Audi S7 vs Nissan Z

What's the difference?

Audi’s S7 Sportback wraps style, comfort and sportiness in an appealing package that is sure to please onlookers and occupants alike.

The great engine/transmission aside, the S7 Sportback also has cutting-edge technology at a more affordable pricetag, though less-than-comfortable rear-seat space lets it down a little.

We wish the car we sampled didn’t have the all-wheel steering, as we much preferred the more neutral feel of the S6 sedan we also drove but, overall, the S7 Sportback puts forward a strong case for its existence.

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.

Audi’s second-generation A7 has always been a bit of a looker, but Audi has taken it up another notch in the S7 Sportback.

Differentiating the S7 Sportback is a more aggressive bodykit, complete with larger air intakes up front, blacked out exterior trim, quad-exhaust tips (denoting that it’s an Audi Sport model) and large 21-inch wheels

The S7 doesn’t go too overboard with the aggressive appointments however (that’s what the top-spec RS7 Sportback, due here later this year, is for), but balances its sportiness with a stately aesthetic.

We think the S7 Sportback is stunning, especially the white exterior colour that gives it an almost Stormtrooper-like look, but even our test car, finished in Daytona Grey, while much more subtle, is still easy on the eyes.

We especially like the strong shoulder line, chiselled doors and sloping roofline of the Sportback body style that combine in profile to make the S7 look like a sprinter on the starting blocks ready to pounce.

Inside, the S7 Sportback scores all of Audi’s latest interior technology, including a 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit instrumentation and dual-screen centre console layout.

The triple screen set-up definitely helps the S7 Sportback feel very cutting-edge from the driver’s seat, especially when you start to play around with the multimedia system that sports haptic feedback when you press the screen.

Everything is laid out in a clear, concise and easy-to-use manner, while the surfaces of the dashboard are covered in soft-touch, premium materials.

If we’re being honest, we'd probably skip the red-leather interior of our test car in favour of something a little more subdued, but to each their own.

We like the integrated air-vents that blend well into the dash, while the sea of black is broken up with some aluminium detailing and different finishes.

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?

Measuring 4969mm long, 1908mm wide, 1417mm tall and with a 2928mm wheeblase, the S7 Sportback falls well and truly into the large car class.

Up front, the driver and passenger have plenty of room, while the seats and steering wheel are almost infinitely adjustable to find the perfect position.

As you can imagine though, the sloping roofline does eat into the rear-seat headroom a little.

The outboard seats offer plenty of leg- and shoulder-room, but the slanted roof prevents my six-foot-tall frame from sitting up straight comfortably.

Don’t get me wrong, the space is perfectly useable for children or even some smaller adults, but don’t expect to get any basketball players in those seats.

As for the middle seat, only children will find it comfortable due to the protruding transmission tunnel and higher-set seat.

The S7 Sportback’s boot offers at least 535 litres of space and expands to 1380L with the 40:20:40 split-fold rear seats stowed.

Being a liftback (or Sportback in Audi parlance) means the boot is much more practical than a standard sedan, and with such a large aperture, bigger items such as suitcases or golf clubs won’t be annoying to load and unload.

Bag hooks, storage tie-down points and carbo netting also feature to ensure your goods don’t roll around when the S7 Sportback is in motion.

Storage around the cabin though, could be a little better as the wireless smartphone charger takes up a fair chunk of room in the shallow central storage bin under the front armrest.

The usual storage tray found ahead of the shifter is also absent, due to the dual-screen centre console layout, but two generous cupholders and sizeable door pockets are still available up front.

Second-row passengers get access to a fold-down armrest with shallow storage tray and cupholders, as well as door pockets that can accommodate large bottles.

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…

Nismo is short for Nissan Motorsport. It’s like what AMG means to Mercedes or HSV was to Holden. Which means, of course, that Australians love this sort of thing.

Last year, as limited editions, the first 100 Z Nismos sold out in under an hour, according to Nissan. Now it’s back more permanently, still from $94,000 before on-road costs, but without quite the exclusivity.

But, don’t worry. You still get the Nismo body kit and leather/Alcantara-clad cabin treatments, stronger performance and track-focused chassis upgrades, which include extra bracing, sharper steering, beefier suspension, bigger brakes and GT-R-spec wider wheels, compared to the regular Z. More on the engineering changes later on.

There are also Recaro sports seats, Nismo-branded digital instrumentation and steering wheel, additional drive modes and red trim highlights.

These come above the regular Z items like keyless entry/start, an 8.0-inch touchscreen, surround-view reverse camera, (wired-only) Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Bluetooth connectivity, an eight-speaker Bose premium audio, active noise cancellation tech, dual-zone climate control, artificially amplified exhaust note and wider-yet-lighter 19-inch alloy wheels.

Note, however, that going Recaros means ditching the regular Z’s seat heating and electric adjustment including lumbar support. And there’s no spare wheel in either grade… just a tyre-repair kit. Boo.

For your $100K-driveaway, from an equipment perspective anyway, the Nismo does stretch the value argument almost to breaking point, so it’s a good thing that the Z still looks so good. And there’s lots of beautiful engineering underneath that pretty skin too.

Powering the new S7 Sportback is a 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6, punching out 331kW/600Nm, which is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission that sends drive to the road via Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system.

The result is a zero-to-100km/h acceleration time of 4.6 seconds.

Keen-eyed Audi fans might note that those are the exact same engine and outputs as the RS5 Sportback, RS5 Coupe and RS4 Avant, and they’d be right, however, Audi has added the 48-volt mild-hybrid and an electric powered compressor (EPC) to reduce turbo lag in the S7 Sportback.

It’s a similar system first employed in the SQ7 large SUV, and basically means that the EPC is spooling up the turbo at low engine speeds for better off-the-line performance.

The mild-hybrid technology no doubt helps shift the S7 Sportback’s 2040kg weight with peak power now available earlier on in the rev range (from 5700rpm), while maximum torque is available from 1900rpm.

Compared to the older car, the new S7 Sportback matches its predecessor in power, but ups torque by 50Nm despite losing the old car’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.

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?

Official fuel economy figures for the S7 Sportback are 8.5 litres per 100km, but in our brief time with the car we managed 13.6L/100km, mainly due to the inner-city and country B-road driving.

The 48-volt mild-hybrid system works to reduce fuel usage, by as much as 0.4L/100km according to Audi, and allows the car to coast with the engine off between speeds of 55km/h and 160km/h for up to 40 seconds.

The start/stop system also aids in reducing fuel usage.

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.

Audi’s formula for a go-fast vehicle has always been simple – quattro all-wheel-drive for grip, potent engine for speed – and the new S7 Sportback remains true to that formula.

We are big fans of the 2.9-lite twin-turbo V6 engine, which is matched wonderfully with a smooth-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission.

The S7 Sportback always seems to have plenty to give no matter where you are in the rev range, and the transmission isn’t bogged down with slow gear changes up or down.

Though it’s hard to tell how much the EPC helps in getting the S7 up to speed, if you have you window down and accelerate hard from a standstill, you can hear the electronics whirring away.

The standard air suspension also does a wonderful job at absorbing road imperfections in comfort, while it can be switched over to dynamic for a more sporting characteristic.

Grip is plentiful thanks to 255/35 tyres and the quattro all-wheel-drive system but, as with other Audis, the S7 Sportback tends towards understeer when pushed hard around a corner.

Being such a long and wide model, you definitely feel the S7 Sportback’s size on the road, especially when navigating through quick direction changes, but this is where the $7700 Dynamic Package comes into play.

It adds a sports differential, variable ratio steering and all-wheel steering, all aimed at sharpening the S7 up in the bends.

Our test car was fitted with the option pack, but it left us a little cold.

The all-wheel steering especially, made the S7 Sportback’s handling feel too artificial for our tastes, and we were never able to gauge where the rear end wanted to go in a corner.

If we were buying one, we’d leave the Dynamic Package option box unticked.

Bringing the S7 Sportback to a stop are big 400/350mm brake rotors front/rear, with six-piston callipers in the front.

Ceramic brakes with grey-painted callipers can be optioned for $18,000, but the standard stoppers do a fine job scrubbing speed in the S7 Sportback.

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.

There is no Euro NCAP or ANCAP crash-test rating for the Nissan Z Nismo

Standard safety features include AEB with pedestrian detection (though no operating parameters could be found about this system), 'Predictive Forward Collision Warning', lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, high beam assist, tyre pressure monitoring sensor, traffic sign recognition and adaptive cruise control with full-stop (but no resume) functionality.

What’s missing? There is no active lane-keep assist tech to nudge you into line, and you won't find parking sensors nor a front-centre airbag.

But the Z does have dual frontal, side chest and head-protecting airbags, a surround-view camera, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, stability control, traction control, hill-start assist, front and rear parking sensors, LED headlights with light sensitivity and rain-detecting wipers.

There is also a child seat tether point on the passenger seat, but the Nismo ditches the other Z’s ISOFIX alternative.

Like all new Audi models, the S7 Sportback comes with a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty with three years roadside assist.

Audi’s warranty still lags behind Mercedes-Benz and Genesis, two premium marques that offer a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty on their models.

Scheduled service intervals are every 15,000km/12 months, whichever comes first.

A three- or five-year service plan is available for the S7 Sportback, priced at $2350 and $4110 respectively.

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.