Why The Nissan 370Z Nismo Is A Future JDM Classic

£37,575. Just let that sink in for a moment. An on the road price of as-near-as-makes-no-difference thirty eight thousand pounds…for a Japanese sports car with a terrible interior. And don’t forget, we’re talking Porsche Cayman money here.

I really want to love this car. As a JDM fanboy, I want this to be the kind of car my kids will look at the same way I looked at the 200SX et al, so this Nissan 370Z Nismo has a lot to live up to in the three days that it’s ‘mine’. As I slip into the low-slung bucket seats, I’m immediately disappointed.

This is the 2015 facelifted 370Z, which means it gets a redesigned front bumper with larger air intake, a new rear bumper, extra air inlets and a reworked aero package. Altogether, with the new 19-inch Rays alloy wheels, it looks the mutt’s nuts. Inside, my bum is being gripped firmly by new Recaro seats, but the rest of the interior is truly awful. The dashboard looks like it was designed in the 90s and rejected for looking outdated.

Then there’s the driving position. The actual seats are fantastic, and you sit nice and low. Then you slide your seat back to get your legs comfortable, and reach for the wheel adjustment. Ah, it only goes up and down, not towards you.

Over the next few days I’m never completely satisfied with the driving position; to be able to steer comfortably, I have to have my seat a lot closer to the wheel than I’d like, meaning my thighs are high enough that my hands hit them every time I turn. Either that or I could adjust the seat to make my legs comfortable, but have my arms stretched out so far it feels like I’m steering from the back seat. Not a great start.

As I trundle away and join London’s notorious commuter traffic, it is immediately clear that this is not the kind of car you want to daily. The ride is harsh, the clutch is heavy, and did I mention the interior is cheap and nasty?! Day one, and I’m hugely disappointed.

Day two, though, things start clicking into place. The driving position is still frustrating, but drive the 370Z Nismo like you’re on a rally stage, and you’ll forget all of its foibles.

This car has a six-speed manual gearbox, and shifting is pure delight. The throw is short and precise, and the heavy clutch pedal is nicely judged, making smooth upshifts far easier.

As my left foot rises and my right foot is planted, the 3.7-litre V6 engine sends 339bhp and 267lb ft rearwards, lighting up the wheels easily. I’ve switched the traction control completely off, which is a novel thing to be able to do these days. I feather the throttle to bring the rear wheels to transition from this squealing, juddering lairiness to the point of grip, and I’m away. In a straight line, the 370Z Nismo is quick without being ballistic, dispatching 0-62mph in 5.2 seconds.

The first corner is approaching: a mild off camber left-hander that rises into the apex. I brake from fourth and slam into third, and that wonderful gearbox throws up its pièce de résistance: synchro rev matching. In Sport mode, when you change down, the engine speed increases to match the new gear. It works flawlessly every time, and makes quick progress easy. I’ve taught myself how to heel and toe (badly) over the years, but this thing’s so good I don’t even care that my time practicing was in vain.

‘As a driver, this car harkens back to an age when you felt connected to the driving experience’

In the middle of the corner, the weighty steering feels perfectly adjusted, and the Alcantara-wrapped wheel is just the right size. One of the key aspects of the driving experience is the fact that there’s ‘weight’ in everything essential; the steering, the clutch, and the throttle all have a decidedly old school feel to them and really give you confidence to push on. Modern cars have a tendency to go for the light touch, which leaves you feeling disconnected from the car. Here, it feels like every input is mechanically connected to the output, even when it’s not.

The ride is hard, but it adds to the frenetic feel when driving. This is not the kind of car you jump into bed with, lest you leave with your tail between your legs. It requires a lot of flirtation; dance near the limit to learn what you can get away with before it kicks off, because when it does let loose you’ll have to have your wits about you. Many times I caught the rear wheels getting a bit loose while exiting roundabouts in second gear, even when I wasn’t really trying. I definitely need more than three days to get acquainted with this thing.

So why do I think it’s a future classic? Well for a start that price tag is going to put off a lot of potential buyers. The car’s styling is rather lairy, and won’t generally appeal to the older discerning gent who can actually afford it - they’ll be going for the more sophisticated Porsche. The number of twenty-somethings who can drop the best part of £40k on a sports car are few and far between, and that means they’ll be rare and highly sought-after.

But perhaps more importantly, as a driver, this car harkens back to an age when you felt connected to the driving experience. I’m one of those people who is passionately in favour of technological progress, but I’ll happily admit that many modern cars are uncommunicative and leave you feeling detached. The 370Z Nismo remedies that. It feels like an analogue car in a digital world, and I think that should be applauded.

In 20 years when we’re all sleeping in the back of our autonomous Google cars on the way to work, the affordable sports cars will be today’s digital beasts. They might be quick at the track, but those who want pure driver involvement will have to get something seriously retro - by then, most cars built in the late 90s will be beaten up and hard to come by. The 370Z, however, will provide a more modern, reliable alternative, but with the involved driving experience future petrolheads will crave.

Sure, it’s pretty dated inside, the driving position is awful, and it makes almost no noise at all, but it’s fun. You just have to decide whether its foibles are character building or just plain unforgivable.