I'm thikning if you want to see the quality of a BMW or Audi interior you might not want to stop at your Nissan dealer. Nothing against Nissan or it's quality but they've never come close to BMW/Audi status before in interior quality before so I wouldn't excpect them to start now.

 

I have compared it to VW. Most of the reviews get bent out of shape on the "big hunk of plastic" door panels. Yes they are plain and simple but I don’t think that makes them cheap. Yes they use the same old Nissan window/lock switches but it works and keeps prices down.

The seats are great. The dash is great. The console is great. The headliner is great. It is just mainly the doors that cause these type of reviews. The passenger door does have the extra pull handle with aluminum trim which makes most of the complaints aimed at the driver's door. I wish people would get over it.

There is much more to the interior than the door panels. The whole package is much better than any American car and most other imports for the same price.

 

I think the seats are probably one of the most important aspects of the interior- just about everyone who has reviewed the car has given high marks to the Zs seats- leather and cloth. I love the dash trim/switches on the Jettas, GTI's, Bugs, and A4s that I've sat in- but was never impressed by the comfort/support of the seats. In particular the Jetta seats were firm, but didn't have much lateral support. I'll take good seats over fancy dash materials any day of the week- I think Nissan put their money into the important stuff on this car.

Ethan

 

Agree 1000%. In order of importance, what I look for in a car:
1. PERFORMANCE
2. PERFORMANCE
3. PERFORMANCE
4. Exterior Beauty
5. Interior Comfort -- i.e. seats
6. Interior Beauty

The Z is so far ahead on my top 5 (compared to anything close to the $30K I'm spending), that I don't care if it lags a bit on number 6.

 

Just to offer another opinion, my order is:

1. Exterior beauty
2. Lack of stigma
3. Performance
4. Interior beauty & comfort

If I just wanted performance, I'd go buy an M3 or Corvette, but I think both of those are quite plain-jane unattractive, and have strong stigmas attached to them. I would not get an M3 b/c people look at you like a "snob", and the people driving Corvettes are way out of my demographic. I'd rather be in the "value" group any day.

I do agree the big bulbous doors on the Z are a bit much, and the lack of a handle on the driver's door perplexes me, but I like the overall interior design. And I think the exterior is awesome as well, except for the 45-degree rear shot where the butt can look droopy:

https://my350z.com/news/production/prod350z-011.jpg