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Using a supercomputer and ultrasophisticated engineering,
1
Nissan gets its 300ZX in good enough shape to take on Porsche
his is not your doctor's 300W.
The name of the car pictured
here is the same as Nissan's cw-
rent topline spa* coupe, the one
that in the past few years has
taken lumps for being less of a spats car and
more of a personal semiluxury coupe.
And that's being nice. l k r e are worse
things beine said about the Nissan Z that is
currently available. What we've heard from
some enthusiasts is that the present 300ZX
is the car you get stuck with afler you lose
the Porsche in a divorce settlement.
This kind of savaging of the car's image
by the public was foreseen by a few key
folks at Nissan back in 1985 when the 1989
Zcar was proposed. "Its spom car attrih-
ules had become diluted." savs Naruvuki
IM-hp nonorrbo and 2Whp tuka 3mWs
were sold; in '88 only 19,000 were sold. lk
oew Zcar is expecled to sell at a rate even
lower than that for its fmt full yew. 1990.
But for Nissan, changing the image of the
300ZX is more imponant than profit right
now. Respect is the priority.
Nissan should get that respect by the
tankerload for the new 300ZX. It is more
--
s- -
~~ ~~~~
~a ma o i a , product
than fast, it is very good at being fast-it's a
planning and mar- real '90s spons car.
ketina manaEer for
Gone is the Z-car's digital dashboard with
~ i s s a n . "People
who had remem-
bered the 2402 were
not enthusiastic
three odomelen and ~ ~ - L C D compass. A b
sent is the spongylstiff variable shock a b
sorber system. and resulting strange behav-
ior of the car on bumpy roads. Arriving here
this April will be a car that is aimed at
Porsche 944, Corvette and Mazda RX-7
with better than deadly accuracy.
The new Z-car, ("Zeeker" as it's pro-
nounced by Nissan insiders), is a great
oackaee: Its 3.0-liter four-valve V6 makes
about the (current)
300ZX."
W h i l e t h e
300ZX' s s t at us
shriveled among car
mol e. sales of the
~ O ~ Z X have plum-
i22 hi , a turbo version due in October will
meted in the past
make about 300. Its front suspension is sw
four years (as have
phisticated multilink A-anns, like that pi*
those of many other
neered in this counuy by Honda's Accord
twodoor couces). In and Prelude. and in back is a state-of-the-an
1 1984, about '73,000 five-link arrangement akin to Mcrcedes' 300
AUMWEEK FEBRUARY 6.1989
trdatu.TbeMmullyespilatcd~isex-
p Cd d t o Ed f mf a S 2 5 , 0 0 0 md t h c
1.rbovenmfcmlasmm$30,000(Nii
qcels~dfiwoevZcsrssddin1990
villbelabq).
Wl mt N i i h s s h i s a s p a r s c a r w i ~
~poaaQnPomcWs944or 911, at
a pica S1480DS17.000 kss than Paacbe's
I -a. PQfQrmmQe is w,
1 ~ , , d d o s t b c n a ~ w c i g l t s e v -
I
dLradRdpomKbmo~emant hcPars.
JBlasrLEb6QmpbinarcwmnmaUy
~ &# W&Dt a r i r 7 . S r c e ~ 9 4 4 S Z wi u
pot h$B. 9.
The new t wb Z. at just over 3300
poaada, i spi oedh(i r~eNl gcurthc
~ y b a v y C m e a e . b m ~ m x c
~ I P d D e r l y a ~ m g u c , p h r r
bma rmm*n. Thc W s piccs, how-
sva, are bwd on ammt exchange ntcs,
~ r m l d ' ~ b y I . n w b s D ( b e h n h ,
udcboa.
The nsv Zcu is a '90s lookor. too,
~ t b c ~ l i k e w a c i s a M l m a o b
dispbPlnstos~mcalNii.T6eoompny
IshqpLrvlL~rr*ofmcCar,mefiDal
M s i o n o f r l 6 c b v p ~ ~ N ~ s
Tokyo studio. The company's studios in
WltWRW@%KBU_ARY 6.1989
1,L . ,
Shotai, lapan, (whm Zcm are made) and
SouthmCalifornia also submitted their
mndcsignsfathcncwCar,audthcnrult
h a Mmd of what thc company's design-
as bel i m is a '90s + car look: long
whealbase. with mini& body overhang.
rbanhood,lotsofawes.
BytbisJulya2+2vcnioaofthcZCPis
u p s t e d h , a u d ~ i t l o o L s ~ t o
thc lwc-seater, it aaoaUy &area only ita
front clip. 'Ibe Qon, roof, M quarter
pncl s, fml Bl l al omi oadrur~are
di&nn, mo u g b Ma d i s u n a it's tollgh
t o t c Ut h c t wo v ~ ~ ~ l p P R. Tb e 2 + 2 i s
actually 8.5 inches longer aud ridw on a
4.7-inch-longer wh e e l k . We tried get-
tiDgiDtothcbrkofoae--misarcaifno(
hncadedforsdults.lbslisthccp.efora
Porschc944~weU.
Both two-scat and 2 + 2 versions am
wmpb dcpsmues 6vm any previous Z
cma. thmgh thc name has bem held over
f r o m Z c a r ~ o n ~ b s a u s c t h c a c w
car (gemmt b four) shsna a 3.0-liter m-
gin0 configuration with Z number ttorc.
The new cu'a mow, a Ust-ima 60-de-
gceV6Wrethcddacar' s(i moi suscd
to keep costa down, says the company),
uscs four-valve hcDQ with four cams m-
u@ the valves. 'Ibe intake valw cmnn have
h y Mc a Uy variabk drive gem. which
vary valve timing depending on en*
spetbme idea is to boat toque at low
mgk apesds without wri ng k-lmclm-
iogathighrevs.
A i d c d b y d u d c x h a ~ ~ ~ a u d d u d ~
systems. thc new 3.0-liter V6 makes 57
~ w a mae than the 1 6 o r s C mr-
mallyaspintedZmmonthcmad.
Powai aaerrt mavi scouscarpl ed~
di&ranial(whichlurbecomusconIapa-
nese market 300Ws for the past year)
tbmugh a heavily refined version of thc na-
rent cu's fivbspeed trsnsmission. Aboyt
a third of the new 2's buyers am ex-
peeced to waut .utomrtics, so 222-bp Zcrs
will barow c-ully aaholled four-
speed units from N i i ' s UOSX, and 300-
hp Z c m will use a four-speed M Nis-
san's Paml wilily mck.
n x ~ w Z e a r ' s ~ i s ~ s e c n t o f
Porsche's 928: Ihe cigan(tc Iigbar is in thc
center console whae your radar detcetor
mrdwillncvunrbit.Tbeemsdcism-
g k d u p t o ( h c ~ , w 4 m e t b c n i s a
surprise. No gimmicks. No soda can
All-new engl n
(rlom) 8h.m
dlrplacament wtth
old; 3.0.IHw V6 has
four cams, 24
valves, pmduc*r
272 hp In nonturbo
form. T-top* (blow
rlght) am mtandard,
add A g M but
body Is as wm r
old Z was wlthwt
them. Interior, k
.b.leh-rd,
through complicated computer analysis: An
engineer taped fishing sinkers of various
weights to a shifter equipped with a 100
I
gram knob, and found a 130 gram shift
knob was the answer
Once uo to s d . the car feels slower
I
than it's htuall; moving-a sure sign of a
well-sorted chassis. Low levels of wind
noise also contribute to this feeling. The
body has had much wind tunnel tuning (the
tnole-lio front end is claimed to be hiehlv
I
e f hc i e in terms of noise, drag and &of-
ing). The power-assisted rack and pinion
steerine is vehicle-swed-sensitive. and up
-
to'lCQ mph actually feeis
I I too lieht. It isn't without
holders, no change bins. The message is
clear inside that this is a car whose primary
purpose is to be driven like a s p m car, not
to do utilitarian duties such as commuting.
Serious road-trippers will add their own
can-holders and radar detector wiring.
Amateurs will buy something else.
But what really separates the new Z-car
from the old is its chassis. Front and rear
suspensions were designed with the help of
Nissan's Cray supercomputer. The benefit
gained here was the ability to son Ulrwgh
about 100 different designs before three
final designs were Vied on prototypes. Nor-
mally, the company says, it only has the
capacity to test four or five different suspen-
sions on each car it designs. The new Z
suspensions are similar to those found on
Honda and Mercedes cars.
The structure of the chassis. however,
was alm tuned on the computer, and is s ub
stantially stiffer than previous generation Z-
cars. This may be for naught, though, since
nearly all of the new Zs planned for the
U.S. will be equipped with glass T-top
roofs. which add about 50 pounds to the top
of the car and limit total body stiffness
(U.S. dealer urgings have made it this way).
Still, the new Z with T-top is as stiff as
the old 300W with a steel roof.
The cornpuler also suggested reinforcing
steel channels be used in key structural
pi nt s on the body. and the resulting car is
one stiff enough to make use of the very
sophisticated suspension designs.
SPECIFICATIONS
MliM bar: Id, rearfWinX, mll
I
This work pays off on the mad: The new
Z-car is tauter than Corvette, plus there is a
refined feel that is very Porscbe-like. The
new Z does not feel like any other coup
from Japan. Details in the Z-car's drivetrain
have been refined further than anything else
the company has built, with the possible
exception of Infiniti's Q45 VS sedan. What
Nissan has proven is even though there is no
substitute for the kind of tuning experience
Porsche draws on for its sports cars. a
shortcut exists via the computer screen.
Once you get rolling in the new Z-car you
notice visibility is t o p n o t c a cowl is
low enough that you see the road just a few
feet in front of the car. +he engine revs like
a rotary-watch out. Ma z dHo its 7WO
rpm redline, where a fuel cutoff makes you
shift. Shifting is not as notchy as in previous
Z-cars, but Lhat's not because of fixes found
feedbick, though, which
leads us to wonder if this
will be a trend duplicated
inthe'90s.
Body roll in comers at
first feels excessive in
the wnturbo Z, but you
find that the suspension
is not compromised by
lean. You can alm nearly
ignore potholes and
bumps in corners-sus-
pension control and
travel is that good. Over-
all, the nonturbo car
wants to understeer, but
it is easy to change that
attitude with verv fine
steering inputs or a sloppy Uyonle fdot. At
times, the viscous limited-slip can contrib-
ute to the car's desire I O understeer, though
we noticed that nail only at the car's rela-
tively high limits.
The turbo car is different. The prototype
we drove was equipped with Nissan's
HICAS rear-steering system. It shows itself
off k t during high-speed lane changes by
neatly stabilizing the car. In fact, it works
whether or not you return the wheel to cen-
ter yourself or just let go of the wheel--not
unlike a Citroen. The turbo car is also
stiffer, and is more neutrally balanced. This
difference in tuning between the nonturbo
and turbo Z-cars is deliberatbNissan ex-
pects buyers of the S5MW)-more-expensive
turbo 300M to know what they're doing.
We feel the new 300M is a digital ren-
dering of a spom car, whm the 944 can be
likened to an analog version. We expect
very few people will perceive a qualitative
difference in manners between the two
makes, much ihe way it's tough to tell a
good compact disc recording from a studio
master album or tape. The Nissan is the CD.
the 944 the master.
Right now the 300M, at its birth, is an
equal to the 944. If it stays in the market for
its planned five-year life, and is r e f i and
improved each year, it wuld be a major
player in our sports car fuhm. At the very
least. the new Z-car is not likely to gamer
the p r image the last 300M seems to
have accumulated.
AUTOWEEK FEBRUARY 6. 19