The 2023 Nissan Z arrived at Z Car Garage on Monday for Monterey Car Week. To start things off right we attended last night’s Motorlux event (formerly McCall’s Motorworks Revival) located at the Monterey Jet Center. Founded by Gordon McCall in 1991 and now run by Hagerty, this annual gala features a preview of “VIP” cars to be featured/auctioned during Car Week and an evening filled with dining among private jets and vintage cars.
The 2023 Z at Motorlux
Tuesday was early load-in and we enjoyed driving the Z down to Monterey from Z Car Garage. This is the Performance model in Two-Tone Ikazuchi Yellow TriCoat / Super Black and 9-speed automatic.
Wednesday evening we arrived at the Monterey Jet Center to find the Z in a prime location near the main entrance and in good company. This venue historically features British, American and European cars so it was pleasant watching folks express interest in the Z.
On that J-Tin note, an even bigger surprise was seeing 80s and 90s cars proudly displayed nearby from the RADwood Car Show. It was great to see DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) friends and Radwood founding members Lane Skelton and Art Cervantes. That is Art’s R33 Skyline GT-R!
Hangers Full of Cars
Motorlux had everything from supercars, concours-level restorations, resto mods, motorcycles and even helicopters. With the sun setting and hanger lights on we ventured inside to find some really cool machines.
People
The fun evening was also made memorable by seeing friends. (above) Peter and Gayle Brock, (Below, L) Lane Skelton and Ali Javidan, and (below, R) Chris Brewer of Amelia Island fame. We also saw David and Howard Swig!
My favorite display of the show was the Meyers Manx airplane. This enormous vessel was surround by those famous Meyers Manx buggies including the very first one:
Enjoy this video from the Motorlux event. We also captured the Z in action while driving down to Monterey:
Thank You!
Thanks to Gordon McCall and Hagerty for hosting Z Car Garage we had a wonderful time at Motorlux and we are happy to see the event carry on in grand fashion. We also want to thank Nissan for lending us the 2023 Z to enjoy during Monterey Car Week. While there were endless cars to feature from the evening, we will let the photos do the talking. Enjoy the gallery below, and stay tuned for a full report from the Rolex Reunion and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. If you see us or the new Z in Monterey or at Laguna Seca be sure to tag us #zcargarage!
LONG LIVE THE Z!
See more of our time with 2023 Nissan Z in June. Dyno results and video incoming for the Yellow Z!
Filed under: 350z,510,Events,g35
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on August 1, 2022
On Sunday 7/31 we attended the Morning Motors Cars & Coffee event hosted by DrivingWhileAwesome (DWA) in Santa Cruz, CA. The event impressed us again with a fun vibe and superb variety of cars. One of the many perks of DWA Morning Motors is its location surrounded by the best driving roads.
This morning’s pre-event gathering met at Alice’s restaurant at 8am. Our group started with 4 cars including Rob (Porsche 993 Turbo), Josh (VW bug), Kurt (Subaru 2.5RS) and myself in the Z Car Garage 1967 Datsun 2000:Our brisk run up HWY 9 was amazingly traffic-free and plenty of room to enjoy the twisty bits. A brief pause at the 9/35 junction to meet Nick in his Datsun 510 Wagon:
We joined our friend Naveed (thanks for organizing!) and few other enthusiasts at Alice’s. Below, Mark’s 1971 Datsun 510 and Erich’s1974 Alfa GTV give off B-Sedan vibes in the am light:
After re-connecting with friends we headed to the Santa Cruz via 84 and HWY1. The lot in front of the Old Wrigley building was near full a few minutes after 9am.!
Mandatory Nissan/Datsun
I was happy to see so many Nissans and Datsuns at Morning Motors.
This R33 Skyline GT-R was recently acquired by DWA co-founder Art C our friends at Toprank International Vehicle Importers. Super stoked for Art and glad to see him enjoying it! Love the BBS LMs!
Datsun B210!
There were several S13/S14 240SX sports cars, G35s and a Z33 on WORK T7R 2P wheels:
Another ZCG client, Eric’s Infiniti FX35 sporting upgraded suspension and R35 GT-R wheels. Parking next a mint 2003 FX!
In Search of J-Tin
Morning Motors did not disappoint if you are Japanese Classic fans. Representing Mazda was our friend Tony’s 13B-powered RX-2 and his Rotary gang:
90’s icons…Third gen (A70) Supra and FD RX-7 (on ADVAN wheels)!
So much variety! Enjoy this short video:
Euro Classics
Yearning for Porsche’s? Or something a bit less “mainstream”? DWA CnC did not disappoint. Citroen 2CV:
Porsche, Alfa and Austin Healey
Lone E38 7-Series BMW…peak 7 in my mind!
My favorite car was this Porsche 914-6:
American Muscle
From 60’s to 80’s. Mike Garret’s familiar purple Mopar with late-model drivetrain and really wild Ford Coupe with diesel engine:
DWA CnC is definitely my kind of cars and coffee. It’s a great venue with amazing driving roads nearby and the cars were so diverse. We highly recommend checking it out! Thanks to the DWA crew for hosting. If you haven’t already, listen to their podcast and make sure you give them a follow on Instagram.
More pictures in the gallery below!
Z Car Garage spent a few days with the new 2023 Nissan Z at our shop in San Jose, CA. We enjoyed driving the Z on our favorite Bay Area backroads and sharing the experience with our clients. First impressions were unanimous: the new Z is fantastic right out of the box.
Our journey with the new Z began last year in May when Nissan invited us to their Headquarters in Tennessee to get up close and personal with the Z Proto:
Just a few weeks ago Nissan kindly offered to lend us a 2023 Nissan Z for five days. We happily obliged and once again thank Jonathan Buhler (Sr. Specialist Corporate Communications at Nissan) and industry veteran Dan Passe (Director, Nissan Corporate Communications) for including Z Car Garage as the new Z makes its glorious return. Enjoy our recap of the week with photos and video of the Z in action.
The New Z at Z Car Garage
Our time with the Z began at the ZONC 50th Birthday Celebration in Danville, Ca. I had the opportunity to drive it from the show back to our shop with a group of die-hard Nissan fans.
Once at ZCG we admired the new Z’s styling and Passion Red paint. We couldn’t resist parking next to a 300ZX Twin-Turbo to see how Nissan drew inspiration from the Z32 generation’s rear tail light section. The new Z also has a blacked-out strip stretching the width with quad-horizontal (now 3-D LED) tail lights. See that “Z” badge? It reminds us of the S130 era:
Up front the large rectangular grille opening and headlights are evocative of the 240Z. That large front grille opening is also there for function, providing air to several heat exchangers including an intercooler, oil and transmission coolers. This makes sense visually in person and when you catch a glimpse from your rearview mirror-it’s undeniably a “Z” view:
We put the Z on a lift and examined the chassis. The Z was also placed on scales for weight distribution and results will be shared soon. We are really excited to see the aftermarket’s offerings for this platform.
Interior
This was our first time seeing the red interior and we spent a few hundred miles behind the wheel. The dash features a large TFT gauge display, designed with input from Nissan Super GT500 driver Tsugio Matsuda. Familiar analog gauge pods are mounted atop a central touchscreen reminiscent of the S30 Z car’s center stack. The steering wheel (tilt/telescope) feels great and actually draws its dimensions from an R32 Skyline.
The interior is a comfortable place to be, devoid of gimmicks or over-styling. Nissan really spent time in this area and it shows. We liked the little details like leather stitching on the dash and real rotary knobs for radio volume and tuning. Lighted “Z” logo on door sills- something absent from the Ikazuchi-Yellow Proto-Spec Z we saw at Nissan HQ. The two-tone red theme is not as “loud” as the all-blue seats in the Seiran Blue Z that spent a few days with us last year.
Interior room is similar to the 370Z but seating position and outward view is greatly improved with a lower dash height. You can even see the Z’s broad hips in the rear through side mirrors, again another nice thought from the designers. Below, Rob (5’10”) and Tyler (6’5″) demonstrate headroom in the Z. Rob still has headroom with a helmet on and Tyler has a few inches of headroom as well:
On the road
We were impressed with the Z’s driving experience straight from the factory. Our 400-mile test drive included a mix of city/highway and canyon driving. Starting in San Jose we headed North to San Francisco via our favorite Bay Area backroad, Skyline (HWY 35).
Sit back and enjoy the sights and sounds of our time with the new Z. In this video: in-car acceleration, drive-bys, walk-arounds and road testing action from our shop and road trip to San Francisco:
Enjoy The Ride
One of our favorite parts of spending time with the new Z was sharing it with our clients. They were all ecstatic after riding along with Rob:
“Hey this is Rick, just giving my feedback on the experience of riding in the new Z car. I have to say it exceeded my expectations in every way. From the interior to the feeling of the power, to the way it commands attention. Absolutely flawless. But probably the most shocking thing was the braking and the grip it seemed to have in the corners. Just astonishing performance! Home run Nissan! Long live the Z!”
“Nissan did an outstanding job and really hit a home run. The design pays homage to the original Z while elegantly embodying modern styling cues. The interior is upscale and I really like the digital display, retro gauge cluster, and bucket seats. The performance was absolutely incredible and the way it handled made me the suspension was aftermarket. Overall Nissan did a great job with the car. I am very impressed and I cannot wait to get mine. The hardest decision for me is if I want a red one with two tone interior or white with all blue interior. Manny”
“Hello, my name is Lou Strickland and I recently had the pleasure of visiting Z Car Garage and riding in the new Nissan Z with Rob Fuller. I have owned or currently own a 1971 240Z, 1973 Fairlady Z, 1990 300ZX TT, 1993 300ZX TT and a 2003 350Z. Without hesitation I can say the 2023 Nissan Z is the best stock Z car I have experienced. The 2023 Nissan Z checks all of the sports car boxes. It looks great, it accelerates, turns and brakes very well. It is also comfortable, feels solid and does a great job minimizing road noise. Nissan did a great job reimagining the Z for the next generation of driving enthusiasts.”
“Thank you for giving me a ride in the new Z! It does look better than in the photos and videos. Once inside, the quality of the interior, clever digital displays and, important for me, headroom impressed me. Then there was the drive! The power comes on so smooth and linear that it really doesn’t feel like a turbo car. I felt no turbo lag at all. I agree with you that in many ways it feels like my 300ZX Twin Turbo—it can be both a GT car and a sports car depending on how you want to drive it. I would definitely consider purchasing one of these. So glad the Z is back! Mark”
IconZ
The drive to San Francisco was thrilling. We had to snap some photos of this iconic Z car with another icon, the Golden Gate Bridge:
The Passion Red paint is stunning and hard to capture on camera. Direct light brings out a retina-searing metallic red while in shade it looks almost burgundy. Check out the photo gallery below:
Leaving San Francisco we drove the Z down the famous Lombard St. People stopped us to check it out:
Thank You Nissan!
We thank Nissan, Dan Passe and Jonathan Buhler for the opportunity to enjoy the new Z. As our clients and friends mentioned after going for a test drive…the Z is a winner. Great job Nissan we are so excited to see it on the road and in the hands of Z-car enthusiasts. Z Car Garage can’t wait to get our Z and share it with the community. LONG LIVE THE Z!
