Crazy idea: swap Nismo Recaro seats for Sport?

twyrick

When I bought a slightly used '16 Nismo Tech earlier this year, I did so after doing lots of research online. I thought if I was going to buy one of these cars before they stop production, I wanted all the bells and whistles and the "top of the line" model with the best performance. I didn't want to pay the "Nissan tax" of what a brand new one cost though, so I went with a slightly used, low mileage, Nissan certified one instead.

I'm pretty happy with the car too... but as I've owned it for a while now, it's honestly becoming more clear to me why so many people don't keep these cars for the long haul.

I've owned a lot of sports cars over the years (currently in my mid 40's), and some were just more of a joy to drive than others. I think the Nismo is someplace in the middle of the pack for me, vs. other cars I owned. Especially on longer trips, I honestly get a little bored of driving it, if that makes any sense? It's fun for a short, spirited drive someplace. But on real road trips or those drives between cities, I really start feeling like I took the wrong vehicle for the job. I'm 5'9" and around 200lbs. and I fit in the Recaro seats ok - but it's a tight fit. That's not a bad thing as that's how these seats should feel, really. But I get the idea if I was much bigger, the side bolsters would be a little too narrow for me.

Performance-wise, I find the acceleration to be "adequate" for a sports car, but not anything exceptional. It's no wonder so many people opt for a custom tune, custom exhaust, custom intake, and often a turbo or supercharger upgrade on these. It always feels like just as many sports cars on the road are faster than you as there are slower than you.

All things considered? I think if I knew then what I know now as an owner? If I was doing this over again, I'd save a little money and go with a "Sport Tech" edition. (I do like the gadgets like the built in GPS and reverse camera and Bluetooth.) No matter what edition of these cars you get, you can easily dump another $10-15K into it to get your twin turbo or supercharged setup properly installed and tuned. Otherwise, they're all pretty close in horsepower and you can do some appearance mods to get that "edginess" of a Nismo in the looks department, should you want it. And yeah, once the "coolness factor" of having Recaros wears off -- they're probably less practical seats for most of your driving needs than the regular ones.

babyzilla

Damn...I feel like I just received a reality check lol
Thanks for sharing, especially from a recent and valid owner.

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.

nis350

very nice review....

I imagine with the tight seats and the stiffer Nismo suspension, it can be a bit uncomfortable for longer trips.

In term of overall value of the Z, it isn't an expensive car in today's market. While some people feel the design is dated, I personal like it a lot, both in and out. and that's the main reason I bought one (my third Z). Performance wise, it is just average as you stated. Mine is the touring/sport/Nav/6 spd model.

I think the real value is to get one that's 2 to 3 years old model as they tend to depreciated quite a bit.