the Z when it first came out? Today, is having a Z, being selfish? Meaning, no room for more than another passenger. Are people today that conscious or self conscious?
As in the Mustang thread, in lAustralia, that car is sold out. The Z could match that, with the right package and price.
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- mustafur
The Z will never match the Mustang here, alot of those sales are based on the fact it wasn't here for soo long, eventually once they are everywhere I expect the novelty to wear off a bit.
The Supra on the other hand if priced around the same can probably match it.
The Supra on the other hand if priced around the same can probably match it.
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- PrecisionXCIV
Seems like the next Z car will not be a crossover after all, but a sportier sibling to the Infiniti Q60 to rival the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra... In fact, the Nismo version could mirror the specs of the original R35 GT-R with a twin-turbo V6, four wheel drive and around 475hp.
Source: Autocar
Nissan has given a 370Z successor the green light.
The new sports car is expected to be shown in coupé guise before the end of next year ahead of UK sales starting in 2020, some 50 years after the original Z car arrived here.
Future generations of the Z model are understood to have been in doubt because of struggling profitability in the sports car segment, an issue felt more widely across the industry. Honda has admitted a similar quandary about an S2000 replacement and Toyota and BMW have teamed up in order to cut costs in the creation of their respective forthcoming Supra and Z4 sports cars.
Nissan design boss Alfonso Albaisa told Autocar last year that he was in favour of a new Z car to replace the 370Z. He said the sports car market was a challenging one but was “personally advocating” a new Z car.
The forthcoming model is known internally as the Z35 – a codename that continues a process started with the Z31 model launched in 1983. It has been twinned with the next Infiniti Q60, with which it will share its rear-wheel-drive platform, engine line-up and electric system, according to senior officials from Nissan.
Fifty years of the Nissan Z car - in pictures
Dimensionally, the new Z car is set to mirror the more upmarket Q60. At about 4520mm long, 1890mm wide and 1240mm tall, it will be slightly larger than the 370Z, which has been in production since 2009.
As well as a coupé version, Nissan plans a successor to the 370Z Roadster, although this model is unlikely to arrive in showrooms until 2021.
Power for the new coupé and convertible, which insiders suggest could be called the 400Z, is planned to come from Nissan’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine used in a number of existing models, including Infiniti's Q50 and Q60. In standard versions of the new Z car, the engine, which has a 60deg vee angle, is expected to run a similar state of tune to that of the Q60, which develops 399bhp and 350lb ft.
By comparison, the outgoing 370Z has a turbocharged 3.7-litre V6 powerplant that delivers 323bhp and 268lb ft.
The highlight of the new Z-car line-up is set to be a four-wheel-drive Nismo version. Due to arrive in 2021, this is earmarked to run a powered-up version of the turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine with a claimed 475bhp and 451lb ft.
Although it's still early days, Autocar understands that Nissan intends to reveal the styling of the new Z car in concept form at the 2018 Tokyo motor show in October. The definitive production version is then planned to be unveiled at the 2019 Los Angeles motor show.
Source: Autocar
CodeRedR51
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How did they mess that up? The car has had the same engine for 10 years now...
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CodeRedR51
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Larger than Z34? Q60S platform? Twin turbo? 4WD?
No way this thing will be under 3600lbs. I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 4,000.
No way this thing will be under 3600lbs. I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 4,000.
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- TenEightyOne
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There are several this year in Tokyo, albeit not with that exact title. The big one has been and gone (January) but Tokyo's Motorsport Japan show is coming in mid-April, that could be a good market for an early launch of this car. The largest show this year is Sapporo, (a good way from Tokyo) and the most likely venue for a commercial launch. Unless Autocar have just ****ed up
RocZX
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There are several this year in Tokyo, albeit not with that exact title. The big one has been and gone (January) but Tokyo's Motorsport Japan show is coming in mid-April, that could be a good market for an early launch of this car. The largest show this year is Sapporo, (a good way from Tokyo) and the most likely venue for a commercial launch. Unless Autocar have just ****ed up
The January one was the Auto Salon which is an aftermarket/modified car show, Motorsport Japan is more of a race car show they could show racing concept of the next Z and Sapporo is likely but article says Tokyo in October 2018 not Japan 2018.
I'm thinking the article is bs. It gives specific measurements of the new car which is an weird to known fact. It says the current car is turbocharged which is incorrect. And lastly it says it will be called 400Z in the past 6 gen. and about 50 years all Z cars have be named after their engine displacement if this next Z has 3.0L then it should be called 300Z.
Edit: There was rumors that Nissan was going to show a Z concept at the 2017 Tokyo auto show.
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CodeRedR51
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So I was thinking yesterday, Nissan should try to give these a go again but make them electric. The regular version could be FWD, and the Nismo version RWD. Give them at least 250 mile range and sell them for under $40k.
Nissan, do it.
Nissan, do it.
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I'm not sure why they would bother with a FWD version? Maybe RWD and AWD?
CodeRedR51
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In my eyes, AWD = more expensive. Thinking one motor to keep costs and MSRP down. FWD is better in snow than RWD so better suited for the regular version. And obviously RWD is better in the sporty version for handling.
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FWD is better in snow than front engine rear drive, but RR setups handle snow just fine.
