Country Roads with the Manual Z

by Michael Satterfield - 02/21/2023

I was itching for a road trip, and the Texas countryside was calling my name. Earlier in the week Nissan had dropped off their latest Z for me to drive, with a full tank of gas, and manual transmission. And so, fueled by the promise of adventure, I set off from Bryan, towards my adopted hometown of Groesbeck, “The Friendly City,” with a population barely over 3,000 it is as sleepy as they come. As a former Californian, I had been met with much trepidation and a fair bit of curiosity when I bought a building in their historic downtown over five years ago and started renovating it to become the headquarters of The Gentleman Racer®. Today I simply blend into the fabric of the once-vibrant brickmaking community. 

The weather was cool and crisp, the perfect afternoon for the turbocharged V6 shoehorned between the shock towers of this modern Datsun. I was eager to escape the traffic of Aggieland a college town that has an annual renewal of about 70,000 terrible drivers. Pulling out on Highway 6, the Z roared to life, taking me further and further away from the city limits towards bucolic bliss.

As I turned off the main highway to take “the long way” the scenery around me began to shift. The flat, monotonous landscape along the highway gave way to the rolling hills and wide-open fields of the Texas countryside. It was like a painting coming to life, and I can’t help but feel a sense of awe and wonder every time I get to take it all in. A quick left at the village of North Zulch and I find myself with the perfect straightaway to experience all the Z’s twin-turbo V6 has to offer, passing country churches at speed, blasting sounds of Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. I was on a mission - a mission to experience an amazing sports car, to get lost in the rugged beauty of the land, and to find the escape from the tedium of suburban routine thanks to the twists and turns of Farm to Market 3. 

As I drove, windows down, the wind whipped through my hair, and I felt something I hadn’t felt in a Nissan in a long time. It was like Nissan was back, liberated from the shackles of terrible CVTs and bland design, here I was, in a 400-horsepower sports car with an electric blue interior, and a clutch pedal. Cover up the logos and tell me this is nearly any other sports car and I might believe you if it wasn’t for the signature Z styling cues that mix nostalgia with modernity in a way that works without being cartoonish. 

This Z is the kind of car Nissan built in their glory days, the Z is not a car that you settle for, it’s not some practical shit box you merely put up with because it only $325 a month and gets 40 miles to the gallon, no you buy this car because you are an enthusiast and you will put up with the bevy of inconveniences simply for those days when you get to downshift into a corner and feel like John Morton and I am about to enter a stretch of road with a lot of corners. 

After passing, Hill Top Lakes, a place that feels like a failed religion commune turned country club, the road stretched out before me, endless and unbroken, Highway 79. Passing through small towns and hamlets, I couldn't help but wonder what secrets lay hidden behind the closed doors and boarded-up windows of once-thriving downtowns, I am tempted to stop, but stopping by every cool abandoned gas station in Texas would add days, not hours to my trip. A sharp left on Highway 39 in the town of Jewett, best known for its Flea Market and Lignite Mine, this road runs along the east side of Lake Limestone, well out of my way, but worth it, so I can blast the Z over the causeway bridge at the center of the lake, there is just something about driving a sports car with the windows down surrounded by water. 

The miles ticked by, and the sun began to dip toward the horizon, but Groesbeck was close. Unlike most downtowns, there is little happening on the weekend, outside of people visiting the local Sonic for a slushie and some mozzarella sticks. I parked my Nissan Z in front of our building in the center of town, the sun now set, and I head inside to check on the progress of the recent renovations.

Sitting in the office, I think about the Z, it is everything it needs to be, but is it enough to reinvigorate the enthusiast’s passion for a brand in decline? In many ways, it feels like we should be pre-ordering a book about Nissan by Edward Gibbon. Nissan seems to be struggling with an identity crisis, the Frontier and the Z can’t save Nissan alone, and no amount of Tesla-driving celebrity endorsements seem to be righting the ship. But at least with the Z, they didn’t muck it up, making it an electric SUV or trying to spin it off into its own division, no instead, they kept it simple. 400 horsepower, a manual transmission, and an outlandish color palette, this has always been a great recipe for a sports car. 

Wrapping in downtown, I climb back into the Z, for a straight blast down Highway 6, back home to Aggieland, this route only takes about an hour, instead of the two and a half I spent exploring, but it does give me a chance to enjoy the other aspect of the modern sports car that is so amazing, the fact that it works as a real car. As someone over the years who has owned a number of sports cars, it seems tantamount to witchcraft that modern sports cars can be great daily drivers and at a flip of a switch be thrilling track monsters. 

Is the new Z perfect? No, of course not, but it is an honest-to-goodness sports car without a lot of compromises and styling that harkens back to the original Z that became a legend. Plus, with a base price of $39,990, it is in the same ballpark as the Ford Mustang GT and you won’t see as many Z in your local parking lot. If you are thinking of the Supra, which is an amazing German/Japanese hybrid the new Z is nearly $19,000 less than a manual transmission GR Supra. If those were my choices and I was ordering a new sports car the Z would be at the top of the list and probably should be at the top of yours.