For me, it isnt really about like if its a good first or what. It's all about if you like the car overall and how long you plan keeping it. My Z is my 5th car, and I plan on keeping it. Overall things you get at it's price point -performance, looks, maintenance makes it top notch.
With that said, keep doing test drives, take a real deep feel and look on it. Ask yourself if you would like to keep a car like this, looks very beautiful, powerful, not too expensive, cheap maintenance but isn't a carpool car and no storage for folks who moves stuff a lot.
As far as tranny goes, I went for MT, I know the AT is fantastic but MT will be classic plus I feel that I'm contributing more for the car. I've read somewhere that MT will be obsolete soon.
Back to your topic, IMHO, it's a fantastic car for a first time buyer. My suggestion is to lock yourself to which color you want, what trim you want and if you want regular Z or a Nismo version. Good luck brotha!
Oh, btw, watch out for the mod bug...
