Gadgetory

it's the hottest Z you can get without turning your wrench yourself or writing a check to a tuner a factory track car an unadulterated simple whiskey from the barrel let's drive the 2014 Nissan 370z Nismo and check the tech so what exactly is an is mosey well first of all it's a gutsy Jersey car with more power a big body kit we'll talk about the second better bigger staggered wheels real tough sports suspension will oh there we go an h-pipe cat-back exhaust system manual transmission only this whole car speaks to one thing it's the purity it's kind of a club racer from the factory with a factory warranty but it doesn't have a dramatically different anything in terms of powertrain this is a handling statement more than anything else as I drive this car I feel a little ridiculous with this extreme body kit I'm more of a wolf in sheep's clothing kind of guy but that's just me and most important is it's not a car for the faint of heart you don't buy this because you want an everyday Z you buy this because you've got another car or Tuesday your everyday driving in it would be a waste to poke this thing around and stop and go traffic for 90% of its life okay let's pull over take a look at the outside now spotted mismo Z pretty easily first of all very different front bodywork that extends the car a remarkable 6.2 inches all here in the name of aerodynamics kind of an analogue to a Porsche 911 slant nose out back unmistakable that huge kind of obnoxious wing and around all four corners special raised wheels staggered front to rear and when you get in this Z first of all things are tight intimate and sporty the way they should be kind of a high beltline so it's a little bit claustrophobic and sight lines on the back let's not talk about that there aren't any speaking of there aren't any there's almost no technology in this car available optionally or standard here's your media rake AM and FM no HD radio satellite radio is an option single disc six disc is an option auxilary Jack right there that's it no bluetooth streaming no USB port no special iPod connection Oh SD cards this is a fairly primitive cabin it says do one thing drive the damn car here's where you think I might be showing you a little peekaboo nav screen but no it's just a little flocked storage box you can't even option nav on a Nismo the seats are grippy they're in a special fabric for Nismo cards but I don't believe they're different than a standard Z they're a good sports seat but they're not unique to this car in terms of drive controls there's very little because this car is 6-speed manual only you do have one interesting needle do to add attached to that though the S mode a synchro mode when you enable this and get an S alongside your gear selector the car will automatically blip throttle when you downshift it will do it faster than you can although the purist who buys this car may not need the help the remaining cabin tech is instrumentation it looks like you've got a lot of it right in classic Z style but as I absorb the car for a couple days I realize it's largely gauge theater first of all over here on the left it's what I think is the ugliest gauge in Auto dump this little multi LED bar graph for fuel and temperature looks like something out of a stripped murano but then while you've got that dumb gauge for temperature you've got a very precise gauge for oil temperature well that's weird why don't they both get a numerical dial gauge voltmeter to the right is real stupid all things gonna do almost its entire life is read 14.2 and that's a waster real estate for that clock that pod should be oil pressure the clock could go anywhere and there's no oil pressure readout anywhere else in this car big tasty red trimmed tack in the middle digital readouts for your gear position even though it's a manual as well as the S mode indicator and the speedometer is analog only I'm not big on having to have a digital speedo but when you have one that compressed where every five miles is just a tiny fraction of an inch I would actually like a digital readout so I can figure out my speed at a glance this is not an easy speedo to read I don't need more tickets on the steering wheel of course because there's not a lot of tech there's not a lot of tech controls we do have a voice command button over here but notice that Bluetooth that it drives is also optional with a Bose audio upgrade that's right get this car without options and you'll be using a headset rear camera also optional what there is of it having no LCD in the dash it shows up in a portion of the rear view mirror small but essential for backing up this cocoon on wheels when the engine bay is where you learned that the Nismo z is truly a drivers card how do we know that because they don't kill you with a ton of extra power on this model in fact they barely up it at all this 3.7 liter v6 is very similar to the one in the standard Z it picks up a few horsepower 18 more to get to 350 also note this v6 does not have direct injection which is taking over the industry these days it's kind of old-school in that respect foot-pounds of torque are 276 that's a mere six more than on a base Z this car is much more about a little freer breathing engine and great handling how finessed and nuanced is that zero to sixty for this 3,300 pound vehicle is about five seconds flat maybe a little quicker than that in the right hand rear wheel drive only there's no all-wheel drive various limited slip differential in the rear is the old-school viscous couple not electronically controlled mpg on this car is 18 City 26 highway not bad actually given the fact that this car has a roll that is anything but sipping fuel in fact let's go find out what it really is everything in this car is raw and direct and hard the suspension is a wonder of audacity but they actually think people are going to drive this thing on an everyday basis this is the worst riding car I have ever reviewed for CNET over 1200 guards and this one is actually unlivable as your daily driver so make sure you have it as your second or third car it is so punishing I wish you could see with this wide-angle lens you can't see the amount of of rattling that this car punishes you with but it's amazing of course that's because it's a rigid stiffly sprung very flattening track suspension without any adaptive tricks it's done the old-fashioned way with high spring rates and a lot of beef underneath the next thing you feel is this very meaty mechanical tough feeling gearshift it's a very hard gate you got to push it through the different slots but it's not hard to find them you know interesting about this car is it's not overwhelmingly power it's linearly powerful which I love really evenly powerful let's put it through a couple of tight turns here under power it just rotates beautifully that's that front mid-engine stuff they're not kidding the engines flooring them back on this rear wheel setup that it just pivots right around the middle that's a great driver's car it just gets around a corner right there snap that rear end right where you need it it's just a fun little car to drive for that s mode it works spot-on matches revs for a downshift as soon as you notch into the lower gear I don't think I could ever do it faster but I still feel guilty about using it that's the most comfortable again the ride is beastly the cabins kind of tight the sight lines are a disaster just keep looking forward it's a hoot I'll give you that point you maybe point sips let's price our Nismo Z starts off at about forty three eight now to get it seen that style you got to do a couple things at thirteen fifty for the Bose audio package which is more than just the extra Bose speakers and amps it also gets you six CD satellite radio and that's how you get Bluetooth hands-free so it's a definite must and a pretty good value 790 gets you the rear view camera which although it's tiny in that mirror and very high dollars per square inch is a must on a car with non-existent rear sight lines like this all in about forty six thousand I like this car a lot it's got a raw unique in your face earnest that doesn't make any apologies and it's much grittier than an MS or AMG car from Germany on the other hand because it's so raw and under stilled if it's your daily driver you're gonna feel it