2027 Nissan Z Nismo Pairs Perfectly With A Manual Transmission, Almost Like It Should've Had One From The Beginning

For years, I've liked to joke that the new Nissan Z is a fake car. Nissan keeps releasing sales reports that claim people are buying them, but I've never known someone who's bought one, I don't see them on the street, and I've definitely never driven one. Are we sure this is a real car? Well, whether the sales figures are legit or not, I can at least tell you one thing — now that I've driven the 2027 Nissan Z Nismo with its newly available manual transmission, I can tell you for sure that it's a real car. It's also so good, you have to wonder why Nissan didn't offer the manual option from the beginning.

How does it drive on the street? I couldn't tell you. In a move I think we can all agree was deeply unfair, Nissan insisted that, instead of driving the three-pedal Nismo Z on public roads, we drive the car around Sonoma again and again. It was miserable. Every time we pulled into the pits after a session where I felt even more confident than I had when we'd pulled out, all I could think was, "Why won't they let me see how this car drives in rush hour traffic where it was really meant to be enjoyed?" But worry not, despite the trials and tribulations I faced to bring you this stick-shift Nismo Z review, I have survived. And man, I really want to drive that manual Nismo again.

Full Disclosure: Nissan wanted to trick me into believing the 2027 Nissan Z Nismo manual is a real car so bad, it bought me a plane ticket to SF, put me in a car to a hotel in Napa, shuttled me to Sonoma where snacks and cars were provided, shuttled me to a different hotel, and then flew me home the next night. Also, they allowed me to charge a small stick of deodorant to my room after I realized I'd left mine at home.

Considering we already drove the 2024 Nissan Z Nismo with its nine-speed automatic, it would be understandable if you assumed you could read that review, imagine that car with a manual transmission, and get a pretty good idea of how much more fun it would be to drive. You wouldn't be completely wrong, since the cars are pretty much the same aside from their transmissions, but they aren't exactly the same, since Nissan also refreshed the Z for the 2027 model year.

It isn't a major refresh, though. The non-Nismo version gets a few exterior tweaks, new paint and wheel options, upgraded dampers, a frameless rearview mirror and a few other interior updates. In addition to its new manual transmission option, the Nismo also gets retuned steering and suspension, an upgraded fuel system, and way better brakes. So, at least in theory, the manual Nismo Z is a more serious track car than the old version that Nissan insisted was auto-only for better lap times.

Did the updates improve the "seriously busy ride at lower speeds" that we observed in our first drive of the '24 model? Nissan didn't have an older automatic Nismo for me to test, so I can't exactly tell you how this one compares to that one. Then again, it did have some regular post-refresh Performance models for us to try, which is probably the more relevant comparison anyway. Most people's biggest question is probably whether the Nismo is worth the significantly higher price, not what kinds of minor handling and performance differences I might have been able to suss out between the '24 Nismo and the '27 Nismo. Unfortunately for you, I've spent too much time hanging out with lawyers and can only offer "it depends."

Technically, yeah, the Nismo gets a small 20-horsepower power boost over the Performance, bringing output up to 420 hp, but it isn't enough to really notice, or anywhere close to a reason to spend around $67,000 (Nissan hasn't shared official pricing yet, but expect the manual Nismo to cost about the same as the automatic) just to get that power boost. No, you buy the Nismo because it does track stuff better than the more street-focused Performance model (pictured above), and in that regard, it's absolutely worth the higher price. At least if you plan to use it on the track or want a daily driver that feels more track-focused.

As much as the driving instructors wanted to focus on how much better the Nismo's brakes were compared to the Z Performance's brakes, the first difference I noticed between the two on track is just how much less body roll there is in the Nismo than the Performance. The Nismo was designed for track use, and it showed the moment I turned the wheel. You can certainly have fun on track in the Performance, but I don't want to think about body roll on track. I want to think about going fast.

That doesn't mean the upgraded brakes aren't still worth talking about, though. They're strong, they stop hard, and most importantly, I didn't notice the brakes starting to fade, even later in the day when the tires weren't necessarily as fresh. They're good brakes. But the Nismo feeling so much more planted is what I noticed first.

Would I put my Z-loving dad in a Nismo? Hell no. He's more of a Heritage Edition guy and would hate everything about the Nismo except the manual transmission, although he probably wouldn't actually tell me to my face. Even without driving it on the street, I can already tell it'll be too stiff for a lot of those more normal people who just want a fun sports car that also serves as a comfortable daily. But oh, what I wouldn't give to find out whether it's too stiff for me to enjoy out here in Georgia, where the asphalt is generally smooth and a winding back road is never more than a couple of minutes away. Sadly, Nissan broke my heart when I asked about press loans. Allegedly, no manual Nismos will ever make it into the press fleets, not even in cool cities like Los Angeles.

Considering this is a first drive of a sports car with a manual transmission, you're probably wondering why I haven't focused more on the gearbox. Well, that's partly because I came into this having never driven the Z before, but also because I didn't get to focus a lot of energy on evaluating the transmission itself. Sonoma is a track where, at least at the speed of our lead-follow sessions, the manual Nismo handled pretty much everything in third gear, and I only occasionally needed to go up into 4th. If that's all the shifting you do at the track, you probably aren't missing much if you stick with the automatic.

That said, even if some tracks don't require a lot of shifting, we're still talking about a track-focused sports car with a manual transmission, and nothing I've said previously changes the fact that it's just more fun to drive a car with a stick. I truly enjoyed myself in a way I'm not sure I would have in an automatic Nismo, and that's what really matters here. And the car itself is so enjoyable to push hard on track that I could see plenty of enthusiasts deciding it would make a perfect hardcore daily driver, since you actually would get to use the transmission on a regular basis there.

Though I didn't get to do a lot of manual shifting, the shifter felt good, and I had an absolute blast driving the car. There wasn't really anything to figure out, either. I just got on the track, did one lap to refamiliarize myself with the course, and more or less felt like I understood how the car drove. It was just that intuitive.

I had more fun driving the Nismo than I've had since Toyota let me loose on a different track with the keys to a manual Supra. And considering that drive took place at the new RAV4 reveal, back in the spring of 2025, you could say it's been a while. Driving the manual Nismo just felt spiritually correct. It satisfied my soul, and there aren't many cars I can say that about these days.

Without an official price yet, that's still the elephant in the room. The nearly $70,000 you can expect to spend on the manual Nismo is a ridiculous amount of money that would also buy plenty of other alternatives. You're going to have to really want a Nismo in order to justify not buying one of its competitors, but based on my time behind the wheel, the few who do decide the manual-equipped 2027 Nissan Z Nismo is the sports car for them will probably be incredibly happy with their purchase. At least as long as they're aware the Nismo's suspension likely makes the Performance feel like a Mercedes in comparison.