Latest news with #300ZX
Top Gear
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Nissan GB has restored its bonkers 300bhp mid-engined V6 K12 Micra
Nissan GB has restored its bonkers 300bhp mid-engined V6 K12 Micra The Micra 350SR has been rejuvenated for its 23rd birthday. Arrives just in time to celebrate the new Micra EV Skip 10 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 10 The new all-electric Nissan Micra is coming, and although the straight-edged silhouette gives away its Renault 5 underpinnings, the cute round headlights are a throwback to those on the K12 Micra. So, what better time for Nissan GB to restore its brilliantly bonkers K12-based Micra 350SR. Oh, and it's also this particular Sunderland-built K12's 23rd birthday this year – an important anniversary for Nissan given the Japanese pronunciation of the numbers two (ni) and three (san). Yep, that's also why so many Nissan factory racecars use the number 23. Advertisement - Page continues below Anyway, we're getting sidetracked. Once upon a time this 350SR wore a brilliantly 2000s red and silver livery. It's now been updated by the Nissan Design Europe team in Paddington and gets a satin 'liquid silver' base with blue highlights. Apparently the design of those graphics was inspired by the rear lights of the 300ZX. Nice. The excellent RAYS alloy wheels remain from the 350Z, while new LED headlights provide an even stronger link to the upcoming Micra EV. Inside there's a new 9.0in infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, although Nissan GB reckons you won't be listening to music on the move… That's because the 350SR had its rear seats removed and a 3.5-litre V6 from a Murano shoved into its cabin. The engine was then fitted with headers from a 350Z, NISMO high-lift cams and induction, plus a modified ECU for around 300bhp. Perhaps we should have another go in this car just before we review the EV. Purely for research purposes, of course. Advertisement - Page continues below Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
At $25,000, Is This 1993 Ford Mustang LX Kind Of A Drag?
Today's Nice Price or No Dice Mustang has been built for the strip, but according to the seller, it is equally at home on the street. Let's see how homey this dragster's price makes us all feel. It could be argued that the 1986 Nissan 300ZX we looked at yesterday represented the model line's "Fat Elvis" phase. Larger, heavier, and more ostentatious than earlier models, the 300ZX had evolved into more of a boulevardier than a corner-cutter. That's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Elvis could still belt 'em out during his later Rubenesque era. Our T-topped coupe went the extra mile in the transition to cruiser by offering an automatic transmission, further blunting any sporting aspirations but making for a calmer ride overall. That, and a very nice presentation, made the car's $5,800 asking price perfectly palatable for the vast majority of us, earning the Nissan a solid 87% Nice Price win. Should that 300ZX have proven too tame for your tastes, perhaps today's Mustang will buck the trend. Read more: You Can Buy One Of The Best Modern Sports Sedans For Less Than A Toyota Corolla Listen, when it comes to rollercoasters, I prefer fast turns over long drops. I have a similar feeling when racing, as I would rather carve a few corners than just do ones-and-dones on either a quarter or eighth mile straight. That being said, I do enjoy drag racing as a spectator sport and particularly like the run-whatcha-brung racing involving cars that are modded for the track but are still legal to drive to that track. It's sort of like seeing Dave Bautista in a really cool suit. This 1993 Ford Mustang LX Notch is an example of just such a car. Claimed by its seller as still having such niceties as power windows and working A/C, it's also said to bring 418 hp to the table and can bump that all the way up to 520 on a 100 shot of nitrous oxide. Making all that happen is a 363 CID fuel-injected and naturally-aspirated V8. That's been built for both street and track, starting with a Dart block, and then into which a bunch of up-rated mechanical bits were poured. Feeding all that is a custom fuel delivery system starting with a tank under the trunk that the seller describes as a "work of art." The car will run on either race fuel or pump gas, making it a true Swiss Army Knife. With NO2 on board, the rest of the mechanicals had better to be up to the task lest they get launched all over the track, making for a very bad day. To that end, this 'Stang has a built automatic with a pistol grip shifter and trans brake. Behind that is an 8.8-inch rear end with super short 4.11 gears connected to 33-spline axles. The wheels are 18x6 custom alloys in front and 15x10.5 in the back, and those are shod with new meats. According to the ad, this all makes for a 10-second car. Or a 6.90 one on the shorter eighth-mile mini-me tracks. And that's without Mad-maxing it with the nitrous. For safety, there's the required battery cut-off switch and a roll cage in the cabin. That's been installed with swing-out sections, making egress a lot easier when not on the job. It also has a custom instrument cluster and a rear seat delete, meaning the kiddies will have to watch the car from the sidelines. All of those mods appear to be well executed. In fact, the car overall seems to be in pretty good shape. The seller says that it's not a "show queen" but that it will get "tons of thumbs up" at car meets. The black paint is original, and aside from the pinned cowl hood and extra hole in the front bumper, it looks appreciably stock. This being a '93, it has the later look with a cleaner nose, and smoother sides featuring quarter light glass that extends backward, covering where the earlier cars have faux vents that aped the look of the Mercedes 450 SLC. Another benefit is the better dash that was fitted to these later Foxbodies, although it this car's case, that's been carved up to fit the IP, shifter, and NO2 switchgear. Other mods include a quick-release steering wheel and four-point racing harnesses for the two seats. The title is clean, the car is claimed to be totally rust-free, and the mileage is listed as 10K, although with so much done to it, what does that really mean? To be certain, this Mustang is a niche vehicle. Despite the claim that it can be legally driven on the street, there are a lot of likely compromises in doing so. Fuel economy? Don't ask. Accidentally triggering the nitrous in the Krispy Kreme drive-thru? It could happen. Plus, the car has been denuded of its wipers, so rainy-day driving is out of the question. There's also the niggling question of whether this would be a better track-day car if it wasn't hindered by the need to be street-legal. The biggest question of all is whether or not it's worth the $25,000 the seller is asking for this build. It's arguable that the car, as it sits, could not be replicated for such an amount, what with all the go-fast bits that have been added. Still, does it warrant such an outlay in its as-built state? What do you say? Is this street/strip 'Stang worth laying out $25,000? Or is that too much, even for a car with appreciably low trap times? You decide! Florida Keys, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears. Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at robemslie@ and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your commenter handle. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2025 Nissan Z Brings Back My Beloved Bayside Blue
The new Nissan Z is a sharp-looking car, with visual homages to the 240Z and 300ZX that feel targeted at Me Specifically, but it's always felt like it's missing something in the design department. As it turns out, the car was only missing a color — a color that Nissan has finally added to the lineup for 2025. Bayside Blue is back, and its addition makes the Nissan Z a car that I would actually want to own. Bayside Blue is one of those distinctive car colors that's far more recognizable than you might expect. Sure, it may seem like just one of many blues, but this one adorned the vaunted R34 Skyline GT-R, one of the coolest vehicles to grace the roads of this Earth. A bayside blue GT-R is a more interesting sight than any supercar, and a Bayside Blue Z inherits some of that appeal. Not all of it, to be sure, but enough. Read more: 2024 Acura TLX Type S Is A Different Kind Of AWD Sport Sedan The Bayside Blue on the Z looks a bit darker than the R34's variant, though it's also possible the change is just from the photography. Clearly, we need to get one of each next to each other to compare. If you happen to have both on hand, and live in Brooklyn, let me know. I definitely just want to compare the colors, not to hoon the absolute life out of an R34 GT-R. That's not what I'm looking to do at all. You can trust me. Bayside blue isn't live on Nissan's configurator yet, so it's not yet clear how much the color will cost to add to your car. Colors for the current Z range from $895 to $1,695, and the existing two-tone Seiran Blue TriCoat finish sits in the middle at $1,295. Maybe the simplification to one single color, rather than the blacked-out roof of the Seiran Blue, will make Bayside cheaper. Almost certainly not, due to Bayside's heritage, but we can dream. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Would You Drop $6,500, On This 1991 Infiniti M30 Droptop?
While Infiniti is completely out of the convertible business, today's Nice Price or No Dice M30 shows that the company was once eager to strut its stuff in topless fashion. Let's see if this old-school open-top is priced to keep on strutting. As far as backwaters of the multiverse go, the timeline we are occupying is presently a very scary place in which to be. However, nothing is quite as terrifying as the prospect of driving the V8-powered 1972 Volkswagen Beetle we looked at last Friday. Neither the polling, nor the comments were particularly complementary regarding that brute of a Bug's $6,995 asking price, with the result being a terrifyingly-huge 85 percent No Dice loss. Closing out last week with a pair of customized cars (the VW, and last Thursday's Capri), each with the connection of an adopted 302 V8, was weird, and a bit taxing on the whole. That's why we're kicking off this week with a perfectly stock Infiniti M30 convertible that... checks ad a second time, comes with its original VG30E V6. Huzzah! Read more: The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Is The Crossover To End All Crossovers Now, unless your favorite flick is the Marky-Mark, George Clooney Iraq War hunk-fest Three Kings, which contained a debate over whether such a car ever existed, you've probably never given the Infiniti M30 convertible a kitten's fart of a thought your entire life. Hell, you're probably just remembering that Infiniti still exists at all, the brand being such an also-ran in the auto industry. That may all be true, but the M30 does have a good bit of historical significance for Infiniti, and its lower echelon parent, Nissan. Introduced in 1989 as the second-tier of Infiniti's initial model line, the M30 coupe wasn't a clean-sheet tour-de-force like its Q45 big brother. Nissan seemingly didn't have the resources for two new cars plus a new ad campaign that contained rocks and bonsai bushes, so it put its money into the higher-profit Q and dusted off the existing, and already long-in-the-tooth home-market Leopard for its companion car. Under the hood, the M30 received a 3.0-liter edition of Nissan's SOHC V6 already seeing frontline duty in the 300ZX and Maxima. Here it made a factory-rated 160 horsepower and 182 lb-ft of torque. The standard transmission in the M30 is a four-speed automatic with console-mounted shifter, as this was positioned as a GT rather than a sports car like the 300ZX with its available manual and optional turbocharged engine. Befitting such a car in this class, disc brakes and independent suspension are featured at each corner. Of course, this M30's party piece is its convertible roof. That's not a Nissan jam as all M30 convertibles started as coupes and were converted—as so many cars were at the time—in California by drop-top specialists American Sunroof Corporation (later American Specialty Corporation, and even later R.I.P.). These were factory approved, meaning that proper strengthening of the unibody was done to account for the removal of the roof, and the top looks professionally constructed either up or down. There is even rear-side window glass that is unique to the open-top cars and goes up and down electrically. The top, too, is electric, although the rear window in it is plastic, so it can get janky over time. Speaking of time, that has been reasonably kind to the M30's rectilinear styling. Never a particularly attractive car, the Infiniti's lines are, at worst, inoffensive. This is also one of the rare convertibles that looks well-proportioned with the top up or down. This one is in great shape as well. According to the ad, which humorously opens with "Dust off those LA Law VHS sets and get ready to cruise down US-1 all the way to the Keys.." the car sports a modest 102,000 miles. It's a Florida native where a garage-kept life has managed to keep the car safe from both alligators and hurricanes. Based on the undercarriage pics, there's not a spot of rust on the car, save for some surface coloring of the rear muffler crimps. Other plusses include solid-looking factory alloys with center caps and tires that are showing lots of tread. Per the ad, the top is newish and the car comes with extensive service records for all your late night reading enjoyment. There aren't very many complaints about the interior either. The dash is very '80s square-jawed, but that has a charm that you don't see in modern cars. A Pioneer head unit has been added, and that sticks out for its awkward fit in the faux woodgrain dash. There's some crazing in the leather upholstery, but the seller passes that off as "adding to the vehicle's era charm." Nothing appears to be torn or missing so it's not too bad. The bodywork is also said to have some minor imperfections in the paint, but nothing is so bad it shows up in the pictures. Per the ad, the car has a clean title and a two-owner history. To bring that owner record up to three, the seller is asking $6,500. There doesn't seem to be any requirement that the car continue to be kept in the Sunshine State, so non-Floridians can play too. Floridian or not, what's your take on this Infiniti and that $6,500 asking? Does that feel like a good deal for a cast-off car? Or, does that price have you saying Fuhgeddaboudit? You decide! Nice Price or No Dice: Facebook Marketplace, out of St. Augustine, Florida, or go here if the ad disappears. H/T to Eric Weigand for the hookup! Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at robemslie@ and send me a fixed-price tip. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
1996 Nissan 300ZX Pushes Over 1,200 Horsepower
Read the full story on Backfire News When you see a Nissan 300ZX with drag radials in the back and the exhaust coming out of the front bumper, you know something serious is going on. The owner of this 1996 Z claims it's the fastest of its kind in the world. Considering it's pushing over 1,200-horsepower, it's the kind of claim we think might be owner, Dean, has done some serious modifications to make this Z fast. The VG30DE is sleeved and has billet mains. Force feeding it is a Pulsar 7682 turbocharger. He's also added a full Rob Build Performance kit. Without nitrous, the setup is making 1,085-hp. He didn't just slap all that together. Dean says he built a 1992 300ZX back in the day, allowing him to learn the platform and what worked as far as modifications. After an unfortunate accident, he swapped everything into a Z with a backseat, but quickly learned the additional weight slowed the car way down. Thanks to his brother, Dean found his current Z, a '96 slick top. Swapping the modifications over was overall a straightforward process, although he did have to shorten the driveshaft – a far easier solution than dealing with one that isn't long enough. To enhance performance, he was able to shed 320 lbs. of weight from this current Z. In its current setup, this 300ZX has been able to achieve the quarter mile at 8.1 seconds with a trap speed of 168 mph. That's impressive, but Dean wants to push further and get the car into the 7s. Considering it's dangerously close, we think with a few more tweaks it can get there. In the Hot Rod Heaven USA review, Dean says a lot of people overlook the 300ZX, focusing instead on the Supra and RX-7. That's unfortunate, but we think it has something to do with Nissan suffering as a brand under Renault control. Hopefully a resurgence is coming for Nissan performance and this car helps show the way. Images via Hot Rod Heaven USA/YouTube
