Z32 Nissan 300ZX Springs Back to a Casual, Modern yet Virtual Lifestyle

Nissan’s lineup kicks off, quite literally, with the little Kicks when it comes to crossovers and SUVs. Also, it does not stop until it reaches a veritable armada, by way of Rogue Sport, Rogue, Murano, Pathfinder, Ariya (EV), and the eponymous Armada. And those are solely the family high-riders. Then there are also the Frontier, Titan, and Titan XD pickup truck workhorses to speak of.

But how about passenger cars, since everyone seems to abandon them, these days? Well, no worries, this company is swimming against the current with the Versa, Sentra, Altima, Leaf (EV), or Maxima, as far as family-oriented models are concerned. Last, but certainly not least, there are also sports cars, which are now turning into some kind of ‘exotic’ breed if we think about their shrinking sales.

Anyway, Nissan is well represented here, as well, thanks to the newly updated and upgraded 2024 GT-R high-performance grand tourer and the quietly affordable $40k 2023 Nissan Z. Speaking of the latter, we are dealing here with the latest (and arguably greatest) representative of the Z-Car breed, a species of JDM-style sports car that has started giving shade on planet Earth back in 1969.

More than a half of century ago, the original Z appeared in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z but was marketed internationally under the Datsun 240Z banner. The Nissan S30 series was subsequently upgraded and sold as the Datsun 260Z and 280Z throughout its lifetime, which lasted almost a decade, until 1978. Alas, it was more than enough to establish a major cult following.

The Nissan S130 series – also known as the Datsun 280ZX or Nissan Fairlady 280Z, depending on the venue of sale, was a much shorter-lived, three-door fastback, and in 1984 it was not only replaced by the 300ZX but also abandoned the Datsun moniker for a global Nissan lifestyle. This is where the story of the ‘Z’ codenames began, as the model was followed by the 350Z, 370Z, and the current seventh generation Z.

Back when the Nissan 300ZX first appeared, it was labeled as the Z31 and followed in 1989 by the Z32 while keeping the same moniker for the first and only time during the series’ history. Interestingly, the second Nissan 300ZX (Z32) is the one attracting more attention than its predecessor, especially if we are to judge its appearances across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.

And there is no need to take our word for granted, as we have an example courtesy of Marouane Bembli, the virtual artist better known as TheSketchMonkey on YouTube, who is now keen on unofficially bringing back to CGI life the Z32, for a second time. So, after he initially worked on the iconic Z32 Nissan 300ZX from the front last summer, giving it lots of modern design traits, he rekindled the Z-Car love for the rear three-quarters POV, of course.

Alas, no behind-the-scenes making-of video (embedded below) from this pixel master would be complete without some background information, so his CGI redesign trying to answer the question “what if the 1989 Nissan 300ZX was made today” only kicked off at the 3:20 mark. From there, he subtly worked on the proportions to update them for the 21st century, making the 300ZX look sleeker and longer at the same time.

Plus, of course, the styling was updated with tech-savvy traits – such as much larger wheels and skinny tires, no apparent door handles, and a rear that not only looks proper for a neo-vintage interpretation, but also quite mesmerizing and capable of handling the 400 ponies and 350 lb-ft (475 Nm) of torque sent to the rear wheels by the 2023 Nissan Z’s 3.0-liter VR30DDTT twin-turbo V6. So, what do you think?

Should we give this reinterpreted Z32 our CGI hall pass like many of the channel’s fans or are we better off listening to advice from the vocal minority who disagrees with this neo-retro redesign? Frankly, if the 2023 Nissan Z did not turn out so great, I would have given this CGI revival my personal vote of confidence in a heartbeat.

But since the current seventh iteration is doing such a splendid job at making us dream about the Datsun 240Z/260Z/280Z, maybe we should not be in a hurry and allow Nissan the time to cook up OEM follow-ups for the 280ZX and 300ZX at the proper time…