Almost made a $15k mistake...
 

I was actually thinking of trading in my 2015 FR-S until I test drove the 2015 Nismo this morning. Don't get me wrong... Its a nice car. But I can't justify to myself paying $41k for a car that suppose to have 350hp but doesn't really feel that much faster and doesn't handle as well.:thumbup: The whole reason I even considered trading in my car was because I was thinking I wanted a car with that much HP without having to mod it and lose my warranty on the car. Think I'll just spend some money on a few mods and some wheels and appreciate the $15k I saved today.

The Nismo is a great car, but the 86 is just more fun to drive.

Yeah it's amazing...
 

It's amazing that 150 more hp equates to little noticeable when the car is 600 or 700 lbs heavier...

Jaden

I've always enjoyed the Nismo z's, but the inflated price and weight always pushed me away.

Pretty badass looking car though

I've owned some high HP cars. Yes ... they are fun, but with high HP comes large heavy body. Rarely can you exploit the full potential of those cars without going to jail. The 86 is just so nimble and easy to drive. Good call OP.

The torque is extremely noticeable in my opinion. I wouldn't buy a nismo personally, but I wouldn't mind a 370z with the sport package. But yes, the Z is a little on the fluffy side in comparison to our cars.

Errr, not noticibly faster? I guess it's probably because it has decent torque and doesn't feel like that vtec kick at high rpm. but 4.9 0-60 compared to 6.4 should be pretty noticible, as well as 13.5 quarter mile compared to 15.0 seconds.

Also what do you mean by handling? :) the brz is more nimble but the nismo grips a ton better :D

Also what's with all the people looking at the nismo recently and saying it's too expensive, then not looking at the base plus sports?

Doubt somebody on a test drive is going to be able to feel the difference in the 0-60 or 1/4 mile. Unless of course they like to test drive on a set distance with a timing device (and have a really cool salesperson that will let them).
The price seems about right even at $41K since you are getting a lot of car for your dollar.

Just a tune and some weight reduction.
 

i've just done a little bit of weight reduction, an exhaust and a tune, and I'm in the mid 5's.

I'm sure it doesn't feel that much faster than MY car...I don't know what the op has done to his car.

Jaden

Errr then what's the point of a test drive if you can't tell that degree of difference apart? I feel like it's even more noticble for daily driving. You can be lazy and don't always have to be furiously rowing your boat to get anywhere.

The sport can be had for 30k these days, so it's kinda hard to justify 11k or so more In my opinion.

I wasn't trying to bash the Z in any way. I went there with the intention on buying one because I think they are nice cars. The Z is a faster car but I already own an FR-S and there just wasn't enough performance improvement for me to justify spending that much more money. I'm an aircraft mechanic. I really can't just throw money around. I appreciate my FR-S a little bit more now though. Its a awesome bargain for what you get.

Did you try or consider the non nismo sports?

I did. There was only 4 Z cars on the lot. The Nismo, a convertible, and 2 touring models that came out to be valued at $37.3 on truecar.com.

There's just not that many sport compact choices like there was in the 90's when I was coming up.... 300z, 3000gt, supra, rx7, mr2... Back in the day all I could afford was my 96 integra but I loved that car. Now its basically either a Z, 86, or a subaru for a new car.