Used 2012 Nissan 370Z NISMO Consumer Reviews

A raw and relatively modern sports car

I purchased my 370z (Nismo) brand new back in 2012. It was not cheap, but was relatively affordable as Nissan offered 0% financing. As stated in the title of this review, this car is raw as there were not a whole lot of factory options that came with the car, and if I remember correctly, it had the rearview mirror backup camera and illuminated kick plates options. I did not purchase any of those options as I was not a fan of the kick plates and the backup camera in the rearview mirror was too small. I do wish that the car had navigation so that the back up camera can be projected on that screen; however, that was never an option for the Nismo Z; I believe the more recent Z's have more factory options. I like the design of the Z's interior as there's soft touch material throughout the dash and door panels. The design is clean without much of the distractions in modern day vehicles, which reminds me of the simplicity of the design of the 90's or early 2000's sports cars but with better materials. I do wish that one of the gauges on the dash would read something useful to the driver like air/fuel ratio or water temperature instead of the time, and integrate the clock with the stereo system. Also, next to the tachometer, I wish they would be consistent with the theme and stick with the analog/needle gauge rather than the dots to show gas level and engine temperature, which seems out of place. Blind spots can be a huge issue at times as the rear/over the shoulder visibility is not great. Gas mileage is decent for a car with over 300HP. Interior is somewhat noisy and reminds me of an airplane ride, and I think a lot of it has to do with the summer performance tires. The steering feel is heavy and precise. The Nismo suspension can be very unforgiving for normal daily driving especially over uneven pavements (even with the factory installed shipping spacers removed from the springs!) but is very rewarding from the performance standpoint. The transmission is notchy and shifts are short as if an aftermarket short-shifter was installed. I have years of experience driving manual transmissions and have driven quite a few sportier cars - from S2000s to Miatas to EVO's and STI's and even my own daily driver, Mazda Protégé 5, and I feel like the Z's 2nd gear is hard to get used to. I am just not a big fan of shifting from 1st to 2nd, but maybe that's just me...Overall, the Z is a great looking car that drives and handles well, and it's got more than enough power to be safe on the road and have a little fun at the same time. As of 9/5/2020, the car is still very reliable and performs like new. A lot of reviewers are saying the Z os outdated and I don't disagree with them as the car has been in production for more than a decade. On paper it might not be as impressive when compared to modern competitors, however this is one of the very few raw sports cars out there that will give you this type of experience at an affordable price range. This is definitely a keeper.