Nissan Z 2024 review: Small but super-speedy sportscar is back

Forget the SUVs and sedans, this zippy ride is a love letter to redline motoring

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  The 2024 Nissan Z is on sale in the UAE, for a starting price of Dh215,900. All photos: Amer Grizic / Nissan

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  It's small, but can be used as a runaround

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  Power comes from the rear wheels in the latest Z

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  The zippy Z's brake set-up

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  The technical details on the dashboard

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  It isn't a supercar, but the Z's designers did their utmost to make it feel like one

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  Interior enhancements include red-anodised engine-start and drive-mode buttons plus a leather and Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel

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  The Z's 3-litre V6 engine

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  Nissan has kept to the traditional roots of the Z by keeping it an all-petrol affair

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  A pair of Zs on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon at Makuhari Messe in Chiba

If you’re a fan of understatement, you might content yourself with saying something such as: “Nissan is a popular car brand in the Middle East.” And that would be quite the understatement.

Even the most inattentive resident could not miss the preponderance of hefty Patrols and sedate Sunnys everywhere you look. It’s not all about vehicles at the far ends of the size spectrum with Nissan, though.

The brand does fast and sporty, too. And they don’t come much faster and sportier than the Nissan Z, the latest in a long line of lightweight buzzbombs designed to pull the paint off walls as they pass by.

Some cars feel like they’ve been built to feature in films. The Z feels like it belongs to this category. It’s a tiny tearaway – and we really mean tiny, as there are no back doors – that looks exactly like the kind of vehicle you’d see haring around in many a cinematic offering.

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  Nissan is celebrating the 50-year legacy of the Z-car All photos: Nissan

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  The Datsun 280ZX, 1980.

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  The Nissan 300ZX Turbo, 1984.

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  The Nissan 350Z, 2005.

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  The Nissan 370Z, 2010.

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  The Nissan 370Z, 2020.

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  The new Nissan Z.

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  The Z emblem.

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  The 2023 Nissan Z will be available at the tail end of this year.

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  It has been named as the safety car for the Super GT race series.

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  It will also compete in the races as the Z GT500.

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  The new 2023 Z in yellow sits alongside its 280Z ancestor.

It's unsurprising, then, that this a four-wheeler built to drift, so if you’re a fan of that and can find anywhere to get your vehicle going sideways where you won’t get slapped with a series of traffic fines, this is one for you.

The Z feels like it was built to show off. There are faster and more manoeuverable cars available of course, but this vehicle has more fun aspects of driving lurking within its chassis. Acceleration is always key in models like this, and, agreeably, you can get up to 100kph in a little north of four seconds in the Z.

So much for all the speed and skidding, though. It should also be mentioned that the Z can be a perfectly practical everyday ride if you need it to be and good to use for whatever daily domestic activities you need it for.

For example, tall people can get in and out of the latest Z without the use of hydraulic lifting equipment. That said, cabin space remains an issue, particularly when it comes to the amount of luggage you can fit in. No Ikea cabinets will fit in here. Not unless you want to strap them to the roof, which may hamper aerodynamics.

Inside, though, the Z’s cabin is a tidy mix of sporty and practical. The relative scarcity of dials and gauges makes you feel you’re in something racecar-esque, but it isn’t so spartan in there as to make a youngster's pedal car seem imbued with technology by comparison.

There are four trim lines available in the Middle East for the new Z, these comprising the MT and AT Performance and the MT and AT Proto.

You wouldn’t describe the Nissan Z as a supercar, but you get some of the same feelings while driving it. And that’s not a bad compromise if the ranks of the ultra-luxe automotive brigade are as yet outside of your exchequer.