An evo, if tuned right will be faster than the 350z tuned. But not much faster.

The 350z has better looks, and 2 seats, is very lightweight. As the Evo has 5 seats and is a bit heavier than the 350z. People will notice the 350z more.

If you are going for performance I would say a 350z overall. The handling on the Z is outrageously good. It's small, fast, and a great looking car no doubt. Just Nissan parts are very expensive if you were to get into a wreck and have to replace a bumper or something.

If you want a fast Z, twin turbo it. Or just buff it up with a tuning chip and better exhaust to make it sound better.

The amuse front bumper and side skirts, amuse lip, blitz spoiler and xxr 530 wheels make it a great looking car and will make it stand out.

I haven't had much knowledge with the Evo, I know it's a fast car but it's not going to stand out as much. Are you going to be driving around friends or a friend?

It all depends on what you like better. I would say if you are old enough, go test drive each of them and see which one you like better, whichever one that is, get that one.

I would personally go with the Z over the Evo.

Don't know shit about cars, but I do know Evo has more room I'm just that good.

Can't give any stats as, well I've never even sat in either, never mind owned or knew someone with one.

But my choice would be the Evo. There not as common, as everyone who gets a cheap-ish sports car goes for a 350-Z.

Evo's stand out more, looks a bit nicer, and can be compared to a Scooby too ;)
Plus, with 5 seats, its more practical, as well as being sporty. And it has just as much customisation as the 350-Z

I would personally go with the evo. Here's why: The Evo is a heavy car but pushes a 290hp. The 350z is a fairly light car with a little over 300hp. The reason I would chose the evo over the z is because parts for the z are mor expensive. And the ahould be on of the biggest factore if you're looking to race it. Also the evo is AWD vs the z RWD. And in my opinion evos are more mean looking than the z. Hope I helped. BTW I own a 02 Dc5. Nice car but I'd prefer an STI over any car out there right now.

If I were you I'd get a a Evo 8 or 9. Why? First off you don't seem them that often, they have very good power, the parts are cheaper than a z, and they are AWD which means you can take it almost anywhere.

All JDM/car people will notice the evo more than the z, but people who don't know much about cars might like the z more. I don't know how much you care about getting looks or not.

Also with 5 seats its more practical than the z, but it will also cost more than your average z.

My opinion
Evo>350z any day

It depends on how much you're planning on modding it.

The Z will always look better than the Evo, no questions asked. Evos are not good looking cars.

The evo will be cheaper mod initially, until about 400hp to the crank, so maybe 350whp, which is only slightly more than a Z. However, if you go past 400hp, you will need to do major engine rebuilding, clutch, flywheel, etc. You're looking at 20k+ if you want to go past 400hp.

350Zs with the VQ35HR engine (07-08) are a little bit stronger, but since it is NA stock, you will need to put some money into an FI kit. $10k will get you a nice kit and all of the supporting mods. The stock block can handle 450-500whp (a VQ35DE will handle 400-450), which is about 100whp more than the evo. Then, you only need to do some minor building to the engine (rods, pistons, etc) and a new clutch/flywheel and you can handle roughly 600whp.

However, not many people go past 500-600whp on a Z. If you're looking to make huge numbers (700whp+) (unlikely), you'd probably be better with an Evo. But you're looking at $50k+ then.

The Evo
-4WD
-more space
-cheaper parts
-Turbo as standard
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I would say Evo. It is more of a racing car in my opinion.

First off already knowing you want to race i hope you know you will be breaking parts left and right so i hope you know how to work on cars or have deep pockets to be bringing it to a shop. If it is gonna be daily driven your not gonna want to go over 400-450 whp. I mean you can but it will just be a pain in winter and in the rain and just overall driving. If this is your first car i wouldn't recommend getting either or even think about starting out racing. You need to learn more before you start out with a fast car and driving it hard. The evo will be cheaper to mod then the 350z stock block on a evo will hold up to 400wtq and you could be at around 420whp and be fine just the engine cant stand over 400wtq even though their are plenty of people pushing over 500whp on a stock block evo. It's really all in the tune. My evo has been holding up strong with a stock evo 8 turbo at 20psi and i am at 315whp and 300wtq. Your gonna be spending around 15-20k on a nice evo that isn't beating with under 100k miles. Gonna be hard to find a nice one.