2023 Nissan Z - 400hp, 6MT/9AT, $40k USD

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While we're on the subject, I believe the British (or at least the Clarkson crew) pronounce Nissan incorrectly. If I recall, they called it Ni-sin, instead of Nee-saan. At least in terms of the pronunciation of the letters, the American pronunciation of Nee-saan lines up better with the Japanese pronunciation. The US intonation doesn't line up perfectly with what is apparently the typical Japanese intonation, but that's being picky.

The British mispronouncing Nissan reminds me a bit of the way we pronounce Coriolis in English. It's not the Coriolisssss effect, that's a french name, it's Corioleeee.

Edit:

Apparently in Japanese, Mazda is 3 syllables.

I don’t really believe in mispronunciation of brands. It would sound really weird if, when speaking in Swedish, you would pronounce Chevrolet in American English or Volkswagen in German or Ferrari in Italian. You’d basically be switching language mid-sentence.
 
I don’t really believe in mispronunciation of brands. It would sound really weird if, when speaking in Swedish, you would pronounce Chevrolet in American English or Volkswagen in German or Ferrari in Italian. You’d basically be switching language mid-sentence.

I agree. Especially brand names that have a relationship to real words.

Proper names are a bit different, and some brands include proper names, like Ferrari, or Nissan. For someone's name, there is actually a right way to say it, because there is no corresponding word in another language. There is some leeway in terms of getting the name "right" while still having an accent. It's not like you have to sound like a native speaker in order to say someone's name correctly. But in some regions certain names get absolutely butchered, like Coriolis. That's really just a failing of properly translating the name. Coriolis should probably be actually spelled differently in America to get the right pronunciation. It's not like we can't say Coriolis or Francois in English, or that it sounds weird when we say it correctly, it's that we spell them in a way that, in American English, is almost impossible to suss out the right pronunciation.

Chevrolet for that matter...
 
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I agree. Especially brand names that have a relationship to real words.

Proper names are a bit different, and some brands include proper names, like Ferrari, or Nissan. For someone's name, there is actually a right way to say it, because there is no corresponding word in another language. There is some leeway in terms of getting the name "right" while still having an accent. It's not like you have to sound like a native speaker in order to say someone's name correctly. But in some regions certain names get absolutely butchered, like Coriolis. That's really just a failing of properly translating the name. Coriolis should probably be actually spelled differently in America to get the right pronunciation. It's not like we can't say Coriolis or Francois in English, or that it sounds weird when we say it correctly, it's that we spell them in a way that, in American English, is almost impossible to suss out the right pronunciation.

Chevrolet for that matter...
Why my cousin got a 500 Abarth a few years ago he kept calling it an Abahth. I was like an A-what? Abahth? He said that's how they say it on Top Gear. Yeah, well they've got quite the accent and pronounce brands however they feel like it. There's definitely an R in that word.
 
Now the Renault F1 team, along with the Renault Sport brand as a whole have become Alpine and you're now hearing the name banded about during the commentary, it's become apparent* that it's not Al-pine, as i always thought it was**. It's actually been Al-peen all along.

As a Brit...

Nissan = Nis-Anne
Chevrolet = Chev-Role-A
Abarth = A-Bath (depending on whether you'd usually say bath as bath or barth, as it's different depending on where you grew up in the UK)

Porsche = Poor-Shhh


*i've actually known this a long time.
**...i just didn't want to believe it was true.
 
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Porsche is an interesting one. I believe the Germans say "Poor-Sha" whereas the British say "Poorsh" - a full syllable subtracted, and Americans seem to offer up both. I myself (a Porsche owner not that it matters at all) say Poor-Sha though I've read that some people think that's the elitist way to say it?
 
some people think that's the elitist way to say it?
For the people who don't appreciate the engineering prowess and history of the company, and only see rich assholes driving the cars. But the cars being reserved for rich assholes who only drive them back and forth to work seems like more of an American problem than anything else.
 
For the people who don't appreciate the engineering prowess and history of the company, and only see rich assholes driving the cars. But the cars being reserved for rich assholes who only drive them back and forth to work seems like more of a USA problem than anything else.
^This all day.:lol:
 
I've never considered it to be elitist to have a very basic understanding of how Germans pronounce one vowel. I first encountered German when I was still in...kindergarten? First grade? It's Wisconsin.

"Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß / Knie und Fuß / Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß / Knie und Fuß"

Damned rich asshole schoolchildren. Tax their lunch money!
 
Are we still talking about the Nis-saaaaan Zed?









As I always knew, it is Porsch-uh.
 
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Back to the Z.

There has been a change in the front grille. Just when I got used to the gapping hole. But it looks better now IMO, looks more like the 240Z.
851809.jpg

851811.jpg
 
Oh hey look, another sports car that honors its heritage, has good proportions, and a tight and athletic look. Nissan must have poached whoever used to work at BMW.
 
Or the RX Vision.
I don't think that one is quite dead yet. The fact that Mazda is putting Wankel engines into production again gives me a little bit of hope, and the new FR architecture is definitely coming. In the very least, I wouldn't rule it out.
 
I don't think that one is quite dead yet. The fact that Mazda is putting Wankel engines into production again gives me a little bit of hope, and the new FR architecture is definitely coming. In the very least, I wouldn't rule it out.
I would totally welcome a rotary hybrid. Fits the rotary experimental theme pretty well in my opinion. Regardless, any bigger sports car at all from Mazda is going to be great. I quite like the noise their DPi makes so I’d be quite happy with that. I just want to see Mazda compete because I know they can.
 
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I would totally welcome a rotary hybrid. Fits the rotary experimental theme pretty well in my opinion. Regardless, any bigger sports car at all from Mazda is going to be great. I quite like the noise their DPi makes so I’d be quite happy with that. I just want to see Mazda compete because I know they can.
I've been saying it for literally years, but a parallel hybrid rotary would fantastic. Totally smooth and complementary powertrain - the electric motor would fill in torque where the rotary is least efficient, and the rotary would provide fantastic mid range and top end power. But this is the Z thread, so I'll refrain from going on any further.
 
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