I went out and overpaid for a base 400Z Sport 6 spd for the lot, and it has been sitting too long, so I decided to throw my demo plate on it and have been driving it a few days. This is without a doubt my new favorite car.
This is the best redux/retro since the Challenger, except it actually drives incredibly well. It has all the wrong things right. I mean that by saying it's perfectly flawed. It sounds like trash just like an 80-90's 6 cylinder Japanese sports car does. It's not particularly comfortable. The ride is pretty harsh and unforgiving. Outside of blindspot monitoring and adaptive cruise, the tech is no different than any other entry level car. The trunk is eaten up by that big cross brace. It's completely impractical and completely awesome if you grew up with 80's RX-7's, Z cars, and Supra's.
The right things that are right. The gearbox is incredible. True direct connection straight to the gearbox. A lot of rear drive front engine cars are running linkages now. Not this one. You can feel the shifter throbbing and tilting as the engine goes through the rev range. The interior is the perfect modernization of the 70's Z car. Triple pods and all. There are so many nods to the original Z car. The hood lines/fold. The headlights, the B-pillar badge. Then you have 80's and 90's Z car in the taillights. Those wide hips look so good in the outside mirrors. The car pulls HARD. 10-15 years ago you are in 911/Z06 Territory. It handles far beyond the capabilities of 99% of drivers. The all black interior with zero chrome is all business with zero flash. It throws off an RX-7 FD vibe.
Lastly, unlike the Supra, this is a true product of Japan with the heart and soul of those great 80-90's Japanese sports cars. It kinda feels like a parts bin car, like those all were, but that's ok. It's supposed to. I just love this thing.This is the car you got, if you asked a designer in 1978, to envision the car in 2023. I will definitely own one of these soon. Probably an yellow or orange like one of those great 240Z's of yore.
I dabbled in a lot of high end cars this year. A few 911's, C8 Vette's, Caymans, an M3 Competition, GT500.... and threw my plate on all of them for a week or so. And this is the one that gave me the most driving pleasure. It's a motor and 4 wheels with nothing more to offer you than getting you around in a really fun and exciting way. You'll get 4 bags of groceries in the back, and the other three go on the passenger seat. Just like all those cool cars I owned back in the day.
/coolstorybro
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