twyrick

I just got back on here and re-read my initial post, and now, I feel like maybe that sounded a bit too negative. (I might have been in one of those moods when I wrote it... dunno.)

Where I keep going back and forth with "Is Nismo worth it?" probably has to do with the frustration, on one hand, that for that $10,000-ish price premium, you barely get any real HP increase over other models. And you could probably even order all the individual parts that make it a Nismo for $1000-2000 less than you pay for the car with them on it already. So from that perspective, it's just not such a great deal.

BUT, on the other hand? There's always the fact that insurance coverage counts. You pay a lot to insure any of these cars, so it's nice that if you want to drive a Z in Nismo trim, your insurance respects it as such and will pay to replace damaged parts with the Nismo replacements. All the people who tried to save money by putting a Nismo body kit and other upgrades on a base or Sport trim 370Z will be out of luck in a collision.

Resale value counts too, and it's rare you can get much of your money back out of aftermarket upgrades or even OEM upgrades that weren't originally on the model of car you're driving.

Like I was telling one of the guys in a private message .... As I try to figure out why I felt like the car fatigues me or "bores me" on long road trips, I think it might be a whole combination of things including the lack of sound deadening/damping. I know Nissan will argue that was done to cut the weight of the vehicle down .... but when I drive on highways and here little "ping" and "plunk" sounds from every piece of gravel that hits the undercarriage, it reminds me how much misc. road noise really does get into the cabin. That tends to fatigue the driver.