As regular readers know, I have a bit of a thing for Nissan’s modern Zed car. The car is just so good, that its’ joy to drive under almost all conditions. Equally happy on windy roads as it is in the snow (with winter boots of course) it is truly a world class all around sports car. When I saw the Nismo model sitting there waiting for me, I just had to give it a go. I mean, what could be better than taking a world class sports car, stiffening the chassis, beefing up the suspension and a bunch of other track tested bits and bites?

The 350Z Nismo wears a Super GT inspired body kit that gets mixed reviews. The more reserved among us (read fuddy duddies) feel the skirts and step ladder wing are a bit over the top, while others seem to thing designers could have gone a bit farther with the wing. Either way, there is no mistaking that this is missile is destined for track usage.
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The guys & girls at the Florida Car Club have posted their list of the top 10 cars a teen would want. The list is as follows:

10th - Dodge SRT-4

9th - Pontiac GTO

8th - Volkswagen GTI

7th - Mitsubishi EVO

6th - Acura RSX

5th - Scion TC

4th - Subaru WRX STI

3rd - Nissan 350Z

2nd - Ford Mustang.

1st - BMW M3

This is a pretty lofty list, I hope these guys come from well off families! Not that I disagree with the cars, but I think the expectations of many young people are way off in left field. When we were in high school (I know, I’m going to sound old here) the special cars were the ones that cost more than about three grand. The rest of us scraped together enough to pick up something that was half that. I was very proud of the big green 69 Plymouth that I inherited when my grandfather stopped driving.
With 2 guys who had “real” jobs in our circle, we built 4 VW Rabbits over a couple of years. The original built Rabbits were sold to finance the new GTI when it made its’ debut in 1982. That car sold for something like seven grand. You could throw a few bits on the car and have a truly fun car that could be driven reliably. Many of us even got our first taste of autocrossing behind the wheel of a GTI.

While the FCC guys have the GTI on their list, it is now a thirty thousand dollar car. Gone is the cheap little pocket rocket. Number one on the list is an M3 of all things. A wonderful ride, no question. But how much money does a kid have that a car of this magnitude is even on his radar?

Perhaps this list should be the Teenagers top ten cars to dream about list.