Speed costs money: How fast do you want to go? If you answer $25,000, check out a pre-owned Z.
From the June 2014 Issue of Car and Driver
The shopper seeking a sub-$30,000, rear-drive sports car with a warranty has few choices. In the new-car market, there’s the Mazda MX-5 Miata and the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S, all great fun but not truly fast. And they all can be smoked by a V-6 Honda Accord.
Opt for a Certified Pre-Owned Nissan 370Z, though, and you can tap into 332 to 350 horsepower, get to 60 mph in less than five seconds, run to 157 mph, and corner at 0.97 g. Those numbers are legit performance-car material.
CAR (EXAMPLES)
PRICE: 
LOW 
AVERAGE 
HIGH
2009 manual (4)
$20,999
$23,487
$25,999
2009 automatic (9)
$19,995
$23,081
$24,948
2010 manual (4)
$21,995
$25,370
$28,550
2010 automatic (1)
$26,975
$26,975
$26,975
2011 manual (5)
$24,990
$26,589
$27,990
2011 automatic (8)
$23,899
$25,790
$27,981
2012 manual (7)
$26,850
$28,564
$31,998
2012 automatic (9)
$24,983
$28,281
$32,888
2013 manual (7)
$20,877
$32,291
$38,990
2013 automatic (5)
$28,891
$32,153
$34,991
To be eligible for the CPO program through Nissan dealers, Z cars have to be no more than six years old, show less than 80,000 miles, and pass a 150-point inspection. The program extends the powertrain warranty so that you’re covered for up to seven years or 100,000 miles after a $50 deductible. Roadside assistance and trip-interruption services are included.
Some ’08 350Zs are eligible for the CPO program, but we limited our search to the latest generation. In 2009, this car won a four-car comparison test but placed fourth in our 2011 ranking of the best-handling cars under $40,000, behind the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Miata, and Ford Mustang—after it suffered severe brake fade on the track. The fade confirmed a weakness earlier revealed by a dramatic brake failure during our 2010 Lightning Lap event. Anyone heading to a track with a Z should upgrade the brakes and pay special attention to their cooling. The car’s mechanicals pretty much carried over untouched when a midterm face lift in 2013 pulled the fangs out of the front air intake (perhaps to improve brake cooling?) and put some LED daytime running lights at the front corners. However, the top-performing NISMO model (18 more horsepower!) didn’t get the new look until 2014. The priciest CPO example of a NISMO that we found was a 2013 listing—it was about $5000 less than the base price of a 2014 NISMO. Cars from the first two model years averaged a 20-percent savings over the base MSRP on a new Z coupe.
Out of curiosity, we looked at 370Zs equipped with the seven-speed automatic transmission, a device that impressed us as a paragon of its type in 2009 with its column-mounted paddle shifters and rev-matching downshift feature. We compared the cars with automatics to those with the six-speed manual (which can also provide rev-matching). It’s an article of faith among the car-smart that opting for an automatic pays dividends later with easier salability and better resale value. In the Z’s case, not so much. In four of the five model years, the average dealer asking prices are higher for examples with the clutch pedal. Dealer listings on the website don’t make it easy, but we’d recommend finding a car originally equipped with the $3000 Sport package, which included a limited-slip diff, 19-inch wheels, spoilers, larger brake rotors and aluminum calipers, and “SynchroRev Match” for the six-speed manual. Dealers often tout the wheels in their listings, or you can pick through the photos looking for the aero add-ons. Happy hunting.
View Photo Gallery