Originally Posted by taco

In my opinion the 350z is a nice car where the evo and sti are econo cars with a turbo and a boy racer attitude. They are both based on normal economy class cars and have upgraded factory performance. they are both very fast and great handling cars from the factory but they still trace their roots to a car that competes with chevy cobalts and honda civics.

If I was considering a car in the 30k class I would shop the 350z, G35, and s2000 but I wouldn't even consider a sti or evo. I classify the cars like this, the 350z is a poor mans corvette, an s2000 is a poor mans ferrari, the g35 is a poor mans m3 and the sti and evo are a factory "rice rockets". They are fast, they are fun but I don't think they are "nice". If it was my money I would probably get the s2000 since I have other vehicles as daily drivers.

Also for what it's worth Car and Driver did a huge comparison test at VIR and in the under 30k group the 350z came out on top with a lap time 1 second faster than the 2nd place evo MR.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.