2024 Nissan Z

Nissan’s varied lineup of SUVs, pickup trucks, and EVs usually perform well in our road tests, but their Overall Scores suffer because of up-and-down reliability and average to below-average owner satisfaction. Inconsistent quality across the brand means some Nissans are a better choice than others. Many of its gasoline vehicles use small turbocharged engines and continuously variable transmissions to give owners both competitive fuel economy and sporty performance. Most new Nissans come standard with a full suite of active safety and driver assist systems. It’s also one of the few remaining brands that sells a sub-compact sedan, the Versa. The compact Sentra, a mainstay within Nissan’s lineup, earned a high score in our road test and is recommended. Nissan was an early EV trailblazer with the Leaf hatchback, and now sells larger five-passenger EV SUVs. Used Nissans have average reliability according to our surveys.

The all-new 2023 Nissan Z sports car has the classic long, sloped hood and wide rear flanks that evoke the early versions of this storied nameplate. The rear-drive Z has a 400-horsepower, 3.0-liter turbocharged twin-turbo V6, marking a significant 50+ hp increase over the previous 370Z's output. That fiery powerplant can be paired with a choice of six-speed manual or nine-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Nissan is keeping it simple by making the available active safety features standard on all trims. This includes FCW, AEB with pedestrian detection, BSW, RCTW, and lane departure warning.