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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2004. - 2007.
S - Sports car
cabriolet, 2 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2003. - 2006.
S - Sports car
cabriolet, 2 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4820 mm
1855 mm
1373 mm
300 liters
350 liters
70 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4310 mm
1815 mm
1328 mm
130 liters
130 liters
80 liters
2004 BMW 6 Series Cabrio
2003 Nissan 350Z Roadster

Engine

Petrol
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
2996 cc
258 hp
300 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
3498 cc
280 hp
350 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1685 kg
6.9 s
250 km/h
13.6 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
9.6 l/100km
229 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1610 kg
6.4 s
250 km/h
16.1 l/100km
8.7 l/100km
11.4 l/100km
273 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1695 kg
7.2 s
250 km/h
14.2 l/100km
7.5 l/100km
9.9 l/100km
238 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

6000 EUR
Price from
10000 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the sports car segment and utilize the same 2-door cabriolet body style and the rear wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 258hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 280hp engine designed by Nissan.

Safety

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the sports car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the German car offers a marginal difference of 5% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Nissan as a brand displays somewhat better results, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Nissan badge with 4.3 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Nissan is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.5 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 250 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 9.6 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (29 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 19% difference compared to the Japanese car.


Verdict

Nissan appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the German car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Nissan offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the BMW. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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