Nissan Sports Cars

The Nissan Skyline GT-R goes down in history as one of the most iconic Japanese sports cars ever made. It managed to not only put Japan on the automotive map more than once but also to save the Nissan company from going bankrupt. Nissan’s strife to create a world-dominating performance car culminated in 1989 with the R32 GT-R, but even more interesting is how the car, which got the nickname Godzilla, came to be. A documentary about the R32 GT-R’s birth from YouTube channel, THE SQUIDD, gives a brief but detailed history lesson on Godzilla’s birth.

The Nissan 180SX is a classic Japanese car from the late 80s and is one of the more desired Nissan sportscars. One of the surviving examples is now going for a custom build by the Australian YouTube channel, Mighty Car Mods, featuring Blair and Martin. This example of the 180SX is more than twenty years old and is Blair’s favorite car of all time.

The Datsun 280ZX is the second generation model in Nissan’s Z lineup of sports cars, and it’s one of the cars that has put the Japanese brand on the radar of car enthusiasts. As a matter of fact, the 280ZX was so good that it even became Motor Trend’s Import Car of the Year in 1979. The good news is that there’s one that’s currently up for auction on Bring A Trailer, and its current bid price as of this writing is at a cool $6,000.

Gone are the days when three-cylinder engines were only meant for urban commutes. These engines were light and focused more on fuel efficiency than performance. However, things are changing, and with upsizing not an option anymore, thanks to stricter emission regulations, automakers are making the best they can with fewer cylinders and lower displacements. Companies don’t just offer them with forced induction now; they even pair them with electric motors and batteries to generate all the oomph possible. Believe it or not, there are a handful of high-performance three-cylinder engines that can blow larger engines out of the water.

The hype around the 2023 Nissan Z has been immense ever since the Z-Proto broke cover a couple of years ago. It is obviously a big deal for the Japanese automaker as it moves the Z story forward. With prices announced earlier last week and production underway, expect to begin seeing the new Z over the course of the summer.

This is, of course, the coupe that I’m referring to. But, what about a potential convertible? Shouldn’t that be the next obvious step for Nissan to consider? These exclusive renders were done by rostislav_prokop for our sister site, Hotcars, should give you an idea of what a potential Z Roadster could look like.

The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a name that echoes across the car world with a kind of reverence, similar to a Porsche 911 or a Ferrari F40. The Nissan GT-R was produced in six generations, with the latter dropping the Skyline name. The story of the Nissan Skyline GT-R dates back to 1969, and even the first model featured hardware taken straight out of motorsports. For over 50 years, the GT-R badge has been responsible for most of Nissan’s proud racing heritage, and it all started with this car, which was recently listed on Bring a Trailer for a relatively reasonable price.

After the seventh-gen Z broke cover in August last year, Nissan has, at long last, officially announced the prices of its long-awaited and much-hyped sports car. The 2023 Nissan Z will kick off with a starting price of $39,990 plus destination, which brings it to a grand total of $41,015.

With the Nissan Z about to go on sale, the Japanese company finally handed out press cars in order for us to find out how it stacks up to its competitors. Hagerty was lucky enough to get two cars – a manual and an automatic - and pit them not just against one another, but against a GR Supra, a Mustang Mach 1, and as a bonus, a 2010 Aston Martin V-8 Vantage. The results are as much surprising as they are not.

Nissan has taken everything it’s learned from the Z lineup thus far and improved on it in ways we never thought were possible. The old, aging V-6 is gone, only to be replaced by the same V-6 found in the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 with some major improvements. The same platform resides underneath, only it has been updated for improved handling, better safety, and more structural rigidity. Factor in the revised suspension, retro look, and impressive cabin, and this is arguably the best Z in existence.

While drag racing fast cars only tells you so much about their performance capabilities, it’s always fun to see who comes out on top. Currently, these four – theAcura NSX Type S, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Chevrolet C8 Corvette, and Porsche 911 Turbo S – are some of the hottest high-performance cars on the market. ’Throttle House’ arranged for them to meet for a drag race. Can the C8 Corvette punch above its weight against the turbocharged opponents?

Practicality is, often, an afterthought when it comes to high-performance sports cars. If you are on the market for one, there’s a good chance that practicality is not among your top priorities or that you have another, more practical vehicle. With that said, not all sports cars are made equal, with some of them being surprisingly practical. Here are 15 sports cars that are more usable than you might think.

This video by TheCarKraze on YouTube is a compilation of a bunch of other tiny clips put together that should give you a good idea about what the Toyota GR Supra and the Nissan Z sound like. This is a sound comparison of the two cars at idle, using launch control followed by a full-on drifting scene.

The truth is that, at its core, the Nissan Z is underpinned by a platform that’s been used for decades. And, with the Infiniti engine under the hood with the very same output found in the Red Sport models, it’s easy to assume that Nissan simply cobbled a bunch of stuff together from existing parts bins into a new body and called it a day. That actually couldn’t be further from the truth, though, and you’ll be surprised to know just what happened below the skin to make the Nissan Z so new that it will drive better than any Z car that came before it.

It seemed like it took forever, but Nissan finally revealed an all-new Nissan Z, but what about the aging Nissan GT-R? That car has been in production for 15 years, and there’s literally no sign of a new-gen R36 GT-R being in the works. This comes despite the fact that noise regulations have killed its presence in Europe and safety regulations have killed its presence in Australia, leaving just the U.S. and Japan as the primary markets. Nissan isn’t planning to kill off the GT-R as once previously expected, though it is already looking well into the future beyond the next-gen model whenever that will actually happen.