The Z runs in my blood. My grandpa owned a 240Z, my dad owned one, and I spent the pandemic wrenching on and driving a 280Z until I eventually, and reluctantly, handed over the keys. The love for the nameplate didn’t go anywhere with them, however. The Z has always been the car that taught enthusiasts what a sports car is supposed to feel like: accessible, dependable, no gimmicks, with performance always a few notches higher than you strictly need. That equation has held across every generation. When I got the call to drive the 2027 Nissan Z Nismo with a manual at Sonoma Raceway, I wasn’t just excited as a journalist. I was excited as a lifer.
There’s some important context before we get into it, though: the track was wet. Rainfall from the previous night kept the track slick enough to keep my palms sweaty and my right foot honest. In some ways, that’s a liability. In other ways, a wet track tells you more about a car’s true character than a dry one ever could.
The 2027 Z Nismo is a meaningful update to a car that was already good. The outgoing Nismo, which we reviewed back in 2023, was a legitimate sports car with a significant asterisk: no manual transmission. Nissan’s own rep told us at the time that a three-pedaled Nismo was “not off the table” if customer demand called for it. Demand called. Nissan answered.
View Price on AmazonThe headlining change is the addition of a six-speed manual transmission tuned specifically for the Nismo grade. The clutch is upgraded over what you’ll find in the Sport and Performance trims. The shifter is notchier with a shorter throw. And the engine’s throttle and ignition timing have been retuned for manual-specific driving.
The drivetrain remains the same: A VR30DDTT 3.0L V6 Twin Turbo making 420 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque in Nismo trim. This means the Z is now available with a nine-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission. So, what’s there to complain about now, huh?
The rest of the Nismo’s enhancements carry over and improve on the previous generation’s formula. The front brakes are now two-piece iron-aluminum rotors derived directly from the GT-R, measuring a substantial 15 inches and featuring dramatically improved cooling channels. They shed 19 pounds of unsprung weight in the process, which prompted Nissan to retune the suspension to account for the lighter front end. The steering rack also received attention, with hardware and software tweaks. On paper, these are incremental improvements. Behind the wheel at Sonoma, they add up to something that feels more purposeful than the car it replaces.
Nissan had us drive the standard 2026 Z Performance before handing over the keys to the Nismo manual, which turned out to be a smart move. The back-to-back comparison made the Nismo’s character immediately legible. It wasn’t night and day—the underlying Z architecture is good enough that even the base car feels capable—but the Nismo felt planted in a way the Performance trim doesn’t quite manage. Everything tightened up by a couple of notches: the steering, the chassis, the way the car committed to a line. I’d describe it as track-focused rather than competition-ready. This isn’t a GT3 fighter. It’s a driver’s car that respects the driver enough to be honest about what it is.
The three main touchpoints inside—steering wheel, shifter, and seats—reinforce that character immediately. The Nismo-exclusive Recaro buckets are properly supportive without being punishing, upholstered in leather and Alcantara that looks the part. The steering wheel wears the same Alcantara treatment, which gives it a firmer, more connected feel in your hands. And the shifter with its shorter, more mechanical throw is exactly what it needs to be. Not a showpiece, not a talking point, just a shifter that gets the job done.
Source: thedrive.com
