Rather than designing a brand-new platform for the Z sports car, the peeps at Nissan decided to make small improvements to the FM vehicle architecture of the 370Z. Clearly enough, the Yokohama-based automaker couldn’t make a case for spending all that money for a low-volume car.
The Supra is another example of making do with what you have. Toyota wouldn’t have developed this fellow had it not been for BMW, which is why the underpinnings and powerplants are both designed by the Munich-based automaker. The Supra is a very different animal from the Z4 because Toyota and BMW went their separate ways early in the development process. The naysayers can’t deny the inherent power of the B58 either, a turbo straight-six lump that always makes slightly more power than advertised.
The white-painted Supra and gray-painted Z in the featured clip are both equipped with 3.0-liter mills, and both feature torque-converter automatic transmissions. The B58 is connected to the ZF 8HP, widely considered the best torque-converter automatic out there. As for Nissan, the JR913E nine-speed is a Mercedes 9G-Tronic licensed to the JATCO subsidiary.
Tipping the scales at 3,347 pounds (1,518 kilograms) compared to 3,550 pounds (1,610 kilograms) for the Z, the Supra has the upper hand in terms of torque. That silky B58 produces 368 pound-foot (500 Nm), whereas the twin-turbo V6 in the Z develops 350 pound-foot (475 Nm) on the nose.
On the other hand, Nissan claims that its VR30DDTT produces 400 horsepower compared to 382 for the BMW-powered rival. The question is, can it make use of those ponies efficiently? As implied in the headline, that’s a big fat nope because the rear wheels spin too much off the line.
The Supra further asserts dominance from a roll, although manual shifting makes things a little more interesting. That said, the Z is a better value at $39,990, excluding destination charge with either transmission choice. The Supra, meanwhile, costs $52,500 with the eight-speed automatic, whereas the six-speed manual can be yours for a cool $55,120 sans destination.
The 2023 Nissan Z vs. Toyota GR Supra video was uploaded today, and as ever, it was filmed at Sam CarLegion’s usual location in Canada.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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