JONATHAN ELFALAN: I'm Jonathan.
That over there is Kurt.
I am in the smallest M of the BMW family, the BMW M2.
Kurt is driving the Nissan NISMO Z. And this is Edmunds U-Drags.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, Hello there.
Today, we have a 2024 Nissan Z NISMO
with 420 horsepower and 384 pound feet of torque.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Going up against the 2023 BMW M2 with 453 horsepower and 406
pound feet of torque.
[ENGINE REVVING]
These two are going head to head in our Edmunds U-Drag track,
which starts with the 1/4 mile drag.
Then they hit the brakes, do a 180, and power back
to start finish.
At the end of the first run, we'll swap drivers and lanes
and do it again.
Well, what's your money on?
Hey, speaking of money, do you want
to find the best deal on a car?
Then head on over to edmunds.com.
OK, so how to launch the BMW M2.
First, I'm going to go ahead and set it in track mode
by pressing this M mode button, then select track.
And then we have to be sure that traction and stability control
is completely turned off.
And then it's going to give you some options for M drift
analyzer.
We're not here for drifting, although that's really fun.
And then lastly, I just have to make sure that my drive
mode is over in sport.
Manual gear shift selected.
The shift aggression is turned all the way up to three.
There's three levels.
We want to have all three bars up there.
So from there, it's just foot on the brake
hard, floor the accelerator.
I should get a little indicator saying launch control activated.
And then I just let it rip.
This BMW is making a lot of power for its size.
I know I have a little bit of a power advantage
over that Z. The Z is a little lighter.
But this M is just so potent.
I really think that Z has its work cut out for it.
So let's see.
KURT NIEBUHR: How do you get the Nissan Z NISMO off the line,
so using launch control in this.
It's a little unorthodox, but it's still
kind of straightforward.
You got to select your drive mode, put it into Sport plus,
and then after that, you make sure that you are in drive.
And then what you do is you pull both paddles back
while your left foot is on the brake,
and then you would the gas pedal, let go of the paddles.
And that's it.
Simple, right?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 3: Five, four, three, two, one.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, we're off.
Oh wow.
He got a pretty good launch.
KURT NIEBUHR: That's not looking good already.
Oh boy.
[ENGINES REVVING]
Oh no.
Hmm.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: My power advantage is clear.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: Not looking so hot.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[CARS BRAKES]
Might have went too hard.
[ENGINES REVVING]
[LAUGHTER]
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: Much I can do about that.
Oh boy.
[ENGINES REVVING]
Horsepower matters.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: This thing is just so potent.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That was a pretty decisive win.
Well, Kurt, how did that run feel for you?
KURT NIEBUHR: It went well, except you were a part of it.
So I lost.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah.
I mean, this thing--
I thought you got a pretty good launch out of the box.
I know this thing has the power advantage.
But it looked pretty good right at the start.
But then this thing just started eking out a lead,
and it just kept it.
I went a little too deep into the corner.
I think I got a little too excited.
But it didn't matter.
This thing just was able to stop not too far off the apex,
got turned around and just fired out of the hole.
And I was just gone.
KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah.
This is pretty quick in isolation.
But when you put it up against an M2 with a lot more power,
it's still a very satisfying car to drive.
I love the way the thing sounds.
I like how it feels.
Steering feels really good.
Probably like you, you got to be a little patient
exiting the corner, because this does want to slide.
So it's kind of fun.
But yeah, I mean, I think at no point
after probably 20 miles an hour was I anywhere close to you.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Maybe we get these things turned around,
swap cars, swap lanes, and give it another go.
Yes, please.
I would like to finish in first place sometime today.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KURT NIEBUHR: Ooh, M2.
So now I'm in the faster car.
Yeah, I'm just going to do the same launch
control that Jonathan did.
So putting it in drive, making sure it's in first,
the hardest shift, schedule, algorithm shifting,
whatever, everything turned off.
And I'm looking forward to pulling away from the Z.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Nissan Z NISMO time.
I like the feel of the cockpit.
It feels more like a proper sports car.
It envelops you a little bit more.
You guys saw how fast that M2 is.
So fingers crossed this NISMO can find some extra power
somewhere, and it's NISMO, NISMO gods will bestow upon it.
But yeah, we'll see.
This thing has its work cut out for it.
But I'm excited.
Let's do this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 3: Five, four, three, two, one.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: There we go.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: That M2 just got too much power.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: What a muscly little thing this is.
[ENGINES REVVING]
Where's the Nissan?
There it is.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Here we go.
Here we go.
Get him on the brakes.
[ENGINES REVVING]
[CAR BRAKES]
KURT NIEBUHR: Get this turned in.
Just got to wait to put the power on.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Woo!
Whoa.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: There we go.
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Go, go, go, go, go.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, this is so fun.
I love this little [BLEEP].
[ENGINES REVVING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh man.
I'm not going to catch him.
[ENGINES REVVING]
KURT NIEBUHR: Love it.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: I was pretty good, though.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KURT NIEBUHR: This car is tough, man.
What?
[CHUCKLES] Yes.
This is very reminiscent of the old 1M.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: All right, Kurt.
Thoughts on that beast of an orange car?
KURT NIEBUHR: I think on the way back,
I said this thing is just a little [BLEEP]..
It's got so much torque.
I mean, it drives the way it looks, which I think is great.
It's just wide and muscly, tons of torque, tons of grip.
Except if you hop on the throttle too early, then
there's no grip.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah.
I mean, I was just self-reflecting on that lap.
And I really think this NISMO has a really good balance
of power to chassis.
It feels a little lighter actually on the braking.
I feel like I could take this deeper.
You're not overdoing it.
And so I felt like I gained a little bit of ground there.
KURT NIEBUHR: I completely agree.
I think balance is the right word
to describe the whole experience in that car.
It's not overpowered, but it's not underpowered.
There's a good amount of turn in,
but it doesn't get loose on you.
And you can play with it and have fun.
It's just up against something that's just
got more, more of everything.
Even though this weighs 200 pounds or so more,
it doesn't really matter.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: In case you're wondering,
here were the track conditions.
All right, let's break this down.
0 to 60 goes to the M2 at 3.6 seconds.
1/4 mile goes to the M2 again at 11.6 at 122 miles an hour.
Max cornering goes to the Z, pulling 1.25 gs.
And finally, the win goes to the M2
at 34.3 at 130.8 miles an hour.
And for anyone interested in our official leaderboard,
head on over to edmunds.com/u-drags.
The M2 did not beat its previous best time,
so it stays put in 16th.
And the NISMO places 21st with a time of 35.8 at 124.2 miles
an hour.
That was a lot more fun than standing out here in this wind.
KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, it was kind of nice being inside.
But it was also nice going fast, too.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah.
So did that race pan out the way that you thought it would?
KURT NIEBUHR: Unfortunately, it did.
I really like that Z. I like it a lot.
But you can't really argue with more horsepower,
even though that car does weigh a couple hundred pounds more.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, I mean, couple hundred pounds
was enough to offset the power to weight.
And I mean, it's just so potent.
But like I kept saying in our talk,
that NISMO is just so well balanced.
I don't know.
I really like the package.
To be honest, that makes me want a Z.
I wasn't such a fan of the regular one,
but that one I can totally get behind.
I could totally recommend somebody looking for a sports
car, that's a really nice one.
KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I mean, fair play to that car.
It feels good.
It goes fast.
It was just in faster company today.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: And that's how it goes at U-Drags.
If you guys like this type of content, be sure to like
and subscribe.
And for more U-Drag content, go to edmunds.com/u-drags.
We'll see you at the next one.