Test drove a red Nismo yesterday at OC Nissan in Irvine. The ride is very "bouncy" and hard compared to the 370Z with the sport package. As a daily driver, the Nismo would not work for me. The exhaust is just a tad louder than the stock system. If you are looking for a throaty sound, this isn't it. Stillen would be a better choice for sound and HP. For some reason, the engine felt more course at higher RPM's than the sport model. Handling around corners felt about the same as the sport model but I didn't have a chance to really get on it. The interior has cloth seats that are comfortable but no better than the stock cloth interior in my opinion. The rear wing looks like a Pep Boy's add on to me as do the rear exhaust outlets that are enormous. The Nismo wheels don't look half as nice as the Rays on the sport model. The MSRP was over 40K without Nav. In summary, unless you absolutely love the looks of the Nismo or maybe it would be a good track car, you can add a lot of performance and handling parts to the sport model for about the 7K difference in price. For value, performance and looks, I would opt for the 6 speed with sport package, and then add a few mods.

Last, the sales manager I talked to, I his name was Danny Huynh, an Asian guy (not that there is anything wrong with that other than his I'm better than you, and why are you bothering me attitude), acted like he was doing me a favor trying to locate the car I wanted and kept saying things like "I should be able to get one, I think", and he wanted MSRP, no discount. Frankly, I wouldn't buy a car from him, especially him, or this dealership at any price. Also, I stopped by the parts dept to see how much "ester' Oil costs for the 370, and the parts guy advises me they don't sell it to the public, they only use it on the clunkers they get in trade. I again reemphasized that I was talking about the ester oil for the 370Z and he finally understood what I was talking about, and advised it was $12. a quart. OC Nissan doesn't deserve anyone's business with their attitude and total lack of product knowledge.

Whatever happened to friendly, knowledgeable, customer service, especially when your spending about 40 large in a down economy??

 

Friendly, knowledgeable customer service and Nissan don't go hand in hand.

 

+1

 

LOL so true...^+2

 

wtf is up with douchebag car salesmen? i bought a used honda at an acura dealership. they acted like they were doing me a favor by selling me the car. so arrogant in negotiations, it pissed me off. i bought the car cause i had to have it. but if i ever consider buying a new acura it wont be from them nor will i ever refer anyone over there.

 

Sad to hear... although I didn't plan on getting the nismo it is still sad to hear that it isn't an improvement by any means. Sport package painted fangs ftw

 

You have a pick of the red nismo, I test drove a white nismo and liked it. I've seen pics of the car and never really liked it until I saw the white nismo in person and it is a nice looking car, but I just can't justify spending that much. I agree with the op, get the track model and add 7k to the car of stuff you really want on it including an oil cooler.

 

LOL Now this is a breath of fresh air...Most if not all the douche bag sales people that Ive come across over the years, have always been white folks.

Seriously tho.. Walking into a random dealer of the street? Total beginner (sucker) move man.

There are a few good fleet, dealership and service guys out there. Ask around your regional section of any car forum and you'll be steered to one. Use the forums people. That's what it's for...

 

you figure the asian would know what your talking about..lol NISSAN!!

 

Those Asian salesmen........whats wrong with them

 

Lucky it's at MSRP versus being marked up!

I was shopping for one (NISMO 370), but finding it very hard to pay $40k when there are lightly used 993 and 996 911s for that much around here.

The good thing about the NISMO's mods vs buying a Sport and dropping money into breather mods and suspension is that you don't run into the fuss of the Nissan warranty for changing things. Our ZR had the clicking from the rear sound, but they wouldn't fix it because we had aftermarket wheels. I literally had to drive home and change them, then return to get it handled. Nissan's sales and tech'l staff are a joke.

 

Idk, imo you are lucky to have a dealership that will turn their head and let you change things out, it is not their rules that don't allow them to do warranty work on your car. I'm lucky enough to have a service manager that has been ok with all of my modifications and has told me which ones would need to be swapped back to stock if there was ever a problem with that part of the vehicle. He was very blunt in telling me he doesn't care as long as I swap it back before I bring it to him so he doesn't have to report that there was a modification to something in the realm of where the damage is. That's like boosting your engine, blowing it, and then taking off the kit, bringing it back and getting it fixed I know it wouldn't work like that it's more complex but you get the analogy. It's very nice to not have to worry about them knowing your modifications every time you go to get an oil change or some maintenance.

On the contrary some of these hardasses act like are Nissan themselves footing the bill and won't give you sh*t because of a mod that has nothing to do with what broke.

 

F-a-i-l. Car salesmen, yuck!

 

It's interesting that Nissan and Infiniti are the same company but at Infiniti (I have a FX35) they treat you like a king, their salespeople have good product knowledge, and their service department treat you right including a loaner car at no cost, decent car wash etc. If the Infiniti G37 6 speed didn't drive like slug compared to the Z, I would buy one in a heartbeat. Also, the Infiniti has a 4 year, 60K basic warranty versus the Nissan 3 year 36K miles. Go figure.

 

I know 3 really good car sales people over the last 10 years. And, wife and I have purchased several vehicles from these same sales people.

All three have been with the same dealership/brand for the last 15+ years too.

 

I've noticed the same thing and absolutely agree with all points. The warranty is actually a big thing to me.

 

I went into Hill Top Nissan on rt 10w's parts department and asked to purchase 4 aluminum washers that are used for the diff and trans. Came back with the copper crush washer for the oil drain plug.

I was like did you check the parts number and then he proceeded to say "o nissan does not have that part number available for the washer", I was like thanks, see you later. Completely moronic.

 

^Absolutely. I've been to 2 different Infiniti dealers and both salesmen, were very nice, knew their product line inside and out.

Whenever I go to Nissan I have to mentally prepare myself for the stupidity of the employees.

I went in the other day and asked if they had the Nismo 370 in yet, and they had no idea what I was talking about.

After I showed them my Nismo, I was like yea the upgrade to that...

Then they went on to tell me how nice the leather interior in the Nismo 370 is..


I mean its their job and they only sell so many different models. Comon

 

LOL If you really want an Infiniti dealer to treat you like crap come here to vegas.

Seriously tho..Don't matter the make of car.. There are crap dealers everywhere. Ive seen a few Porsche dealers over the years, that are just as bad or even worse.

 

haha i dealt with the same damn people i was gunna buy the ppw 350 nismo they had there and they were total douches so i went to tustin and they had 10x better customer service and a way better price for my silver nismo and gave me a free black nismo shift ****! hahaha it was dope