Buyer Research

2013 Nissan 370Z — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $14,000–$21,000. There is 1 high-severity known issue you need to know before handing over a check.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 10 Nissan 370Z years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Seventeen complaints on the year, eleven of them the clutch, and the rest so scattered that two of them are the clutch again under a different component heading. That is a thin record and we will not dress it up as a clean one — seventeen filings say little about a car sold in the tens of thousands. What it does say is consistent with 2010 through 2012: on the manual car, the concentric slave cylinder is the failure to plan for, and owners describe it happening at an intersection and on the highway, not in a driveway. The 3.7-litre V6, the six-speed with rev matching, and the bodywork have all aged well. Inspect the clutch properly, confirm the airbag light behaves, and treat a car with a documented slave cylinder replacement as worth real money more than one with low miles.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 17 owner complaints for the 2013 Nissan 370Z, and no recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under the transmission and drivetrain (11), the engine (3), the brakes (2). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2013 Nissan 370Z

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Clutch slave cylinder fails and the pedal will not come back upHigh — wallet impact

Eleven of seventeen complaints, and the descriptions are almost interchangeable: the pedal goes light, then stays flat on the floor, and the transmission is locked in whatever gear it was in. One owner had it happen at an intersection and was nearly rear-ended. Another had the clutch and flywheel replaced and had the same failure inside a year. The cylinder sits inside the bellhousing, so the gearbox comes out to change it, which is where the money goes. At the car: hold the clutch down at idle for thirty seconds and watch the pedal height, then shift into every gear including reverse, and check that the fluid in the small reservoir is clear and full. The 7-speed automatic has no such part.

Repair cost (estimate): $700–$1,800 — inexpensive part, expensive access

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (11).

Intelligent-key and steering column lock fault stops the car startingMedium

One electrical complaint on this year, and it is the familiar one: the owner pressed the start button, a warning appeared on the key display, and the manual pointed at the intelligent key system or the electronic steering column lock. On 2010 and 2011 cars this is the single largest cluster in the record; on the 2013 it is one filing, so the honest reading is that it remains possible and appears far less often, not that the part was redesigned. It matters because the failure mode is being stranded rather than breaking down — the car simply will not wake up. Start it several times across your visit rather than once.

Repair cost (estimate): $900–$1,800

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (1).

Forged Sport wheels crack instead of bending, and the tyre slowly deflatesMedium

Nobody filed a wheel complaint on the 2013 with NHTSA, so this is knowledge about the car rather than evidence from the record. Sport-package cars carry 19-inch forged RAYS rims that trade impact tolerance for weight; a bad pothole can start a crack in the inner barrel, and the symptom is a tyre that needs air every week or a shimmy that appears above 55 mph. Look behind each spoke with a phone torch for a weld line, and ask directly whether any wheel has been refinished or repaired.

Repair cost (estimate): $600–$1,400 per wheel

Source: not yet checked against public records.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Clutch pedal that stays down or returns slowly after a shift
✗Clutch fluid reservoir low, cloudy or freshly topped up
✗Warning message on the key display when you press the start button
✗Tyre pressures that are uneven across the four wheels

Good Signs

✓Documented slave cylinder replacement with date and odometer reading
✓Clutch that bites at a consistent point through every gear change
✓Engine that starts on the first press every time across a long test visit
✓Wheels with intact factory finish and matching tyres of the same age
✓Oil and filter records at or under Nissan's interval