Watch the New Nissan Z Hit the Streets of Nashville on Its Way to Cars and Coffee

The new Z's got presence.
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It’s one thing to see what Nissan’s new Z car looks like under studio lighting and through the lenses of Nissan-approved professional photographers, but it’s another to see it filmed candidly out on the road casually doing its thing. Over the weekend, the Z Proto made an appearance at Nashville’s Cars and Coffee, and, thanks to Byron Glover Jr. and his YouTube channel Drive615, we now have what just might be the first “in the wild” footage of Nissan’s yellow sports coupe.

Undoubtedly accompanied by a squad of Nissan personnel, the Z Proto is seen leaving the company’s national headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee with a full Titan-Frontier escort. I was already a fan of the new Z’s design before this but seeing it out on the road, in motion, among the gray trucks and crossovers on the street solidifies its status as, visually at least, quite a striking thing. 

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YouTube | Drive615

Turn up your speakers at around the 3:30 mark and you’ll also get to hear what this car sounds like at idle as it pulls into its red-roped parking spot. Based on a previous sighting, that may or may not be the same 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 found in the Infiniti Q60. 

Nissan made sure to park it alongside a handful of classic Z’s, including a 300ZX with which the new car shares taillight designs. Glover also gets a brief look at the interior, a cabin that features a manual gear shifter, a big touchscreen, and floor mats emblazoned with the big Z logo. The consensus among some of the folks at the event is that the car looks way better in person than in pictures, something we’re eager to confirm or deny for ourselves as soon as possible.

Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: chris.tsui@thedrive.com