I gave up on comparing new cars to my VIII, because its was so heavily modified. Seeing as I haven't really been able to push the Z yet, I can't really say how the two stack up. My Evo was cam'd and pushing 22-ish PSI, not to mention all the other little mods that supported those two biggies. Steering wise, the Z is a lot smoother. If I sneezed while holding onto the steering wheel in my Evo I'd end up in the next lane over. While that kind of response was nice, it took a fair amount time to learn how to be smooth. I'm also enjoying the more linear response from having an NA engine. The Evo basically had an on/off switch at 3k rpms when the turbo finally spooled up. The little burble from the VQ is pretty nice too
I wasn't real hung up on leather or navi, although I would've liked the Bose stereo... but it wasn't worth the extra thousands of dollars it would have ended up costing in the end.