Jump to content

Nissan sports cars to downsize?


brillomaster

Recommended Posts

Hopefully not a repost... the original story is 4 days old now!

 

Heres the story...

 

Drive Australia on Nissan

 

from what i read it says that the recent colaboration between toyota and subaru with the BRZ/GT86 has prompted Nissan to reconsider a small sports car for enthusiasts, which is great, and has led to some speculation about the rebirth of the S-line Silvia range, of smaller, turbo'd cars with all the right ingredients for a drivers car (low weight, fizzy engine, rwd, slippy diff)

 

However, it might not be possible for Nissan to maintain a 3 car sports line, so it might be the next generation Zed that gets the downsize. Not really sure where Nissan can go with the Zed line other than downsize really, what with the push for greater economy effectively killing off the high displacement naturally aspirated engines of before (just look at BMW) and also the GTR only has a 3.8 litre engine, so the Zed could never go above that!

 

I'm all for the rebirth of an S line style of car, but not at the expense of the Zed line - hopefully the 370Z will enjoy many hapy years of tweaks such as the 911s have enjoyed, without decreasing the engine size. The most important part of a zed is the V6 - even if a 4 cylinder turbo makes more power, it'll be a sad day if we lose the V6, since there are very few manufacturers still making them in sportscars.

 

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the brz is the 10 year newer version of the 350z. Yes its lighter and so on but power isnt the main goal with these cars, its the drive the thrill the feel. The 350 is lardy but petrol was cheap back then and it was intended for the US market but was a hit world wide.

 

I agree though N/A is where its at for me personally. Lose the V6 and you lose alot of the characteristics I like about the 350z.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the Zed name will be retired in the next couple of years, it just doesn't make economic sense for Nissan to carry on producing them in the present climate. As for downsizing then I'm not sure that's an option, a Nissan 200Z just wouldn't sound right. Fuel will be £2 a litre within the next 5 years and just like the gas guzzling American cars of the 50's to the 80's The Zed will be looked upon as something of a dinosaur soon. There'll also be a worldwide drive for cars with lower C02 emissions so Nissan and other non exotic companies making sports cars for the masses will be looking at something pushing out 150-200 bhp with a lower CO2 footprint to bring road tax down to around £200.

 

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the Zed name will be retired in the next couple of years, it just doesn't make economic sense for Nissan to carry on producing them in the present climate. As for downsizing then I'm not sure that's an option, a Nissan 200Z just wouldn't sound right. Fuel will be £2 a litre within the next 5 years and just like the gas guzzling American cars of the 50's to the 80's The Zed will be looked upon as something of a dinosaur soon. There'll also be a worldwide drive for cars with lower C02 emissions so Nissan and other non exotic companies making sports cars for the masses will be looking at something pushing out 150-200 bhp with a lower CO2 footprint to bring road tax down to around £200.

 

 

Pete

Ouch... harsh... but a truth we will all have to face up to soon. :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Makes sense. No-one has bought the 370Z in anywhere near acceptable numbers due in part to the fuel economy and the CO2 banding as well as the cost in a recession, despite it being a better car than the 350Z. There's a market there for a car that's the same size as the BRZ86, but with more poke as most people are put off owning the Toyobaru because of the 0-60 time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Makes sense. No-one has bought the 370Z in anywhere near acceptable numbers due in part to the fuel economy and the CO2 banding as well as the cost in a recession, despite it being a better car than the 350Z. There's a market there for a car that's the same size as the BRZ86, but with more poke as most people are put off owning the Toyobaru because of the 0-60 time.

ohhh... expect to get some flaming for that... :lol:

 

I have never been in one... but I am presuming you are right. :thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Downsizing the Zed makes perfect sense, just depends how they decide do to it. Hopefully a reasonable displacement with a small turbo/TT would be good, but I can see for emmissions and sales rubbish it will end up being a 4pot 2litre :thumbdown::yawn:

 

I will be keeping my Zed forever, just like in many films when the world is about to end and all the electric cars have given up, you can get it out and take it for a blast! :drive1:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Makes sense. No-one has bought the 370Z in anywhere near acceptable numbers due in part to the fuel economy and the CO2 banding as well as the cost in a recession, despite it being a better car than the 350Z. There's a market there for a car that's the same size as the BRZ86, but with more poke as most people are put off owning the Toyobaru because of the 0-60 time.

 

How much is a 370z new though? The 350z was wild for the amount of car for under £30k.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The VQ engine is a dead duck and being replaced by Merc engines... Massively cleaner V6s with barely half the CO2 output.

 

It depends how well the Infiniti G series is doing in the US and what they do with that. The 350/370 only exist off the back of that platform.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 370Z is less than £30K. Just.

 

Maybe because it's been done before or hot hatches are faster and slightly cheaper? I don't think it's to much to do with petrol as there is a shortage of hot hatches like Astra Vxr's and 225/250's on the road and they are really thirsty.

 

Maybe rwd has fallen out of favour here? Alot of people are scared of rwd and stick to fwd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VXR is an old car now and came out when people still had money and didn't care about VED. Same for the older Meganes, and you don't see many new Megane RSeseses about.

 

No-one wants big engined cars anymore: Look how cheap the older Mercs, Audis, BMWs and Jaaaaaags are on PH. fact of life sadly, which is why everyone is downsizing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrgh a zed with a 4 pot just wont be right... they've had 6cyl engines for the last 30 years!

 

my vote would be a small 3litre twin turbo... funnily enough exactly whats in the 300zx, only a lot more modern and cleaner.

 

every man and his dog has a turbo'd 4pot, they're so common.

 

and RWD will never die amongst enthusiasts, especially above the 200bhp mark - no matter how good a FWD car is with trick diffs and the like, it'll never be as good as a properly sorted RWD car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arrghhh motor companies... grr. The V6 makes the 350Z and if you buy a car like this your not particularly interested in anything... money wise. Well you are but ...if you like the green ethnic parties... you won't buy this car lol :lol: I'm not fussed about the stuff coming out the back, im not fussed how much im putting in (to an extent... gotta make sure its doable! :thumbs: ) and im not fussed about anyone trying to change it. Downsizing is gonna kill off the big brute sports car we all love and we'll all end up driving little light sporty numbers that are slower...by a mile and try to make up for it by being ..nippy round a corner. I'm glad i was born when i was, bet when people are my age (26) in 20 yrs from now, they'll be nothing like a 350Z at all... think what there missing! :thumbdown: The government try to stop you... £460 in tax... if you like cars that much this will not stop you. What might stop people in the future is... changing charactaristics of 'types' of cars. If you make it less appealing and try to make it up in other areas, you still won't have the 'full' package. And thats where motor companies i think are gonna fall... but remember the governments push them to this.... hum. I'm just glad i'm gonna experience a 'real' car in my time lol :) ... cracking rant that was eh? :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...