On September 22, Nissan invited Z Car Garage to drive the new Z from San Francisco to Los Angeles along the famed Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The event, dubbed #NissanAdventuresPCH, was an an all-expenses-paid trip with overnight stays in SF and San Luis Obispo.

 

Geared towards social media content creators, Nissan hosted a cocktail hour with tips and tricks from a professional photographer/videographer and even provided personalized drone footage during the drive. It was, as promised, an unforgettable roadtrip experience with amazing company. Enjoy our report with photos and video…

My Z Car Story

 

Dear Zcarblog readers, while most of you know me as a die-hard Datsun Roadster owner/enthusiast, I also have a strong connection to the Z car. Most, if not all of my Z-car experiences have been possible through Rob and Z Car Garage. When I was dating my girlfriend back in 2005, Rob lent me his 1991 Nissan 30ZX Twin Turbo to enjoy. In 2007 I purchased my very own Nissan 350Z 6MT Enthusiast (above) with Stoptech big-brakes, VOLK CE28N wheels and a Nismo exhaust. My wife and I did everything in this Z from epic roadtrips to track days. In 2011 we were expecting our first child and we roadtripped down to the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show in the ZCG Nissan 370Z…

 

…And of course I’ve been lucky to drive the first generation 1970 Datsun 240Z on many rallies and weekend fun runs. This bring us back to the current generation Nissan Z (RZ34), and all of my Z-car memories started to come full circle in 2021 when Nissan invited us to their headquarters in Tennessee to view the pre-production “Z-Proto”:

 

A few months later we were guests at the 2023 Nissan Z Global Reveal event in New York:

  

In October 2021 we hosted a 2023 Nissan Z Viewing Event at Z Car Garage for the public to enjoy:

 

Our journey with the current Nissan Z has been tremendous. When Nissan sent us the invitation for the PCH drive I was beyond excited for the opportunity to enjoy another roadtrip with my wife, in a Z. Like old times. So, from seeing that Ikazuchi Yellow Pearl prototype Z at Nissan HQ in 2021 to having one delivered to our driveway in 2023, Z-car karma really did come full circle:

 

The Drive

Day 1: San Jose to San Francisco

Nissan flew all attendees up from LA to SF to begin the drive, ending back in LA with the Z in each person’s driveway. Since I am based in San Jose, Nissan had a 6MT yellow Z delivered to our home, from LA! The adventure began with my wife and I driving up to SF to meet at our first venue, the 1 Hotel. On a rather serendipitous note, this is the same hotel we stayed in back in 2011, just prior to our first child when it was called Hotel Vitale:

 

After check-in we enjoyed a nice stroll by the Ferry Building and returned to the hotel for cocktails with the event group. Led by Nissan’s PR-rep Stephen O’Neil, the unifying theme for the PCH event was accessibility: The Nissan Z is an attainable sports car and social media can also be accessible. To drive this point home they enlisted the help of director/cinematographer Steven Moreno to offer tips and tricks on smartphone photography.

 

He even showed us his professional gimbal for shooting smooth video and each attendee was gifted a DJI OSMO 6 for smartphones. Dinner followed and this would be the start of some fascinating discussions with a wonderful group of people from all walks of life.

Day 2: SF to San Luis Obispo

Saturday’s drive would take us to San Luis Obispo via HWY 1/PCH with photo stops along the way – about 240miles. The morning started off with drivers getting a tour of the Nissan Z. The sight of 6 Z cars outside the hotel garnered attention from passerbys. As I was taking photos I noticed the yellow 6MT Z we drove up was no longer present…

 

…we were pleasantly surprised to find it was replaced with a Boulder Gray 9AT Performance. You may recall that we took delivery of our very own 2023 Nissan Z earlier this year. Despite having driven our 6MT Performance model extensively, I could not pass up the opportunity to drive a 9-speed automatic trim (more on this below) down the PCH. Like the 9AT, the Blue interior really grew on me with the Gray exterior:

 

Each Z came with the route print out and pre-programmed GPS, but all drivers were free to explore en route to the first stop ~45 miles south along PCH. We jumped in our Z and headed straight to Fort Baker for a few beauty shots with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge:

 

The Z drew plenty of attention in the parking lot. A gentleman named Tony chatted with us and took photos while expressing his memory and admiration of the Z car. Check out his walk-around video with narration below…it was like he was a professional content creator!

 

After navigating out of SF city we finally hit HWY 1 to enjoy some beautiful coastline driving. Arriving at our first photo stop/drone opportunity was one of our favorite destinations, Pescadero Beach. We’ve done many group drives out to this spot with fellow Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts:

 

Each driver got their own drone/video session with cinematographer Steven Moreno. For “chase” video he mounted his Gimbal to the back of a Nissan Armada (support vehicle) and our task was to follow it as close as possible. This was really fun and we had 2-way walkies to communicate with Steve while driving. The results from the drone footage were super impressive, you can see the footage in the video below. Huge thanks to Steve for sharing his passion with us!

 

People love the new Z and the beach lot was no different. A family visiting from NY had to check it out and we happily obliged. After a good 45min of video/photos we hopped back on to the PCH. Yeah, this Boulder Gray paint on the new Z has really got me…I took many photos 🙂

 

Enjoy this video we put together of the PCH drive:

 

The weather was fantastic along HWY1 so we stopped by Monterey to visit my favorite race track, Laguna Seca! Yes, this was just before the Rennsport Reunion and we will have a full race report on zcarblog.com soon!

 

While the PCH does continue past Monterey down to SLO we took a more direct route to avoid road work on HWY1. Driving the long stretch on 101S really made me appreciate the Z’s 9-speed automatic…the gearing allows for ultra-low engine revs for relaxed cruising…2000rpm at 85mph is nice. Thumbs up and lots of love from this G35 owner on HW 101:

 

We arrived at our 2nd overnight hotel, the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo just before 7pm. Another fantastic evening of drinks, food and conversation ensued.

 

Day 3: SLO to Los Angeles

After a casual breakfast we left SLO and headed south towards our final destination of Los Angeles. Taking 101S allowed us to stop in the small town of Solvang, the sight of our favorite Annual Solvang Datsun Roadster Show. Lots of memories with our family here. A welcome excursion from 101 was Painted Cave Vista Point. This twisty road took us high above for great views and looped back to 154-E.

 

Driving Impressions

This was the most time I’ve spent driving the 9-speed automatic Z. Having driven the ZCG manual transmission Z previously up my favorite winding roads…the 6-speed manual is the perfect-and only transmission of choice for me..but the 9AT has its merits. Cruising along the freeway at a paltry 2000rpm while offering blistering acceleration in full automatic mode is a nice compromise. It’s enough to simply haze the rear tires…even from a roll!

 

If I could find one criticism it’s the paddle shifters. They do not seem to offer quick upshifts or downshifts any faster then being in full automatic mode…I see them as ‘fun-to-have’ feature. Have no fear as it sounds like Nissan improved the shifting performance in the 2024 Nismo Z-kudos to the team! Also, as we mentioned before the sound alone of the 9AT -equipped Z is better than the 6MT…a by-product of current sound restrictions. Either gearbox will serve you well behind the new Z.

 

We made one final stop at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles before dropping off the Z near LAX. What a cool car. Nissan flew us back to San Jose Sunday Night so we could get back to work on Monday. A quick shoutout to Page One Automotive…Benjie and Austin provided excellent service during the trip. Each car was detailed and filled up with gas for the drivers and we really appreciated it. Also, thanks to Nissan for the $500 gift card to cover roadtrip odds and ends!

The People

 

Mr. K said, “Love cars. Love people. Love life.” The NissanAdventuresPCH connected us with an amaZing group of people. Content creators, all talented at their craft. Artists, maybe not in the literal sense, but each one continuously strives to perfect the craft in their respective fields. It was humbling and fascinating to learn from them. I also appreciated their candid feedback on the new Z. Please, give each one a moment of your time by checking out their social media channels below:

Chris Dunlop

https://www.artofchrisdunlop.com/

Chris is an automotive artist. Catch his latest work featuring the new Z on his Instagram, and prepare to be blown away!

Naza Zamanzade, Lifestyle Blogger and Family Travel Writer, Instagram

Aimee Shackelford, car enthusiast and content creator,  Instagram

Angel Laketa Moore, Actress Comedian & Host, Instagram

 

Thank You!

 

Huge thanks to Nissan for the invitation and gathering an immensely engaging group of people to enjoy the drive with. We love that you are still keeping the spirit alive for our beloved sports car. Long Live The Z! More photos in the gallery below.

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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:

 

Later in August we were guests at the 2023 Nissan Global Reveal event in New York:

 

In October we hosted a 2023 Nissan Viewing Event at Z Car Garage for the public to enjoy:

 

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!

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