Everyone modifies an old Nissan sports car ... except for one part.
Hiroshi Tamura is a real enthusiast. The “Godfather of the GT-R,” also in charge of Nissan’s new Z, has his priorities in order. I know this because he won’t tell me the zero-to-sixty of the new Z under direct questioning. “Conditions will dictate this,” he says. “We are more concerned with it being a willing dance partner.”
Frankly, this is the best non-answer to a question like this I could have asked for.
It takes a real driver, a real enthusiast to care about inputs. To pay attention to those special details that can make or break the way a human interacts with a machine. Good inputs can make up for all manner of deficiencies in dynamics (hello, B7 Audi RS4!), and, conversely, bad ones can ruin the good work dynamicists are doing (Tesla Model S).
I once bought a 2005 Audi S4. It was a lovely car, with a V-8 engine, comfy interior, and impeccable highway mannerisms — perfect for commuting around the New York tri-state area. I got a great deal on it because it was the demonstrator for the owner of the dealership for a few months and a few thousand miles on the odometer translated into some real savings. Objectively, buying it was a good move. But I never could love it, and sold it several months later. Why? It had the base four-spoke steering wheel, which I hated gripping, rather than the optional three-spoke unit that came later. Some people would think I was nuts for selling a $45,000 car over something relatively small. But a real enthusiast would hear that story and nod.
During a segment of the pre-drive presentation in which Tamura-san points out the “retro-future” elements of the new Z, he offhandedly mentions something that stuck in my head ever since.
There’s the front end with its big, square mouth and headlights evocative of the 240Z – a front fascia that only really makes sense when one runs up your rearview mirror and it looks just like a futuristic 240Z. There’s the rear section tail lights, reminiscent of the Z32 300ZX but with a very 2022 amount of LED “depth.” Both of these elements are cool, but what stands out is the small connection to the greatest Nissan in history: The R32 Skyline GT-R.
The R34 may be the most valuable, the most collectible, and the highest performing of the “analog” GT-Rs. In my opinion, it’s also the best looking. But it was the R32 that was so good it got banned from racing. It was the R32 that made me and my friends say “no Skylines” when racing each other in Gran Turismo 1 — it was too good. Even today, if you’re building a high-performance Skyline, the R32 is the lightest, the purest of the bunch.
“We noticed in Japan,” Tamura-san says, “that many people will modify their R32 Skyline GT-Rs, like they modify all other sports cars. Many people, when they modify their cars in Japan, will change the steering wheel. But not the R32 Skyline. Most people, even the tuner companies, leave the stock wheel alone, because it is perfect.”
As a former R32 Skyline owner myself, I cannot help but nod in agreement. That steering wheel was, in fact, as perfect as any steering wheel has ever been. Just this past weekend, I drove the $450,000 Built by Legends MINES R32 GT-R, and the steering wheel was left stock aside from a suede re-covering. I’ve changed the steering wheel in my C5 Corvette, Fox Body Mustang, and Safari Porsche 911, but not the Skyline. It didn’t need it.
“This is why we made the new Z steering wheel the same. There has to be buttons on it, of course, for the functionality. But the size, the diameter, shape, and circumference are all identical to the R32, and we even put the finger grips on the back like the R32.”
And he should know – Tamura-san’s weekend ride is a stunning R32 GT-R, which he purchased new and at one point made over 800 horsepower. He dialed it back, he says, for balance and drivability. And he made sure to include this excellent detail, the perfect driving input device, in the new Z.
Keyword: What the 2023 Z Shares With the Greatest Nissan Ever