Nismo = cheese-mo

Alexus

I'm guessing it's very difficult for Nissan to justify the direction they've decided to head in with this Nismo-tuned Z. I'm not sure what price-range we're looking at here… heck, I don't even really know what this edition features. From what I've been reading on here and on other unmentionables; it's just an appearance package and perhaps it should be sold just as that, like it is on the Altima and the Versa. Changing the bumpers, the spoilers, adding some color under the hood and some badges here and there does not justify the +/- $40-45,000 price range. I'm sorry, but for the extra $10k you can both make your car look getter and perform better.

Going on with the theme of this thread, in retrospect, this is what Nissan would have to do with a Nismo-tuned 370Z for me to even consider purchasing one:

- Either: a. Add a turbo to that VVEL. Nissan has more than enough know-how to make this happen. b. Put in a 5.0L V8. They already have a proven 5.6L V8 in the Titan, why wouldn't they be able to modify it for a passenger car (read sport coupe) application and drop it into the 370Z? I haven't seen the Z's engine bay in person, but I'm more than certain that it can be done. Weight wouldn't be an issue if they replaced the seats with lightweight Recaros, and used lighter materials overall. Smaller wheels, also, wouldn't hurt.

- Let's be honest here, Mitsubishi is offering it, Audi is offering it, BMW is offering it. A sequential, manumatic, DSG, whatever you want to call it transmission should be offered. Heck, it should be on the regular Z. This should be a no brainer, and even though I can't say I've been following the news a lot, but I'm inclined to believe that Nissan hasn't developed one. I strongly believe that this is a crucial selling point for most people, because more and more track racers are favoring these transmissions over the manuals. It is CRUCIAL for Nissan to develop this in order to keep up with cars in the price-range, and imho if Mitsubishi can do this with a full-size sedan like the Evo, and still sell it for $40k, I'm pretty damn sure Nissan can do it. Heck, I think that if Ford can develop something like PowerShift, Nissan can do it.

No further comment.

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