May 05, 2008 Nissan Leads Japanese Sportscar Scene

12:35am by Cheechoo (Cars)

According to Road & Track magazine, the next iteration of the Z will be almost 7 inches shorter than the original, 200 lbs lighter (YES!) and will have 350bhp/280lb-ft. These stats on paper are pretty mind-boggling if you consider the base price of ~$35,000.

Unfortunately it seems the price has to increase a few grand from the original. But at a sub-$40k range, this should give a lot of models on the market a run for their money. Road & Track named the Porsche Cayman S as a car that could be slapped by this new Z. Its main competitor, the Honda S2000 will be left in the dust with the quickness, even the new CR version that’s coming out (they didn’t change anything, really).

Along with the upcoming GTR (Z06/GT3 beater), Nissan is really showing their muscle in terms of their sports car models. I’m eager to see Honda and Toyota try and best the Nissan hype with their NSX and LF-A, respectively.