I'm not sure between Performance and Enthusiast.

 

And what shall I search for? Bang? Buck? Donkeys?

I looked on the site and didn't see anything about you being the resident wiseass that has to reply with the "do a search" statement. I think you should definitely ask Jay for a promotion or something.

 

Too bad they didn't spend $100 more (if that) and put cruise control on the base. =(

 

I wonder how different the performance will really be with a viscous coupling LSD. From the SCC review it sounds like it may be tuned to allow a lot of slip before stiffening up, perhaps to reduce the loss of low-speed steering response usually associated with LSDs. Perhaps if you don't care about HIDs and cruise it would be better to buy base and add a Quaife or Torsen diff when they become available, or forget about it all together.

 

I would venture to say the best value would be the base model. I think this is the case because I believe the price tag of the car is going to go up after the preorders have fininshed their run. Assuming this does happen, buying the base model would yield a nice profit if you turned around and sold it. The demand will be high, and you are taking the dealer out of the equation. The markups for the higher models will be less substantial than the base because I think Nissan planned for a price hike - that is why the car starts at 26K and change. That gives them 3K+ room to raise the price while sticking to their promise to deliver the car for 30K or under. They really can't raise the price too much on the other models or Nissan will suffer the same problem as with the last round of Z cars - too expensive. The Z car fan base will have been burned off with the preorders, so the market becomes more practical.

It's also worth noting that aside from the posh stuff and the performance enhancements, the base model is certainly not a poor performer. Look at the stuff you could get in similar price ranges.

 

I belive the Performance does.. It has everything the Enthusiast has plus VDC which IMO is a life saver... I used to have a Supra TT that didn't have VDC and due to wet ground conditions and emergency maneuver situations I almost spun the car more than once... good thing I knew how to drive it.. However, in the winter and in certain situations on the street VDC can prevent accidents better than even the best drivers (All those people who know how to handle RWD vehicles).

 

I don't think you quite understand the way the viscous coupling works. It's not a torque converter- it does nothing at all when both wheels are spinning at the same speed. All it does is provide some resistance to the wheels spinning at different speeds. No delay between shifts or anything like that. The question is- does it do a good enough job at it to be significantly better than not having it at all?

 

I think most of us asked ourselves this question while deciding on what to order. For me it's simple:

I wanted the Track but would rather spend a little less $ and get something as close to the top-of-the-line model as possible. The differences between Track and Performance?

- Brembo brakes - Do you really need these fat brakes for everyday driving? No.
- Rays wheels - Very nice, but I like the idea of making my Z different with a personal choice of wheels at some point.
- Aero package - Didn't care for the spoilers at first. Could go either way here.

Easy decision. Take a step below Performance and you lose quite a bit more: the ugly 17"s, no VDC, no fun extra gadget with the tire monitor!