2022 Nissan Z Proto Walkaround Video Reveals 7,000-RPM Redline, Cool Easter Eggs

Byron Glover Jr. of Drive 615 had the opportunity to get up close and personal to the Z Proto at the Nissan Americas headquarters, and the first impressions are very positive. The six-speed manual is flanked by two buttons, one for engine start/shutdown and the other for automatic rev matching. If your heel-and-toe skills aren’t up to snuff, the button located on the right side of the center console will help you downshift like a champ.

Toward the halfway point of the 16-minute video featured below, Byron also highlights the gauge pod on the top of the dashboard. The one closest to the driver is for boost and goes up to 20 pounds per square inch, the middle gauge is for turbo speed and goes up to 250,000 revolutions per minute, and the final one is curious for a modern car, namely a volt gauge.

The working prototype also hides a few Easter Eggs in plain sight, starting with the 1,969-mile odometer reading that references the first year of production for the Datsun 240Z. The distance-to-empty readout shows 370 miles, and the digital clock on the top right corner of the central touchscreen reads 2:40 PM. There are, however, a few more details worthy of mention.

Take a second look at the digital instrument cluster. The centrally-located tachometer goes up to 7,000 rpm in sport mode, which is 500 rpm short of the 3.7-liter V6 in the 370Z. The all-new Z doesn’t rev as high because it’s a twin-turbo affair borrowed from the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400, a luxurious coupe that flaunts 400 horsepower and 350 pound-feet (475 Nm) of torque. Coincidence or not, the go-faster Q60 also tops 7,000 rpm.

As opposed to the Infiniti’s seven-speed auto, the optional transmission in the 2022 Nissan Z is the 9G-Tronic introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 2013. Known as the JATCO JR913E in Nissan vernacular, the nine-speed automatic is shared with the full-size Titan and mid-size Frontier pickup trucks.