Better still, the car itself is great. While not exactly the perfect sportscar out there, it’s good enough that it’s often described as the Miata’s big brother—something I could personally attest to. That’s saying a lot because the two-seater Mazda has always been a benchmark when it comes to pure smiles-per-mile. That said, the limitations of the Z’s 24-year-old platform shows when it’s driven at 9/10 of its abilities. So, what happens when everything is cranked up to 11?

Part of the Z’s appeal is that, for all its power, it remains accessible to a wide range of driver abilities. However, this extra-strength version eschews any and all of that notion. Instead, it becomes a laser-focused sportscar that only cares about delivering ever-faster lap times on the racetrack and not much else. Yes, it’s still the fair lady who’s always up for a dance, only this time, she’s got a knife too. And she’s not afraid to stab you with it if you put a foot down wrong.

Starting things off, there’s the suspension. During Nismo’s extensive fine-tuning of all the bits (new bushings, springs, and stabilizers and larger dampers to name a few), they’ve made the ride unforgiving. Every single road imperfection is directly transmitted into the cabin. Not only will you be able to count the exact number of each corrugation on the road, but every single pebble, every single crack will register as some sort of feedback. At times, it becomes so communicative with the road that it whispers back to you the amount of DPWH kickbacks it took to (badly) patch up that pothole. Inadvertently, driving the Z Nismo also becomes a constant reminder to lose weight as every single belly and man boob will jiggle. This constant barrage of feedback will do little to calm the nerves. It’s an excruciatingly tiring car to drive.

Surely, Nissan could have mitigated this by using adaptive dampers. Whether the decision to stick with traditional dampers boils down to cost cutting or some sort of engineering limitation is beside the point. For a P 4.688-million flagship sportscar (remember, the Nissan GT-R’s no more), it would have worked wonders. Besides, if Honda could do it with the Civic Type R and even Subaru could with the WRX tS, why can’t Nissan?

As tiresome as the Z Nismo is around town, when the roads do cooperate, it delivers. Across freshly steamrollered roads, it will translate every driver input faithfully onto the road. Treat it with all seriousness, and everything—steering input, throttle application, braking—will be communicated without delay onto the pavement.

Then, there’s the powerplant. With 383 horsepower and 475 Nm of torque at its disposal, the Nissan Z has never been lacking in power. But here, they’ve uprated it further to 420 horsepower and 520 Nm of torque. Impressive as those gains are, it’s the actual behavior of the engine that deserves mention. Thanks to items like a faster spinning turbocharger and independent spark control, it feels far more responsive than the run-of-the-mill Z. It’s like on permanent Sport mode. Then again, are selectable drive modes here too with Normal feeling like Sport and Sport feeling already like Sport+. Once you get to the unique-for-the-Z Nismo Sport+ (Ultra Sport?), it’s just way too hardcore. The sensitivity of the throttle and the shifts are just so intense that wrongly-timed shifts using the paddle shifters can actually upset the car, threatening to throw you onto a curb, spin you out, or worse.

Like the Z, the Z Nismo doesn’t really deliver stellar fuel economy figures. In stop-and-go traffic, the fuel economy figure goes down to just 4.71 km/L—worse than the regular Z. As traffic clears up, it doesn’t fair much better at 5.15 km/L. It only truly becomes efficient cruising during long highway stints. Plus, it requires the highest possible octane—Nissan recommends 98 octane—to keep the engine singing optimally.

As eye-catching as the Z Nismo is to nepo babies from the outside, the interior is a weak point. It’s a hodge-podge to say the least. At a passing glance, it looks fine, especially with the Alcantara insert on the steering wheel and seats, and of course, that trademark three-binnacle center gauge. But, as you start to give everything a once over, it feels far too cost-conscious.

On its own, the Recaro seats are great—supportive and all. But, it’s very clear that Nissan just wanted to shoehorn them in without caring about the packaging aspect. Entry and exit is extremely difficult. It’s already hard enough to contort around the Z’s large and wide doors, but clearing the thick bolsters takes extra dexterity or the lack of body fat. Maybe both. In addition, lean the backrests too much and the headrests will brush against the ceiling. This level of execution feels more aftermarket than something well thought of from the factory.

Once you’ve managed to contort inside, you’ll find old-school Nissan switchgear—stuff you’d recognize from the previous Almera or Murano (remember that?). Then, there are the door cards which are clearly carried over from the 370Z. But because the new dashboard itself is more squared than curved, Nissan tried masking it by hiding the old stitch line, and adding a new stitch line. Look carefully, and towards the edge—where door meets dash—you’ll see two pairs of stitches. Once you see it, it’s hard to unsee and it cheapens the entire thing.

Even in the areas where the Z Nismo got right, it fails to justify its price. The 8-inch touchscreen is the same one used in other Nissan vehicles with no special menus, color schemes, or even startup animation. There’s also no wireless support for CarPlay nor is there wireless device charging available. Thankfully, the available USB plugs are modern in that they support both Type A and Type C connections.

The Z Nismo manages to get the most important aspect of a sportscar right though. The ergonomics are spot on. The 12.3-inch all-digital display has three modes with “Normal” being my personal favorite for legibility. “Sport” is fun, but it’s more suited for the track with its center rev counter and horizontal shift light display. Despite so low to the ground, exterior visibility is astounding from all directions, save for the rear, where the hatch’s high lip has the propensity to cover up shorter obstacles like parking pilons, motorcycles, and heck, even other sportscars. Thankfully, parking sensors (fore and aft) and a rear camera are standard issue.

In terms of space, there’s also plenty of storage space inside. There are two cup holders here, one always exposed for the driver, and one that can be revealed by sliding the armrest back. Push the button on the armrest, and there’s a bin where you can put things like a wallet or keys. When it comes to the cargo hold, Nissan says it can swallow 241 liters but because of the sharply raked glass, you won’t be able to fit tall objects. Also, because there’s no partition of any kind, be careful of what you put over there, lest you want it to make an unscheduled appearance during heavy braking.

The Nissan Z Nismo is a hard car to place. It may not seem like it on paper, but in reality, it is. It requires a very specific kind of buyer; a specific sub-set of the already niche sportscar genre. It’s a type of car that’s hardcore to the point that it excels only at a very few tasks. Surely, that person exists, otherwise, Nissan wouldn’t have bothered creating the Nismo version as is. What this buyer will get is a sub-P 5-million sportscar that can deliver supercar levels of joy, but only at the right conditions. But, because it takes the converges of too many factors, the Nissan Z Nismo will fail to shine 99 percent of the time. As such, most buyers are better served by the run-of-the-mill Z.