Is This £20k Nissan 370Z An Underrated Performance Bargain?

Nissan’s Nismo performance badge is coming back to Europe! But don’t fire those party poppers just yet – the name is returning on the Ariya Nismo, an electric family crossover. Disappointed about this news? Luckily, the classifieds offer plenty of examples of one of the last petrol cars to wear a Nismo badge – the Nissan 370Z.

The base 370Z never offered the greatest finesse among its sports car contemporaries, but it made up for that with some classically handsome looks and a big, meaty 3.7-litre V6 up front.

Once Nissan’s tuning division got its hands on it, though, it became a bit more of a serious prospect. Power was taken from 324bhp to 339bhp, making for a 5.2-second 0-62mph sprint and a limited 155mph top speed.

It got firmed-up suspension and wider tyres complementing its standard-fit limited-slip differential, all of which contributed to an altogether more sorted machine, albeit one that could never really match the contemporary Porsche Cayman for pure driving enjoyment.

In 2024, though, it looks like an increasingly appealing thing. Cars like this – big, naturally-aspirated engine up front, manual gearbox in the middle, two driven wheels at the back – simply don’t really exist anymore outside of the realm of the Ford Mustang.

What’s more, with Nissan set to only launch EVs in Europe from now on, this is likely the very last combustion Nismo we’ll be able to get our hands on for relatively sensible money – you’re not going to find the rare GT-R Nismo for anything below six figures.

The junior Nismo has held its value too, although it’s still reasonably attainable if you’re relatively flush. We’ve found a 2016 car in white – always a strong colour on a Japanese performance car. It’s covered a relatively low 56,000 miles, and its last couple of MOTs are totally clean. Obviously, that’s never a guarantee of goodness, but it’s reassuring if nothing else.

As always, some caution needs to be exercised. The ad doesn’t tell us how many previous owners it’s had, which is always worth knowing, and let’s be real – you’ve got to be brave to daily a firmed up, 3.7-litre sports car: even the impressively low official MPG figure of 27 is ambitious.

Nonetheless, it’s listed for £20,995, or the same as a lightly-specced new Volkswagen Polo. More pertinently, it’s about a third of what we think the Ariya Nismo will cost. That could well be a decent car, but does it have a 3.7-litre V6, rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox? No. No it doesn’t. As the registration plate says: oof.