But still, the Z shouldn't be compared to the likes of the Mustang, Charger/Challenger, Camaro and Corvette.
Those cars are designed to be "American muscle cars". Meaning they are brutish, loud, and have an overabundance of hp and torque, and even to this day, STILL mostly set up for straight line performance. Sure, they've gotten better at taking corners, but their main aspect is straight line.
The Z on the other hand is designed to be a "Japanese muscle car", meaning it has substantial power and torque, has finesse, is agile, and has a suspension finely tuned for flying through the twisties. It was never designed or even a goal to compete with American muscle.
With that being said, the 370Z holds its own quite well against modern V8 power, especially considering it's a 9 year old design and still a naturally aspirated V6 with a MANUAL transmission still being an option. It's lighter than most of its American counterparts, and its gearing makes great use of it's sub-300 ft lbs of torque to motivate it down the road.
Just as an "aside"... The 3rd Gen Ford Mustang had a production run of 14 years (1979-1993) which had minimal revisions on the outside. One thing that probably kept it alive for so long though throughout that time was that it had quite a few engine options such as an NA Inline 4, Inline 4 turbo, a couple different Inline 6's, a couple different V6's, and a couple of different V8's. On top of that, there were several variants of the Inline 4, turbo Inline 4 and V8 engines, all of which ended up producing more power over time.
Lastly, just for some light reading...
https://jalopnik.com/the-original-ni...pen-1796498349