Road Trip Review: 700 Miles in a Nissan Z to See How Good (or Not) It Really is

• The Nissan Z Heritage Edition is an homage to great Nissan sports cars of yore.
• It's based on the Z Performance, one of the last manually shifted two-seat sports cars on sale.
• Many people have said the Z isn't great, but I put nearly 1,000 miles on one to find out for sure. 

This is where I'm going to spoil the whole thing. The Nissan Z is a great road tripper. Anyone who's leveled a criticism at it for not being fast enough, composed enough, or sharp enough might have a point. (I'll get to that later.) It doesn't feel quite as buttoned-down as rivals like the Supra or even a base Cayman (which, by the way, costs plenty more). But that inherent softness makes it mega easy to chew up miles. 

Sundays make for the best traversal of LA's notorious traffic, so I cruised out of the city in just under an hour and hit the open road. The Z's 400 horsepower proved to be more than enough to dice up traffic along the way, easily providing enough passing power when needed. After a short stop for some lunch, I had made it to Vegas in just under 4.5 hours.

But the biggest surprise came when I stepped out of the car and realized, wow, I feel great. The Z's seats provide a ton of support, especially in the lumbar area, so there was no backache to report. It's also got the refinement and quietude you'd expect of a modern sports car. Tire noise aside, the Z didn't unleash any nasty frequencies into my eardrums. The eight-speaker Bose sound system didn't make for particularly good listening, though. 

Because it only seats two, the Z's hatch has just enough room for everyone's luggage. Loading it up with two regular suitcases and two backpacks does make seeing out of the back, uhh, well, impossible. I'd be wrong to call the Z practical, but there's enough space for the weekly grocery run and, yes, the occasional roadie. 

The drive home revealed nothing new, and the Z averaged 23 mpg across both journeys (just over 640 miles altogether). My time with the Z didn't end when the road trip was done, and I wanted to see how it acquits itself as a sports car, not just a slinky road tripper. But I had a suspicion the surprise of the Z’s long-distance credentials was going to be a tough act to follow.

Wouldn’t you know it … In this case, all of the previous reporting is (mostly) correct. When you push it hard, the front end starts to fall apart. That's due largely to the Bridgestone tires that have almost nothing in the way of grip. Those pathetic bits of rubber do not belong on a car like this, especially one that Nissan went through the trouble of engineering a double-wishbone front suspension layout for. 

What fewer people have said is that, despite the tires, the Z has a lovely balance to it. The front might not offer the strongest bite, but the equally squirmy rear matches it to a tee. The result is something that doesn't have to be driven at the absolute limit to get real sensations from. It's friendly, too — oversteer comes on slowly in most cases, and slides are easily caught. 

It is far, far more tractable and easier to get to grips with than the mega-darty Supra, which feels like it's always trying to swap ends on you. There's an approachability, an easygoingness, and a simplicity to the way the Z goes down a fast road that so many modern cars have ditched for pure speed. It actually talks to you and demands that you drive it with intention. The same can’t be said for the Corvettes and BMW M3s of the world, which are maliciously fast even if you're asleep at the wheel. 

The Z has plenty of charm in its own right, and it's a unique offering in 2025's sports car market. You may have had a little hesitation going in because it isn't the class of the field when it comes to grip, power or pace — rest assured, it isn't. But what it offers in return is one of the most analog and friendliest all-around sports car experiences on sale right now. 

In a nutshell, the Z actually makes you feel something. I say skip the Heritage Edition (unless you really love that paint), find a manual Z for a good deal, and enjoy your new dance partner. There's no guarantee it's going to last forever.