nismo Vs base/sport

Nismoracer

13.4 average in the 1/4 and that's bone stock no drop ins nothing? Well that's bout right with a good launch. I agree the Nismo feels different than a regular Z. I drove an auto with the paddle shifters and for some reason the engine noise was way louder than the Nis. Don't know why. I can't get to the track as much any more but I do have a Gtech pro. Like you said if you get a good launch feather the clutch it goes. My best 0-60 4.9 sec. My average 5.3 sec. Still trying to master the little things to know how she likes it. I raced a non nismo rolling not from a dead stop. I smoked him bad, several car lengths. We went again, pulled ahead and stayed ahead. We went one more time he jumped ahead and I could not catch him. I noticed he had no mufflers on. It wasn't that loud. I thought it would be way louder with no muffs.

280z/300zx

Owned a touring sport 6-speed up until it was totaled. Would have got another one but couldn't find one in the right configuration and couldn't wait 3mo for a special order to come in so I went with a Nismo. At the end of the day, in a perfect world, I would rather have a touring sport over the Nismo. Mainly because I actually like the regular 370z look vs. the Nismo (although it's still nice). Also I enjoyed all the bells and whistles that my touring had. Now taking out the bias I have towards each car I will give my quick overall review

Touring sport: A lot more comfortable and easier to live with as a DD. Doesn't feel as quick as the Nismo or have the snap that the Nismo has. Also, while it sits overall higher than the Nismo I had more problems scrapping the front spoiler compared to my Nismo. Going to work in my touring sport there were certain driveways that no mater what angle or how slow it would still barely scrap; in my Nismo these same driveways aren't a problem at all.

Nismo: Really rough ride compared to the regular 370z, to the point it's almost annoying. Now I'm not a wuss, I've owned a 280z with upgraded suspension, no sound deading material, bare bones for the last 10 years. I used to drive this car as a DD in the past for several years. I don't think I would mind the roughness of the Nismo if it wasn't for the added rattles that came with it. Car is perfectly quiet but hit some rough road and the trunk goes a rattling. The car is also noticeable quicker on the butt dyno. I honestly didn't think it would based off everything I read but after I test drove it I was really surprised. It's not a big enough difference to make you go wow but it's noticeable. I'll also add that after adding exhaust the Nismo is even more noticeably faster. On my touring sport I had the FI 18" CBE w/ CF mufflers. Made a huge difference. Luckily I was able to salvage the exhaust and transfer it to my Nismo. Man did the car wake up. On a performance level I would take my Nismo with exhaust over my touring sport any day. In a perfect world I'd like a touring sport with the performance of the Nismo from the factory.

I have to agree, you can get a regular 370z and add equivalent mods to the Nismo and come out cheaper as well as better. But for someone like me who doesn't like to go crazy on mods anymore and would rather have something out of the box, the Nismo is great. Saves you the hassle of having to add a body kit, find a reputable body shop, hope the pait matches, hope the panels line up, etc. Saves you the hassle of finding a tuner and hoping he knows what he is doing. Saves you the hassle of worrying about warranty, etc. Also, if you were like me, you didn't really pay too much more for the Nismo. A touring sport would have cost me 35k (basically invoice), I got my Nismo for 37k. Not bad considering. Both are great cars in their own respect, I honestly think it comes down to what the owner is looking for.

FL 4Motion

This is a great thread, lot's of new fresh info and opinions here....

chii370

yeah, i would have to agree about the suspension and noise level of the car. i have found myself muttering to myself about how i would like a smoother ride especially out in guam where the roads are rough as hell..... you would think there made for horses. Cell has the right idea about the vast majority of nismo owners i think, i didnt really buy the package for the performance upgrade, i just didnt want to deal with all the BS that comes with body work since i like the more exotic look the nismo provides. The base and sport Z look to me more like the standard "nice/rich rice" and after you put body kits and stuff on it, yes its NICE but its still got that...... weird aftermarket look, like it doesnt belong you know? the nismo has a more elegant, exotic look that looks RIGHT, as though it was actually ment to be made that way by a team of developers or something.....cough cough..... and to me it makes the car look a little more "high tear" like a porche or a ferrari. Im not trying to sound high brow, but you know the feeling you get when you park next to something that you feel outclassed by..... everyone knows what i mean lol. well i dont get that EVER when im in my nismo. personaly i paid 37850 for mine, and i paid 33550 for my base when i first got it......... i got lucky, it was an 09 still sitting on the lot RIGHT at the start of 2010 so they dropped the price on it. so i didnt pay that notorious 7k+ more for the nismo. I plan to put a GTM TT S2 in probably in the next year, but i got the car mainly for its looks, and exclusivity. Theres a bizillion normal Z's each year, but a limited amount of "actual" nismos.

she may not be the fastest thing out on the track :P but you can be damn sure its the prettiest and will be turning all the heads. very few aftermarket builds that i have seen really "wow" me, its a personal thing. when you build your car you build it for YOU, and to you its the coolest damn thing on the road. but when its factory. they have hundreds of engineers scratching there heads thinking "what will make this car looks awesome to EVERYONE" and thats a really hard thing to pull off, different strokes for different folks. thats why i always prefer factory, it seems to have natural flow instead of a forced look. really hard to explain what i mean lol. im a personal lover of the clean, sleek elegant look that many high end exotics have and i think thats what they were trying to mimic in my opinion.

but the whole thing that brought this about was my original fascination with all the reviews that blatantly stated outright "the base/sport perform better then the nismo"..... i just cant get over that, having thoroughly experienced all 3 models "touring doesnt count, its ether a base or a sport with nav/interior upgrades" the nimso just outguns them in every aspect but comfort lol. the numbers dont lie. and besides, there taking these cars out to the track with what..... 80 miles on them and expecting them to perform to the max at which they ever will. anyone who knows anything about that..... knows your car goes through a curve throughout its lifecycle. the performance increases for a while, until it hits its peak "broken in" and then after it starts getting old it goes back down. thats why i didnt really run my cars until they had over 4k miles on them. its not out of fear of breaking something, who ******* cares there covered :P. its because its not going to perform close to what it does when its broken in properly, tell me you havent noticed a slight increase in "peppyness" of your Z *** you add miles? if you havent been paying attention, start lol you will notice. If i were to blame any one thing on these reviewers bashing the nismo, its because of the price difference. there trying to justify the hike, personaly i didnt pay that much...... so i dont see it that way, but for those of you that paid 40k for it..... yeah its questionable but still better regardless.

buddy of mine has a white 2010 sport, bought it about the same time i bought my nismo. he went with me the first time i ran the nismo at the track...... what was the first thing we did? race each other. if this isnt definitive..... guess who won every single time by about 2 car lengths? the nismo. now i wanted to be sure, and i asked to switch drivers to make sure it wasnt just him sucking..... but we both kinda had a mutual discomfort with the other dragging each others brand new Z lol so we agreed to leave it at that. but ive had numerous occasions to race other 370s and even old 350s and the result was always the same..... except for the moded ones lol. then i just looked stupid :P

Nismoracer