Nissan Z vs Porsche 911

What's the difference?

The Nismo turns up the wick just enough to justify its $20K premium over the brilliant regular Z.

Visual changes inside and out are one thing, but with tangible boosts in performance, handling and braking – with no detriment to ride quality or comfort – as a result of properly engineered upgrades, the RZ34 version deserves its place in Nissan’s sports car hall of fame.

Note, though, that good as it is, the Nismo is also a potent reminder of how solid a foundation the standard Z also is… especially in manual gearbox guise.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The t-hybrid might be an entirely new propulsion system for the 911, but the net result is unchanged – power, poise and performance on tap.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

Reinterpreting a classic via retro styling isn’t always successful – hello, 2001 Ford Thunderbird ­– but what Nissan has achieved with the RZ34, given it’s a pastiche of several Z greatest hits from the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and today, is truly masterful design.

Take the cab-backward silhouette, long nose and short wheelbase; it somehow manages to deftly capture the spirit of previous Z generations, without looking like a bad caricature.

Points especially go to the stunning nose and tail treatments that evoke both the ‘70s 240/260/280 as well as the sadly long-forgotten Mid-4 II concept car of 1987.

Slightly longer than the regular model, the Nismo’s nose is meant to evoke the early ‘70s Japan domestic market Fairlady ZG, with the G denoting “Grand Nose”. Fun fact: Fairlady first appeared on the 1960 Datsun roadster as deference to the Broadway musical (and later Audrey Hepburn film, presumably) ‘My Fair Lady’.

Anyway, besides scraping speed humps and driveways, the Nismo’s elongated front bumper promotes improved engine cooling and better aero flow, as do the side sills, larger wraparound three-piece spoiler and redesigned rear bumper/diffuser. The wider-yet-lighter back wheels are 10mm wider. And a glossy red stripe runs along the underside like Anna Nicole Smith’s lipstick.

Does it all look better than the simpler, purer regular Z? No. But they perform better. And isn’t that the point of a Nismo?

This facelift debuts a revolutionary exterior design that has completely reshaped the 911.

Just kidding. If it ain’t broke and all that. The front air vents and exhaust have changed, the former now an active intake system that deploys via vertical flaps, but elsewhere it’s largely evolution over revolution.

Instead, Porsche has focused most of the updates in then cabin. In here, you’ll find a new digital instrument panel, they’ve changed some of the levers and the steering wheel.

In true Porsche fashion, though, this new 911 mimics the older versions in that it's one of the more intuitive cabins you’ll ever sit in. Everything feels as though it’s exactly where it should be, and all feels entirely centred on the driver.

So, just as the exterior is an anthology of past Z car stylings, the same also applies inside.

A mishmash of new and old as well, they also marry together harmoniously – after you’ve bent and contorted yourself inside nice and snug, on the racy yet not-too-unforgiving set of Recaro bucket seats.

The Z’s signature sloping roof and rising window line; a trio of dials that have been a hallmark of the series since the 240Z, a thin three-spoke steering wheel; a physical hand brake and a pair of old-school seat base angle adjuster knobs just like in sports cars from 20 years ago betray the Nissan’s ageing DNA.

But they set the mood, like hearing a favourite old track, though one remixed by a contemporary DJ to a modern beat.

Which means that you’ll be able to view whichever artist you like through the 8.0-inch touchscreen, either via Bluetooth audio streaming, Spotify or some such app.

Easy to decipher and simple to navigate (though no imbedded GPS is fitted), the Z’s dashboard also offers the essential surround-view parking camera (given how limited vision is as you’re sat so low with not much glass to peer out through), amongst a host of vehicle functions. You’re also privy to extremely useful blind-spot alert thoughtfully placed inside the car by the mirror mounts, four cupholders if you count the door-sited ones and surprisingly generous storage. Practicality, thy name is Fairlady.

For lightness and sensible packaging, we understand why Nissan’s sports coupe is strictly a two-seater proposition – and certainly a roomy enough one for the lucky pair at that.

However, it’s a shame Nissan doesn’t offer a 2+2-seater option in the form of a pair of occasional jump seats behind, as per the old Datsun days, as there seems to be just enough space for smaller folk – though as a pair of shelves, that area did prove very useful during our week with the Nismo.

Issues? Along with a sheer lack of grace entering and exiting the Z, poor overall vision and 350Z-era switchgear that are now old enough to drive themselves, finding the right driving position eluded this particular 178cm tester. The seats do a great job keeping you firmly fixed in place, and of course the wheel tilts and telescopes, but those pair of knobs were forever being twirled and fiddled with.

Oh, and simultaneously unlocking and opening the doors was also confounding, due to exterior door handles and pressure sensor not designed for Homo Sapien hands.

Further back, and as in the two previous generations Zeds, a brace bisects the luggage area. Rated at 241 litres VDA, it is wide and flat but a wee bit shallow. At least it adds another level of practicality and is big enough for those weekends away.

There’s no cover (though seeing what’s inside isn’t easy) and no spare wheel of any size is fitted.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Nismo…

This probably falls under the ‘next question, please’ umbrella, given that, while the Porsche 911 is known for a lot of things, vast acres of space with loads of practicality perks just ain’t a part of its portfolio.

The new 911 measures a not-insubstantial 4533mm in length, 1852mm width and around 1294mm in height, and it rides on a 2450mm wheelbase. Luggage space is a paltry 135 litres under the bonnet, plus whatever else you can fit in your pockets.

There’s seating for four, should you not like the people you’re squeezing back there very much, but really the 911 is best enjoyed as a two-seat proposition – which is why you can also delete the backseat, should you wish.

It also weighs a minimum 1595kg, or up to 1745kg, but Porsche says the hybrid tech only adds about 50kg to the total kerb weight.

Yikes. Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention, because the Porsche 911 range now suddenly seems very expensive.

In fact, it inspired some research. Some 10 years ago, in 2015, the Porsche 911 range kicked off at around $208,000. Today, though, you’re looking at more like $280,500 for the entry-level 911, and if you want this bahn-storming Carrera GTS, you’re looking at more like, deep breath, $381,200, before on-road costs.

If you want four-wheel drive, a cabriolet roof, or both, the price climbs from there, with the GTS range topping out with the Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet listing at $437,900.

Now in Germany’s defence, the Porsche has gotten progressively faster and more powerful over the years, and that’s true again with the T-Hybrid version, but we’ll come back to the tech stuff in a second.

Outside, it rides on staggered alloys (21 inch at the rear, 20 inch at the front), and there are standard matrix LED headlights, vertical-mounted active cooling flaps, and you can have it as a hard top, a Targa roof or as a full Cabriolet.

The biggest updates (apart from the driving stuff, of course, occur in the cabin, where the 911 has now push-button start, and introduces a new digital dashboard, which defaults as a digital version of the old analogue setup. The screen is 12.6 inches, and there’s a second 10.9-inch screen in the centre cabin which does your phone streaming.

There’s also a BOSE Surround Sound System, 14-way adjustable comfort seats, and digital radio.

Nissan sure knows how to make a great six-cylinder engine.

The Nismo’s internal combustion engine in question is the VR30DDTT – a twin-turbo V6 making four per cent more power and around 10 per cent more torque compared to the one found in the regular Z.

Power jumps 11kW and torque a handier 45Nm to 309kW @ 6400rpm and 520Nm between 2000rpm and 5200rpm respectively, providing extra punch as well as a slightly superior power-to-weight ratio of around 184kW per tonne.

That’s up 2kW/tonne, despite the Nismo gaining around 50 kilos, to 1680kg.

This has been possible thanks to extra turbo boost, revised ignition timing, improved cooling systems and updated engine management software.

Driving the rear wheels is a Mercedes-Benz based nine-speed torque-converter auto. Upgraded and retuned for track use, it includes a Sport+ mode providing speedier shift responses. Aided by the new launch control function, we managed a tidy 4.5 seconds from standstill to 100km/h.

Sadly, though, there’s no manual option as per the regular Z.

What else is unique here? Underneath, the platform might date all the way back to the 350Z of 2003, but Nismo has really worked some of its magic.

Along with the retuned dampers, everything else has been stiffened up – including the anti-roll bars, springs, bushes and even the steering rack mounts – to help deliver more controlled and linear steering. There’s extra underfloor bracing at the front, centre and rear of the car, thicker brake rotors and model-specific Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT600 tyres that are wider at the back, on gloss-black RAYS alloys.

Continuing to use a double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension set-up, the Z’s front/rear weight distribution is 56/44 front/rear.

Now, the Nismo was our favourite version of the previous 370Z by some margin. How does it all square up in RZ34 guise?

A new (or at least, massively altered) 3.6-litre petrol engine has been developed for this T-Hybrid, which combines with two electric motors to produce a total 398kW and 610Nm. It’s only available with Porsche’s very good eight-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) automatic, largely because the brand admits it would be… well… unpleasant to drive as a manual.

Now, there is lots of magic at work here, and I don’t want to bore you, but the Porsche setup sees a lightweight 1.9kWh battery placed basically in the middle of the front axle, and a 12-volt battery now behind the front seat. Then, a tiny e-motor lives as part of the gearbox (it’s just 55mm long) and delivers up to 150Nm at low speeds to supplement the petrol engine.

It’s joined by what Porsche calls an “electric exhaust gas turbocharger”, which essentially removes the spooling time from the turbo, delivering instant power.

The aim of the game here is excitement, not efficiency, and the launch-control-aided spring to 100km/h takes just 3.0 seconds. And it somehow feels, and sounds, faster.

The latter being important, with Porsche aware that if the new powertrain didn’t sound good, "nobody would like it”.

Not surprisingly, the Z Nismo needs to drink from the 98 RON premium unleaded petrol fountain.

Nissan reckons owners should expect to average 10.4L/100km (for 242 grams per kilometre of carbon dioxide emissions) on the combined cycle (and 15.0 and 7.7 L/100km for the urban and extra-urban ratings respectively.

This figure is almost half a litre worse than the non-Nismo Z’s 9.8L/100km result, but still substantially better than the six-speed manual base grade’s 10.8L, despite the latter being some 33kg lighter.

With a sizeable 62L tank, you might be able to average just under 600km between refills.

For the record, we achieved 11.9 litres per 100km in a mix of urban, freeway and performance driving which is not too bad at all given how often we fanged this thing.

Porsche in Australia is yet to lock in local fuel use for the Carrera GTS T-Hybrid, but international testing has it at 10.5-10.7L/100km, C02 emissions of between 239-244g/km. 

Those aren’t exactly Toyota Prius numbers. But again, that was never Porsche’s intention. The electric power on offer here is intended to improve acceleration, not fuel use.

It’s fitted with a 63-litre fuel tank, which should deliver a driving range of around 600km per tank.

Nissan does plenty of things really well, and the Nismo is no exception.

Firing up the VR30DDTT 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 is also a reminder of how brilliant the brand’s six-cylinder engines are. They tingle all the right sensory areas, starting with the baritone rumble at idle.

What a portent of what’s to come!

Nismo’s massaging of the engine, combined with upgraded clutch packs and a retune of the nine-speed auto’s software, results in stronger, hungrier and angrier acceleration, no matter which of the three driving modes you’ve selected. Even in Normal, the Nissan leaps off the line. In Sport, its appetite for speed is palpable. In Sport+, this thing is eating up the tarmac. Somehow, in an EV era where 4.5s to 100 is ho-hum, the (electronically enhanced but who cares) guttural exhaust bellow seems to amplify the action and thrills.

And spills. For five of our seven days together, the heavens poured. Now, in Normal mode, the Nismo was as benign and controlled as you’d hope in wet conditions, the driver-assist tech metering out just enough torque and braking to seamlessly keep the car humming along. Ever-present but always nuanced, they’ll help make your commute a safer and more relaxing one.

Selecting Sport loosened things up markedly, with the driver needing to be ready to counteract with steering, seating and throttle, though still with a safety net to keep the car from going totally out of whack; Sport+, meanwhile, is not for amateurs or the distracted. This is serious, tail-wagging waywardness that should only be fully explored with experience and care.

Later in the week, Launch Mode in Sport+ on cold but dry bitumen also requires super concentration, as we discovered attempting to extract the fastest acceleration time. Sideways in a straight line at 100km/h-plus is not for the faint hearted.

Beyond all-out performance and drama, the Nismo soars with weighty yet linear and precise steering, resulting in satisfying, hunkered-down handling that is the hallmark of a great sports car. Really tight turns can be taken at impressive speeds, but there’s about 1.7 tonne of muscle to manipulate, so the real fun can be found blasting along a snaking set of more open corners, where the Z’s inherent thrust, poise and grip come into play, all to the symphony of that bi-turbo V6.

That the suspension can feel both firm and supple at the same time is another arrow in the Nismo’s bow.

Nissan isn’t pretending this is anything but a rousing and rapid grand tourer with track aspirations, so the fact there’s also comfort and sophistication to be enjoyed just shows the sheer bandwidth of this particular Z.

Downsides? There’s always a wall of sound, be it mechanical or noise intrusion from the rubber and/or bitumen. The Nismo is rarely quiet. The extended front spoiler seems to summon up speed humps and bumps you never knew existed. The adaptive cruise control’s inability to resume in heavy stop/start traffic betrays this car’s 350Z-era tech. And the lack of a manual transmission, we reckon, is a missed opportunity for an even greater degree of interactive sports car driving.

Still, the Nismo delivers exactly what the brand promises, and continues to improve a firm favourite for speed and drama.

But the gap between Nismo and regular model is smaller than the one that existed in the preceding 370Z, which means that – if $100K driveaway is too steep – you’re already driving something elevated in the standard Z. Particularly if you yearn for a manual.

It’s all good.

Porsche did just about the Porschiest thing to ever Porsche in launching the 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid, in that we piled into cars in Melbourne, drove the many, many hours (well, it feels that long, at least) to the Phillip Island race circuit, beat the hell out of the cars on track and on the drag strip for several hours, then trundled back out on the road and drove them back to Melbourne.

The subliminal messaging here is pretty clear. This new 911 might have a new powertrain, but it can still deliver the road-track-road experience without breaking a sweat — or, more importantly, without breaking any expensive bits.

So let’s do this in order, shall we? On the road, this new 911 is every bit as sweet as it has ever been. Comfortable, quiet enough when you want it to be, and — save some road noise from those big wheels – quiet enough to let you forget you're driving something with one of Peter Dutton’s nuclear reactors hidden beneath its svelte metal work.

Mind you, that T-Hybrid powertrain will happily remind you of its presence every time you press the accelerator in anger, the exhaust erupting into life and the 911 genuinely rocketing into the future, but stay gentle with your inputs and this hybrid 911 is a genuinely comfortable, genuinely liveable daily driver.

Its split personality appears when you rumble out onto a race track though, where you quickly discover the electrified, and electrifying, Porsche is properly, properly rapid, both in a straight line or around Phillip Island’s fast and flowing circuit.

It’s so rapid, in fact, that it feels most closely related to a performance EV, like the Taycan. Of course it is louder and more engaging, but that’s the best way I can think of to describe the instant power on offer here. There’s no ICE-like lags or lumps in the way that 398kW and 610Nm finds its way to the tyres and into the tarmac. Instead it’s just this constant, savage flow of power that never seems to let up.

Porsche says this new powertrain is about 50kg heavier, but you’d need to be plugged into the race track like its the Matrix to ever feel it, with the T-Hybrid feeling lithe, grippy and athletic, aided by near-perfect steering, the best automatic gearbox in existence, and exactly zero roll through the body. In fact, the only thing that really moves when cornering hard in this new 911 is the driver, and I genuinely got out after several laps with a sore neck from trying to stay vertical.

Downsides? Well, it’s faster in a straight line (it will be some 7.0m further down the road after 2.5sec when compared to the older GTS) and faster around corners (8.7sec faster around the Nurburgring than its predecessor), but there’s something delightfully analogue about the outgoing car, which also manages to feel more aggressive under heavy acceleration, too, owing to the little ebbs and flows of power, and after driving both back-to-back, I still can’t decide which one I like more.

This 911 arrives without an avalanche of active safety kit, but the key stuff is covered. There are airbags up front for the driver and passenger, side impact protection including thorax and curtain airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, a surround-view camera with parking lines, lane change assist, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and a driver fatigue monitor.

Your wallet’s pretty secure as well.

Like all Zs, the Nismo is subject to a warranty period of five years with unlimited kilometres, while service intervals are fixed at every 12 months or 10,000km – whichever occurs first. There is also five years of roadside assistance.

Nissan also provides pre-paid maintenance plans that can save up to $245 over three years, as well as capped-price servicing. At the time of publishing, the capped-price service appointments cost between $347 and $950 depending on the year of ownership.

The 911 Carrera GTS is covered by a pretty underwhelming three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with servicing required every 12 months or 15,000kms. We don’t have the hybrid service pricing yet, but as guide, the last 911 split the services into minor and major, and charged either $785 or $1285 for each.