 What is up you guys, I'll go back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I am Goldpony. I do new car track SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we are in the brand new 2023 Nissan Z courtesy of younger Nissan in Frederick, Maryland for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And believe it or not, the time in me making this video, this thing is not sold. It is actually available, which is kind of remarkable because these things are so dang hard to find. This is essentially the Z reborn in modern form. It looks absolutely amazing in my personal opinion. And it is actually still available with the manual transmission, although we don't have that transmission today. But anyways, we'll get more to that in the video. But ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing it. So there won't be a few different trim levels for the 2023 Z. First one being the sport, starting at $40,990. Not too bad there. Performance, which actually is the trim level we have today, starting at $50,990. And the proto spec for $53,990. But regardless of trim level that you go with the power plant on the new Z is going to be the same. Powering the beast is a three liter twin turbo V6, putting out 400 horsepower at 6,400 RPM, 350 pound feet of torque coming in at 1,600 RPM. That power being sent to the rear wheels, of course, to a six speed manual with rev matching that is available or a nine speed automatic with paddle shifters, which actually is the transmission that we have today. Zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 4.3 seconds for the manual, four seconds flat then for the automatic top speed, 155 miles per hour in case you were interested, with MPG numbers coming in at 18 in the city, 24 on the highway, taking premium unleaded fuel. So before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test here in the Z, wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes. There's actually a little toggle switch located just to the right of the shifter that's going to give you standard and sport, essentially adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response, and the steering sensitivity as well. So now that we got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the new Z here to the test and let's see how quickly the paddle shifters are going to react, but also let's see how quickly we can get this one here up to speed. All right, so before we do this acceleration, I did want to tell you guys there is a full manual shift mode. You just simply slide the shifter all the way to the back again. It's actually going to tell you what gear you're in up on the digital gauges as well, so that's very convenient. And before we do this acceleration, I want to let you guys know I did put in this sport driving mode. I'm also actually going to press this little, I'm going to call it traction control off, back on my NG35 Coupe back in the day. It was VDC off, but that makes things more fun. So let's go ahead and find that straightaway and let's see how quickly we can get this one up to speed. Go, man. Whoa, dude, that was fun, man. That took me back. Oh, I love the spinning. You almost can't even tell you're spinning because the wheels are just flying. That was fun, man. I could get back into drifting again back in the day. Look, my Infinity G35 Coupe was so much fun back in the day, turning that VDC off, turning the traction control off, whatever you want to call it. This thing sounds like a beast. You hear that? Wait till we get to the exhaust. I'm going to turn this thing off. Do you hear that? Wait till we get to the exhaust club later in the video. I think it's going to sound pretty darn good. And I can tell you guys, the instant I put it in that sport driving mode, it did immediately downshift. So it's definitely going to hold the RPMs at a much higher level, giving you more power on demand. So it sounds pretty darn good. I can't get over that sound. So anyways, as always, to go along with that acceleration breaking is equally important. And so upfront, you won't find 12.6 inch ventilated front disc for the sport trim level. However, it is going to differ depending upon which trim level that you go with because for the performance that we have today in the proto-spec, you're actually going to get that bumped up to 14 inch ventilated front disc. And it's going to be the same kind of deal in the back actually. 12.1 inch ventilated rear disc for the sport, 13.8 inch ventilated rear disc for the performance and the proto-spec. And I do want to also mention for those two trim levels yet again, get Acubono four-piston front cowpers, whereas with the sport, you don't. And with those front cowpers, with the performance trim, they are going to be finished in red with the proto-spec. They're actually going to be finished in yellow. So that is pretty darn cool. As far as breaking feel goes, it's been perfectly fine. In my short little test drive here today, definitely brings you to a very quick stop. I can imagine the 60 to zero is probably definitely under 120 feet if I were to put money on it. Definitely a nice firm breaking feel to this thing. But then touching on suspension and handling up front, you're going to get a double wishbone type front suspension in the back, independent multi-link rear suspension, monotube shock absorbers, front and rear stabilizer bars as well. And if you were curious about the specific suspension setup that we had on this one, yes, younger Nissan did want to have a little bit of fun with this one. They tended the windows, they did lower it, they put some spacers on it as well. And yeah, so this one is lowered a little bit. So we'll say that. Overall though, as far as ride quality goes, it actually hasn't been too bad in my short test drive here today. Roads are horribly punishing here in Frederick, but at least not where I'm at. But it's been all right. It's a decent car as far as ride quality goes. I will say that. As far as steering feel goes, it's okay. I feel like it could be a little bit heavier quite honestly. Let me put it back in sport driving mode. Yeah, that's good. I mean, I do feel like it still could be a little bit heavier just because of the car that this is. But having said that, it's still a nice weight to it. It's definitely leaning on the heavier side of things. It instantly points you in the direction that you want to go. It feels good. It feels good. I'll put it that way. As far as cabin noise goes, you get a heck of a lot of that exhaust note as you guys are probably hearing right now. But other than that, wind noise and road noise is pretty much at bay. So no big issues there either. And touching on visibility, I can see pretty much like every other Z that I can see out the back that I've ever tested. The Z is notoriously known for not having the best visibility out there. But it's one of those deals where you get used to it. And I can say that because every time I harp on the visibility of a Camaro or a Z or something like that, everybody in the comments says, well, I own a Z and it's perfectly fine. So I'm just gonna go ahead and side with them because quite honestly, the more you drive a car, the more you get used to it. So I would imagine you would get used to rear visibility and it's probably not gonna be that big of a deal after time. But anyways, that about rounds out the performance segment of this review guys. I'll still go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Nissan Z. All right, you guys. So here she is, the new 2023 Nissan Z finished in black diamond pearl. In case you were curious of our exterior color name, which means you could probably call this car the black pearl and it would still be factually accurate. So little fun fact for you there, but let's go ahead and start with where the Z is made. Taking a look at the van, first character is the letter J indicating that the 2023 Z is made, built and assembled in Japan as it should be a nice JDM drift car right here. Up front, you will find an added chin spoiler with the performance trim and the proto spec with the sport. You don't get that one to mention that. Large rectangular front grill, a very distinguishable look from the new Z here. LED headlights with LED signature daytime running lights do come standard. You get the automatic feature with that as well, meaning when it starts to get dark at night, the headlights will turn on automatically for you there, but also automatic high beams. So if you have your high beams on a night, the sense of the vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's gonna automatically dim them back to low beams then when that vehicle is gone, it's gonna automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you. So very nice convenience feature for you there. And just taking an up close look at the headlights here, I like the attention to detail that Nissan put into this. All the lines, all the patterns that they put into these headlights, it definitely looks good, including the front grill. Look at these silver kind of rectangular designs on the upper portion of that front grill. Definitely looks very good as well. So overall, what I'm trying to say is very good looking front end to the new Z, but pretty much rounds out the front end. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the side of this one. All right, so now since we are around to the side of this one, there's some silver upper window trim, which technically is called the Katana Blade Trim according to Nissan. So I like that little reference to Japanese heritage there. That's pretty cool. The Z badging found on the C pillar in the back there. That also looks very good. I love that they included that. Got flush door handles. So you guys can see the door handles are pretty darn flush with the vehicle. So I like that as well. I'm sure that does something with aerodynamics. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. They are heated with LED integrated turd signals, as you guys can see there. That's also pretty darn good. And these wheels, they of course are gonna differ depending upon the trim level that you go with. The sport is gonna give you the smallest size wheels. But these are actually 19 inch raised engineering forged alloys. So I love that. And so Nissan's had this relationship with raised engineering for quite a while now. And I like that they have that. I believe the originally raised engineering was an aftermarket company. And they still are obviously. But Nissan has partnered up with them to make some very lightweight alloy wheels for the Z. So definitely a big plus there as well. The wheels look good on this thing. I will say that. So much no fender gap either. Thanks to those lowering springs that younger Nissan put on this thing. But overall, definitely a very good looking side profile to the Z here. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back of this one, body colored shark fin antenna all the way to the top, you got the LED center high mount stop lamp as well. Got the rear spoiler that definitely looks good back there. But we'll say the rear spoiler only comes on the performance that we have today. And the proto spec, not the sports room level. So I did wanna mention that. I like the Z emblem found kind of on the back end here. But the one thing that's missing is the fair lady badging found on the trunk of this one. So that's something they used to do way back in the day. And I think they put it on the prototype as well, but I don't see it on the actual production version unfortunately here. So I would love to and see that. And I'm sure the aftermarket's gonna fix that for us. But also you do get LED tail lights coming standard. And look at the design to these tail lights. Definitely nice look to those as well. Just underneath of it all, you got a little bit of a rear diffuser and of course very large dual exhaust outlets finished in I would call it a satin chrome. So having said that, here's that part of the video I was referencing to you guys earlier. As always, here is that exhaust clip. So now since we are around to the back of the Z, when it comes to opening that rear trunk, there's a button to unlock it on the key itself. Of course, that's for all the doors really, but trunk included. There's a rubberized button just underneath of the Nissan logo. You simply press that and then you lift up on the hatch part of the trunk itself. And that's how you're gonna go ahead and open it up. But once it opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 6.9 cubic feet. So obviously not a ton back there, but there are some tie down anchors back there like the carpeting finish of course. And if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you will find a tire inflator kit, as opposed to the spare tire in case you were curious about that. Typically next to move on to the back seats, but in lieu of the back seats, of course, this is just a two-seater. I'm just gonna let you guys know there is a little bit of storage behind these front seats. And I'm talking a little bit. There's actually a little compartment that pulls out. You got a little more storage there as well if you wanted to, but obviously not a ton of space back there because this is a Z and it's a two-seater. So you wouldn't expect it, but anyways. But to then make your way up to the front seats, manually adjustable cloth seating with the Sport. However, for the performance and proto-spec trim levels, that is going to add to that a leather suede combination. And then heated front seats actually as well. Those buttons are located just behind the shifter there, but overall seating was okay. It wasn't as adjustable as I would have liked it to be, but I will say I love the suede leather combination. That's always been my favorite seat configuration. I also love how that theme is carried onto the doors as well, the suede and the leather. So we'll get more into the interior quality in a little bit, but overall seating wasn't that bad. I was able to find my perfect driving position, but I will say it could be better if the seats were a little more adjustable. I'm just saying that. But anyways, then take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped and you do get the Z logo right front and center of this thing. So that's pretty cool. The 10 and two grips are perfectly fine, but I will say a flat bottom steering wheel would have been pretty darn cool, especially in the manual, but having said that, this one isn't all that bad. So I don't mind it, but then making our way to the startup, let me start by showing you guys the key here. If you've seen a Nissan key before, it looks essentially exactly like that. So nothing too different to the Nissan Z. You got your Nissan logo lock and unlock and that is about it. But it is all keyless entry with the push button starts. All I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press the engine start button located just to the left of the shifter there. And so once started up, the gauges are pretty darn cool. It's a 12.3 inch digital gauge cluster. And let me tell you guys, these gauges are extremely customizable on the steering wheel. There's some steering wheel mounts and controls. It looks like three dots and three lines together. If you press that, then you go to change meter view and then you have your choice between sport, normal and enhanced that completely changed the look of the gauges up there. So I love that. I love when gauges are very customizable and that is definitely the case in the Z. I personally prefer the sport look. I think that looks absolutely amazing. It is all kinds of fun information like tire pressure, like boost pressure in any given time. Got you G-Force statistics, up shift indicator that is cool as well and nice tachometer front and center, oil temp, water temp. So that is my favorite. Of course you got your outside temperature. You have things like how many miles you have left until you hit empty. But that sport configuration for the digital gauge cluster is what I would personally leave it on. I think that looks absolutely amazing. So big fan of that. But then making our way to overall interior quality got automatic climate control coming standard. Homelink controls coming with the performance and the perto spec trims that can be found in the rear view mirror for up to three different garage doors there. You also have this three bay gauge cluster found just up top of the infotainment screen here. I wanted to mention that it gives you your boost pressure, turbo speed and battery voltage as well. So that was pretty cool. That's something that the Z has done for quite a while now. So I always like seeing that. We actually have an option today I wanted to mention, illuminated door sill. So that's gonna be available if you wanted to go that route. But just in front of the shifter, you got some rubber eye storage, couple of phone charging ports just behind the shifter. You got one singular cup holder. And within the center armrest, this is probably the most shallow center armrest that I have ever seen. Not a whole lot of space going on in there. But when you open it up, you do have, see another cup holder there. And actually the center armrest slides backwards so you can utilize that second cup holder. Armrest slides forward and backwards. I did not know that before even filming this review. So that is pretty darn cold. Way to pay attention, Goldpony. But anyways, like I was mentioned to you guys earlier, I love the doors and the way they're finished because you got the suede leather combination that you find on the seats. It's carried over to the doors. You got some cup holders on those doors as well, of course. And overall interior quality is perfectly fine. I certainly don't have any issues with it. It feels like a Z in here. I'll just put it that way. But anyways, now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. You got an eight-inch color touchscreen display for the sport, nine-inch color touchscreen display for the performance and proto-spec trims. But either way, you get Bluetooth and audio streaming. Either way, you get Android Auto, Apple CarPlay. But I will say wireless Apple CarPlay. Not wireless Android Auto, unfortunately, for whatever reason. But you do get wireless Apple CarPlay. So if you got an Apple phone, Nissan's looking out for you. But not so much if you're an Android person. But factory navigation system coming with the performance and proto-spec trims. Of course, you can check out your radio information up there as well. When it comes to the sound systems, you're gonna get six speakers for the sport. But for the performance that we have today in the proto-spec, you're gonna find an eight-speaker Bose sound system. So having said that, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today. And let's test out the clarity of this one. It's okay. It feels like it's in a small vehicle. That's not the fault of the Z. But I've definitely heard better sound systems. I will say the clarity was perfectly fine. Bass was perfectly fine. But I think I've been spoiled too much by some other sound systems. So that sound system's okay. Obviously, it's gonna be the better sound system in the group, but it'll get the job done for sure. But last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen at least is when you do put the Z in reverse, you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board and actually does take up the entire screen, which isn't always the case. So I always have to elaborate that, which is pretty cool to say. But anyways, that is always is going to lead us into safety. And so front side, side career airbags do come standard along with the tire pressure monitoring system and a bunch of advanced safety actually as well, including adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors. I would love having that standard in the Z. I'm glad they did that because you don't wanna mess up this thing. Also driver attention monitoring system then as well. So overall, what are some of my final thoughts of the new Z? Very, very quick car with out of doubt, especially in this automatic transmission. Love that the six speed manual is still available. If you want to drift, definitely the one you're gonna wanna go with and you got the trash to control off button located just to the left of the gauges there for you too. So I like that. Great looks on this thing. Nissan still does an amazing job with their design of the Z. They really always have. I love the 350, I love the 370 and I love just the regular Z that they have here too. So course room for improvement goes. Root visibility is not the best but it's to be expected. And again, it's something you would get used to. I would love to have seen ambient lighting in here as well. I think that is definitely something that would improve upon what this vehicle is. Just because tuners are probably gonna get a hold of this thing and possibly do it anyway. So I think that probably would have been an added feature I would have tacked on to the Z. And the other thing is for whatever reason this sound system is just mediocre. I expected a lot more from it but that's not why you get a Z I guess in the first place. But anyways, let me know what you guys think of this one in the comments section below. That is about it for this one you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube be sure to hit to subscribe to the bell notification button if you're new car reviews because that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.