The Philippines has earned the honour of being the first country in the region to make the new Nissan Z available, with order books opening for the sports car on 21 September 2023.
Nissan Philippines surprised members of the media and guests during an event recently by rolling out the Nissan Z. The order date comes about following some initial production delays early in its launch phase but as they say, better late than never.
While many speculated that the latest model in the Z-car family lineage would take on the 400Z badge, Nissan decided to simplify things and just christen it the Nissan Z.
It rides on the same platform as its predecessor, the 370Z (Z34). This gives it the chassis code of RZ34. However, it’s not dependent on the atmosphere anymore to feed the engine. There’s some help now from a couple of snails.
First used by Infiniti, you’ll now find the new VR30DDTT engine under the hood. The twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 makes 383 PS and 475 Nm of torque. Don’s mistake its Infiniti lineage for something boring, the engine was on Ward’s 10 Best Engines list for 2017 and 2018.
Apart from that, it’s a pretty modern mill with aluminium block and heads, compact twin direct-mount turbos with integrated exhaust manifold and electronic wastegate actuator, twin water-to-air charge coolers and variable valve timing control (VTC) on the intake as well as exhaust.
While the 9-speed automatic is guaranteed for the Philippines market, enthusiasts will be thrilled to know that the 6-speed close-ratio manual will be available too. The latter packs a performance clutch by Exedy and an exotic carbon fibre composite driveshaft.
On the handling front, the Z features electric power steering, a new shock absorber design with a larger diameter upfront and a mechanical clutch-type limited slip differential.
The report states that pricing will be P 3.888 million (~RM 318,000) regardless if you choose to shift yourself or let the car do it for you.
In the Philippines, the price is almost a million Peso (~RM 82,000) more than its predecessor, the 370Z. However, it does carry a longer list of standard equipment such as 19-inch forged Rays wheels, powered leather/suede seats, aluminium pedals, a 8-inch infotainment system with NissanConnect, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as an 8-speaker Bose sound system.
There’ll be 6 shades to choose from in the Philippines, with 5 of them being two-tone schemes:
“Better late than never.” Some despise it, others begrudgingly agree with it but he swears by it… much to the chagrin of everyone around him. That unfortunately stems from all of his project cars not running most of the time, which in turn is testament to his questionable decision-making skills in life. A culmination of many wrongs fortunately making a right; much like his project cars on the rare occasions they run, he’s still trying to figure out if another project car is the way to go.
