Cars that are hyper-focused on one thing will always win a spot on our phone screens and wall posters. But more often than not, the cars that take a spot in our garages will be those that balance their performance with a sort of sensibility, any kind. Be it everyday practicality, affordability, or just the fact that it can hold your week’s worth of groceries in the trunk. And while sports cars are getting more expensive today, the choice of finding such balanced cars has gotten narrower.
In it, one sports car that almost got that balance right is the 2026 Nissan Z NISMO, the high-performance variant of the standard Z. With its long legacy of balancing everyday practicality, affordability, style, and performance, enthusiasts always felt the Z NISMO was a bit lacking. Fortunately, Nissan has heard us and is going to fix that, finally allowing the Z NISMO to achieve the balance that it should’ve had from day one.
The Long Nissan Z Car Legacy That Almost Trumped The Modern GR Supra
The point of the Nissan Z car has always been to bring style and performance to the masses. Its legacy dates all the way back to 1969, with the legendary Datsun Fairlady Z, a parts-bin-special sports car that took the world by storm with its balance of performance, sharp looks, and relatively low price. Its success was followed by a succession of Z cars, including the legendary 300ZX Z32 and the more recent 350Z and 370Z, with the last of them featuring V6 engines and aerodynamic, gorgeous designs.
So, when Nissan unveiled the current-gen Z car, expectations were rightfully high, and Nissan got most things right from the get-go. The new Z embodies the classic sports car proportions, while offering 400 horsepower from its VR30 twin-turbo V6 engine. Even in its base trim, it’s still 0.2 seconds quicker than a base Porsche Cayman while costing just around $43,000. That makes it one of the cheapest sports cars you can buy today, and also a rare sports car that’s keeping the manual transmission alive.
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The 2026 Nissan Z NISMO Almost Gets The Balance Right
With the standard Z being so great, you’d expect the high-performance Z NISMO to be even better, and that’s where the “almost-got-the-balance-right” thing comes into action. The Z NISMO is still awesome, offering 20 more ponies, upgraded suspension and brakes, and NISMO-tuned transmission. It’s an aggressive version of the standard model, and as our team found out, power is usable throughout the rev range, the handling is sharp, and it’s a rewarding sports car.
But it has a couple of glaring complaints. It lacks a manual transmission, which many premium-paying buyers would expect from the high-performance trim of a sports car that already offers it in the base model. Second, the ride quality, as we’ve found, is too stiff, with the uncomfortable seats not helping much. And it costs around $65,000, where it starts to feel somewhat expensive. You might as well get a Porsche. Even the GR Supra, which starts at $58,000, offers manual and automatic transmission options in all its trims.
But the Z? I mean, for a GT-R, I’d get the point. But the Z was always more about driving feel. Not lap times. It’s a highly emotional car. Also, an old nameplate, one that typically caters more to a slightly older generation. Folks my age who grew up during the 1990s and remember Z cars as being Gran Turismo characters or featured on the cover of Super Street magazine. The Z is Japan’s Ford Mustang.
– William Clavey for TopSpeed
The 2027 Nissan Z NISMO Should Fix That Problem
While current inflation wouldn’t let us expect the Nissan Z NISMO to be the affordable sports car it once was, it still doesn’t justify the price tag for many enthusiasts due to the aforementioned compromise. Fortunately, that’s about to change with the refreshed 2027 Nissan Z NISMO, which finally gets a manual transmission and refined suspension. It promises to now get the balance right between being a car designed for enthusiasts while saving on the Porsche premium.
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Exploring The Nissan Z NISMO’s Major Complaints
On paper, the 2026 Nissan Z NISMO, like many other high-performance variants, is a collection of a bit more power and some extra parts. But that NISMO badge stands for something; its legacy has been tuning cars that excite drivers looking for the thrill of the ride. And despite being a brilliant car in all ways, the lack of a manual transmission does come in the way of making it the ideal enthusiast’s sports car under $70,000.
|
Power |
Torque |
0-60 MPH |
Top Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
|
420 HP |
384 LB-FT |
3.9 seconds |
165 MPH |
Despite being the most powerful of the Z cars, it still doesn’t get a six-speed manual, which feels like a letdown. In its place, the current Z NISMO offers a nine-speed automatic multi-clutch system, a product of a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. As we’ve found, it feels identical to the Mercedes-Benz’s 9G-Tronic transmission; it’s not bad, but it’s said to fall short of the quick-shifting action of Porsche’s PDK system.
Also, The Ride Quality Is Too Stiff To Be Comfortable
Yes, we know it’s a focused sports car for the track, but the Nissan Z has always been an everyday sports car first. That’s where the Z NISMO faces another major complaint: suspension is a bit too stiff. As a result, the ride quality of this car is said to be quite harsh. Our review of the car also found that the seats aren’t so comfortable for long stints, which should make the experience of driving the Z NISMO around town tiring after a few hours in the seat.
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That Stands To Change With The 2027 Nissan Z NISMO
Nissan recently unveiled the 2027 Nissan Z NISMO, alongside the base 2027 Nissan Z, which finally addresses these two problems. The biggest mechanical change is that the new Z NISMO finally gets a six-speed manual gearbox. This addition is paired with revised ECU tweaks in throttle control and ignition timing, which make the engine work better with the manual gearbox. According to Nissan, the manual transmission also helps shed 66 pounds from the car, compared to the one with the nine-speed automatic unit.
Is It Too Little, Too Late? Not Really
Look at the sales numbers for the manual GR Supra, and it makes you wonder why Nissan didn’t jump on this until right now, especially when the standard Z car already had the manual transmission. Nissan says that it was simply unclear whether there was enough demand for the manual transmission, but another possibility is that the standard six-speed manual just couldn’t handle the extra 34 pound-feet of torque in the Z NISMO form. This has happened with other performance cars, like the BMW M2 CS, so it wouldn’t come as a major surprise to most.
So far, Nissan hasn’t revealed much about the gearbox, but the consensus is that the standard Z’s manual will be adapted into the Z NISMO. That six-speed manual is, well, old, dating back several generations. It’s technically just an updated version of the one used in the 370Z, which came out in 2009. Maybe, if we give Nissan the benefit of the doubt, it might’ve felt that the Z NISMO deserved something better than this unit. We’ll only know for sure when the Z NISMO is launched, and more information is available on it.
In any case, the GR Supra and its German cousin, the BMW Z4, are ending production in 2026. This deadline was extended into the new calendar year because of the demand in the market. With these two cars almost leaving now, the number of manual-transmission sports cars only grows smaller. And now, Nissan stands to capitalize on a manual version of the Z NISMO model. As a result, Nissan’s dominance will only improve in the relatively affordable sports car market.
This is the Supra that should’ve came blasting out of the gate back in 2019, manual transmission and all.
Nissan Says It Has Fixed The Harsh Ride Quality, Too
According to the manufacturer, the new Z NISMO should ride better on the road, too. It has updated the suspension damping force for better ride comfort and on-road stability, fixing the issue of the ride quality being too stiff. At least in Japan, the 2027 Nissan Z also features new shock absorbers with 45mm pistons, up from 40mm in the previous model, with the pressure receiving area growing by 26.6 percent. Nissan claims that these new components should make the car more responsive to road surface changes.
The 2027 Nissan Z NISMO Has Some Other Tricks Up Its Fender
Apart from the manual transmission and revised suspension setup, the 2027 Nissan Z NISMO also gets some noteworthy upgrades on the braking front. Now, the car gets upgraded Akebono brake rotors straight from the R35 GT-R. These two-piece rotors boast forged aluminum hats and steel cross-drilled rotors, which are said to drop nearly 20 pounds of unsprung mass at the front.
The substantial reduction in unsprung mass means the dampers have to cope with less weight over bumps, which should improve handling, comfort, and performance on the road. Ideally, this should also reduce the Z NISMO’s individual corner weights, which should give it an even more balanced ride quality. The new design also offers better cooling. The calipers remain the same four-piston Akebono units painted in bright red.
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The 2025 Nissan Z Had A Surprising Sales Run In The US Last Year
When the 2023 Nissan Z was freshly launched, the hype was real, but the car was still relatively uncommon on the road and at car meets. And a short stroll on Reddit reveals why: stealership markups, as many users call it. Thanks to low production numbers and the car being cheap, dealers started marking up the model, which drove the prices further up. Suddenly, the Nissan Z felt like an expensive car, and that’s not something most buyers can justify for a weekend and track car in the current economy.
Nissan now offers plenty of discounts, and the stealership markups are now in control, which means, despite the hype dying down, the Nissan Z sold relatively well in 2025. Nissan managed to move 5,487 Nissan Zs last year, which isn’t a huge number, but still respectable. That’s a 73.4 percent jump for the year! For reference, the last time Nissan sold as many Z cars was back in 2016, when it was still the 370Z.
Also, Nissan finally seems to be capitalizing on what the car means for the community. The Nissan Z is the most cost-effective way to get your hands on a 400-horsepower car in 2025 and 2026, and today, it’s the only twin-turbo V6 sports car with a manual transmission in the US. And with the updated 2027 Nissan Z and its NISMO counterpart, Nissan hopes to maintain this sales run even more. Sure, the Z NISMO is still an expensive option, but it should now become a hard-to-beat package with its new manual transmission and potentially more comfortable ride quality.
Nissan also showcased the 2027 Nissan Z with an updated front fascia and a new color scheme, but the NISMO model’s sole photo shows that it still mirrors the current car. So, we don’t expect the upcoming Z NISMO to receive the same visual treatment as the upcoming standard model. In any case, you can expect the manual transmission Z NISMO to show up at your nearest dealership, most likely at the end of 2026. That’s a long wait, but enough to start saving up some cash.
Sources: Nissan