Exactly how fast is the new Nissan Z?

The 2023 Nissan Z officially broke cover today, and the big news is confirmation the iconic rear-drive sports coupe will be more powerful than the Toyota Supra.

But will the new Nissan Z be quicker? The early evidence suggests the Supra will retain bragging rights in terms of the benchmark 0-60mph and 0-100km/h acceleration tests.

However, it’s by no means a forgone conclusion just yet.

The new Nissan Z’s Infiniti-sourced 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 has today been confirmed to deliver 298kW of power (400hp), which as we predicted out-muscles the Supra’s BMW-sourced 285kW 3.0-litre inline turbo-six.

However, torque is a different story, with the Nissan Z claiming a peak of 475Nm – less than the Toyota Supra’s 500Nm.

Nissan has not revealed official weight or acceleration times for the new Z yet, but says “the engine is designed to deliver a sharp, yet smooth response to the driver’s input, along with an estimated 15 per cent improvement in 0 to 60mph acceleration”.

Therefore, extrapolated from the previous-generation Nissan 370Z’s circa-5.0sec 0-60mph (0-96.5km/h) sprint time, it should hit 60mph in around 4.25 seconds.

And we expect it will do that with the nine-speed automatic transmission, which comes with a launch control mode that should deliver faster acceleration times than the six-speed manual.

Of course, that 4.25sec 0-60mph number is by no means official, but it gives us a good baseline figure to work with – and it’s slightly slower than the auto-only Supra’s claimed 0-60mph time of 3.9sec.

In terms of 0-100km/h times, the circa-1500kg Supra is rated at 4.1sec in Australia and the new Nissan Z should easily get under 4.5sec and potentially dip into the 4.3s.

But just how close it goes to the Toyota remains to be seen, and depends on a variety of factors beyond power to weight ratios – not least torque delivery, turbo response, transmission performance, final drive ratios and tyre traction.

Indeed, while we await the Nissan Z’s all-important kerb weight figure, the only way to really know which car claims acceleration bragging rights is to put the new Z and Supra side by side on the strip.

Watch this space.