Base + Sport it is then. I am going to really enjoy beefing this car up NA. I really have a lot to learn about all this! I appreciate the help on making a decision.

-James

Good luck with your mods billaJ. Just remember, the SEARCH function is your best friend on this forum. Cheers!

Well Google search this forum. Works much better. And enjoy.

I went with the Nismo partly based on reasons Gomer stated above. Personally I have been down the heavily modified body route with a previous Z and didn't care to walk that road again. The Nismo gave me the aesthetics that I really wanted without wanting to change much. The same can be said with the interior. You get the Recaro's plus a handful of Alcantara thrown about the interior with lots of red stitch accents.

From a performance standpoint you get quite a few struts and braces that are not on the the other models. If you can find a picture of the undercarriage of a 15+ Nismo its a bit more obvious. You also get a true dual exhaust which has an H pipe instead of a Y pipe and the HKS Nismo muffler. Personally I changed these parts eventually anyways so it likely wont matter if you plan on getting an aftermarket catback. I think the Nismo is laughably quiet stock and was the first thing I changed. Besides that like everyone else has said most the differences are purely cosmetic.

I bought the sport and added an oil cooler, stillen Gen 3, lowering springs, HKS cat back and got a good tune. I also added the new front Nismo bumper as well as the Nismo back.
I love the look of the sport package rims with the new Nismo conversion. Definitely lighter and quicker than the actual Nismo package.