Confirmed: Nissan Shows Upcoming Z-Car With Manual Transmission
Nissan has issued another teaser for the impending 400Z with clear intent to alleviate any confusion created by the previous marketing materials. We said it looked like the company planned on offering the sports coupe with a manual transmission and are required to revise our claim. It’s now blatantly obvious that Nissan is planning on producing be-clutched examples. We can only assume that Nissan’s marketing department noticed that everyone had started to catch onto the possibility of there being a manual option in its last posting and simply decided to remove all doubt.
One can even imagine the video conference where management tells the person editing the clips to throw in a bare shot of the gear selector this time. Nissan knows few customers will actually buy one but that the automotive press can’t help but mention the last of a dying breed. Some of us wake up in a cold sweat nightly, haunted by the knowledge that carefully using two appendages to change gears isn’t something future generations are going to put up with.
We can’t really say and aren’t planning to use another shadowy teaser to make assertions of items that aren’t spelled out for us. Besides, the manufacturer will be showing us the prototype on September 16th. After living for months in relative isolation to avoid getting coughed on, waiting another week to see a car is going to be a breeze.
https://twitter.com/NissanMotor/status/1303981539534008322
[Image: Nissan]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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If they put the VR30DDTT, it'll be an interesting car. Given its low volume, I don't expect them to maintain two trim levels with a turbo-4 alongside a turbo-6. But the turbo-6 gives them the flexibility to have two levels of horsepower with minimum difference between them.
"Maybe the 3.8-liter that’s in the GT-R will come into play." No. Hand maid engine in this?? I am thinking. Should I succumb to another Nissan? Remembering 240sx, all that car was missing is more power