New Z owner - '15 red sport tech

JAOz

Yeah, I test drove some g37s and the new q60 and they lack "spirit." They definitely don't handle nearly as well as a sport Z. I do like their lux feel but for the money I'd be better off with a new vette.
For full disclosure, I did get an automatic. It felt a bit blasphemous but I'm just gettin too lazy in my middle age. I did enjoy the Genesis Coupe's AT. Plus this car has plenty of power to support an AT. The FR-S needed to be stick cause it was lacking power. So, aside from missing out on the sycro rev match upgrade, the other sport upgrades are still way worth it. I also confess I had to have the Rays rims - they are quite possibly my most favorite stock rims on ANY car!
So, to address the leather, I am seriously considering having a cool black leather/red suede recover done. I just don't know where or how to go about it - it must be perfectly done! I don't care if it's expensive. I also considered some new sport seats too but, again not sure where to go. I also must confess I really like the retro design placement of the power seat controls on the Z - they are sooo Z! I'll miss them no matter what I do.
Thank you for your reply to my post. I appreciate the validation
And finally, back seats in a true sports car are just plain dumb! Lol.

Kaldaien

I too drive a 7AT. 2015 is the first year they offered it on the Nismo trim, and I thought I would dislike it, but I tested the 6MT and 7AT and really really liked the paddles while cornering. However, I never leave it in D because having a fully automated transmission will bore the pants off of you

Believe it or not, the manual mode paddle shifters also have synchro rev matching. It is actually not uncommon for automatic transmissions with a manual mode to have this feature. Basically, if you chose to manually downshift it is going to blip the throttle a little bit to keep the car from lurching after the shift.

I downshift sparingly, however, because if you do this while coming to a stop at a traffic light the sound the engine makes will draw a lot of attention - sometimes you just want to blend in If you let the transmission downshift by itself (it does this at ~1500 RPM), it does not make the aggressive noise and it saves gas.

JAOz

I noticed you have a 15 nismo! nice! I never would have considered a previous year nismo because of their spoiler alone. However, for 2015, the spoiler is PERFECT! So, you have the nismo tech? Again, sweet. I didn't even test drive one (I did sit in one); perhaps I should have test driven one. The reasons I didn't initially consider one were 1 the cost. 2 the stiffer suspension (my partner wouldn't even ride with me in my FR-S cause of the firm ride - he's cool with the Z, mostly cause it feels more upscale and heaver / safer to him. Before we always took his stupid optima - the nismo might have pushed the limit on stiffness) 3 I preferred my rims over the nismo (the rims on the nismo are still badass.) 4 I wanted red and red on the nismo negates the cool red striping (I would haven chosen white (for a nismo) though - white nismo looks sweet .) 5 the recaros should be electric (my friends cts-v as AWESOME gazillion way electric recarros- they are awesome!) --- ALL that being said there is something especially awesome about this years nismo!! I may have a little regret on not at least test driving one. Though maybe it's good I didn't cause they do stretch the budget quite a bit. Did you get a good deal on one? I did get my sport tech auto at a $4k discount (it has all the mats, z-lit kick plates, mud flaps) - I pd $36k even plus tax and license which I think here in California is a really good price (though it did have 99 miles on it :/)
Anyway, congrats on your nismo - it is one VERY special ride - the 7AT even adds to that fact the 2015 AT nismo will probably be a collector's item someday.

Kaldaien

Yeah, the suspension and seats were both very stiff vertically. I swear the suspension is significantly softer now than when I first got it, so it might be necessary to find a broken-in car before judging suspension. I know that car magazines report better engine performance after the break-in (1200-2500 miles) on Zs; ride quality probably also changes.

The seats definitely are not what you would expect in a "tech" package optioned car, you usually get heated leather and 8+ way electronic controls. But they have plenty of support zipping around corners at high speed, if I actually had to reach for a stick shift then being firmly planted in racing seats while cornering would be a bigger deal.

I got the car for $48K w/ the 5 year Security+Plus Gold Preferred service plan after taxes, which was pretty much MSRP (and my budget) so I did not bother haggling. I could have gotten a Sport trim, swapped out the suspension for something stiffer, changed the exhaust, etc. for less than the cost of a Nismo but an extended service plan/warranty would make zero sense when a significant chunk of the OEM equipment would be gone That is how I justified the purchase, anyway.

Mine only had 4 miles on it, because it went straight from the trailer to the showroom floor It was next to a base model GT-R and the Nismo styling on the 370z really made the GT-R look tame. They will probably never get a GT-R Nismo, but from what I have seen online the styling direction is pretty much the same for all Nismo models and would not show up on a solid red model. In years past Nissan offered magma red instead of solid red, and that would probably look nicer on a 2015 Nismo.

JAOz

The Nismo for 2015 is definitely a fantastic purchase! I'm looking forward to it being broken-in. I did test drive a few used ones and everything seemed melded together nicely. Hopefully we can keep our Zs for a very long time and then you paying a bit more in price will be completely amortized out and then some. And my extra 95 miles will be a blink.

Hey man, enjoy your awesome car!! And thanks for chatting with me here!

P.S.: I think they have a nismo gtr this year. The price is an insane $150k something. I think for that money I'd buy a 911 and a pickup truck. Lol.

Kaldaien

Yeah, Nismo was added to the GT-R line up this year. What I meant is that my dealer will never see one of them That base model is the fanciest thing that will ever be on their showroom floor and it looks silly next to a 370z Nismo.