From the day that it was first released in Australia in 1970, and I first saw one in the flesh, the Datsun 240Z was and still is one of my most favourite cars of all time.
Released in Japan in 1969 as the Nissan S30 – Fairlady Z, the history of the Datsun 240Z dates back to the mid 1960’s when a Dr Sakuri from Japan’s Prince Motors was trying to win the Japanese Grand Prix, unfortunately without success. That was until 1966, when after investing heavily in the development of a purpose-built race car, he finally achieved the goal of first, second and fourth places.
Ironically this was the last time his cars would race under the Prince Motors name as soon after they were sold to Nissan and all the technology, engineering and engine development initiated by Dr Sakuri and his engineers, became Nissan’s which then became the catalyst for the Nissan 240Z.
Over the last 50 years Nissan have produced many versions of the Z which have continued to pay homage to the legacy initiated by Dr Sakuri, the 260Z, 280Z, 300Z, 350Z, 370Z and this year Nissan have released what they are simply calling the Nissan Z.
I’ve been fortunate to own a couple of Z cars, my first being a 300Z which I bought in 1991 and subsequently modified to race in my first Targa Tasmania as a driver in 1993 and again in 1994 and I loved it. In 2002 I then bought a 350Z and although I loved every minute of being behind the wheel, I always longed for a twin-turbo version of the car which was available in Japan but not here in Australia.
So consequently, I was thrilled to hear that the new Nissan Z will be powered by a version of the Infinity’s twin-turbo V6-cylinder motor that will develop 298kW of power, 475Nm of torque and get you from 0-100km/hr in around 4 seconds, which will be fantastic.
There are many other features of the 2022 Nissan Z car that will give the marque a new lease of life, which to be honest I think it desperately needed as the 370Z was a bit tired. The following video link from Feann Torr (carsales.com.au) gives a good overview of the car, which compared to other similar cars in the market, it’s price tag of $73,000 is reasonably good value.
New Nissan Z Car – carsales.com.au
For some light entertainment and if you can cope with the American ‘Neesahn’ and ‘Zeeee’, you may also like to look at the following CNET link which has a closer look at the American version of the Nissan Z.