Nissan's Z takes on Porsche's finest
Folks are always talking about the Nissan GT-R and the Porsche 911's Nurburgring rivalry, but what about their other sports coupes?
- North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
Folks are always talking about Nissan and Porsche's Nurburgring rivalry between their heavyweights: the GT-R and 911. But the automakers may have another rivalry on their hands a short way down their respective product lines.
When the Nissan 370Z first hit the streets late last year, many automotive journalists compared the smaller, lighter Z car's performance to the midengined Porsche Cayman S. One thing these cars do have in common is that they both live in the shadow of their more exotic siblings.
Check out this video from Best Motoring that pits the 370Z (also known as the Fairlady Z) using Synchro Rev Matching manual transmission against a manually shifted Cayman S. Also in the field is a Porsche 911 Carrera with the PDK transmission, a BMW 135i coupe, and the Honda S2000 Type-S (which is similar to our S2000 CR).
If you don't speak Japanese, go ahead and skip to the 2:00 mark, where the action begins.
This is by no means a scientific test (for example, that 911 driver should be blowing away the rest of the field), but it's still fun to see the Z-car keeping up with zee Germans.