how to tell base versus sport?

vtec to vvel

Same here. I recently was at a nissan dealership with a '14 nismo. when sitting in it, it felt watered down in terms of the interior.

coming from a base 07 350Z (i.e. cloth seats, no cruise control, CHEAP @$$ interior, etc.) and going to an 09 370Z touring/sport/navi and getting used to the bells-and-whistles features, the nismo just seemed like a downgrade in terms of interior (i.e. no navi, cloth seats, basic radio, etc.). by no means am i knocking the nismo though, but just stating my preference/opinion.