With all my talking about balancing the practical with the fun, wouldn’t you know it the first thing I try out is the Nissan Z. It can be summarized in two words: FUN CAR. Not a whole lot of utility built in, but boy is it a blast to drive!

The car zips really well with power aplenty. The other side of that coin is the car slows down pretty well when I take my foot off the gas. One of the peeves I have with many automatics is the car keeps on going at pretty much the same speed when you stop accelerating. This means having to brake more. Why don’t I just drive a stick then? Granted they are fun to drive, but I get tired of them, especially in heavy traffic.

The road noise is about average, steering responsiveness is excellent, and there’s very little leaning on turns. The turn radius is really good, which is important to me because I avoid 3-point turns whenever I can.

What I didn’t like about this car was the limited visibility. The blind spots are pretty big, and the view out the rear window is very narrow due to the sloped angle. I would need perfectly positioned mirrors to be safe, and even then I would feel uneasy about not having a clear view of my blind spots, even if I turned my head. For a car that one expects to zip in and out of traffic, you’d think they’d make it easier to see if you’re about to cut someone off.

How does it measure up against my requirements? Not that well I’m afraid. It’s everything that’s nice to have and very little of what I really need. I already knew this going in, but I wanted a baseline of what a fun car was really like.

STYLE – Absolutely no problems here. This car is sleek and turns heads. Buckets of style.

MILEAGE – 18/26 mpg – Definitely below what I’m looking for. I want fun, but I also want to be responsible. I wasn’t expecting a fuel sipper since it is a 332-horsepower sports car.

COMPACT – It’s definitely a tight little car.

UTILITY – With its sloping lines and all its two-seater glory, the Z is quite short on utility. The hatch opens up to reveal a shallow trunk space with a full size spare tire underneath. They did move the support bar farther forward to free up more storage room, but it is still pretty cramped. There are a couple of small storage spaces behind the seats to fit purses and whatnot, but not much else. Still, as cramps as the storage may be, I didn’t feel cramped sitting inside it. There is plenty of legroom.

RELIABILITY – I have confidence in Nissan engines, and Consumer Reports has rated them above average.

PRICE – Starting at $29,990, I think the Nissan Z is decent deal for this much fun.

PROS:

• Fast, agile and fun
• Slick styling
• Pretty good price for a sports car

CONS:

• Minimal cargo space
• Horrible blind spots
• Average fuel consumption

CONCLUSION
I think I already knew this going in, but the Nissan Z is just not practical enough for me to seriously consider buying it. It’s definitely a rush to drive, but for everyday use I need more utility. Maybe if one day we have the funds for an optional fun car, this would be a consideration.