Infiniti G35

I don't know much about this car, so anyone got an opinion?

The V6, RWD, and auto have got me a bit interested.

I understand that Infiniti is the upper end line of Nissan.

How's it compare with those other great Japanese cars - Lexus and Acura?

Are they manufactured in Japan?

Thanks

which year are you looking for and the sedan or coupe?

If I am right, the Infiniti g35 is the undercover Skyline. I may be wrong though....

yah i think your right. in japan they call the g35 skyline instead.

yup ,,, Coupé only

quote:

ORIGINAL: 19Accord97

If I am right, the Infiniti g35 is the undercover Skyline. I may be wrong though....

Yes, it is a Skyline in Japan. In fact, I saw a CBC segment that talked about folks in Canada importing 15-yr-old Skylines. I guess they're the cat's meow when it comes to raw performance and great handling, and this is why some go through the bother. Some of them were tubocharged straight sixes with RWD. Here's a beautiful example:



Below is a local 2005 G35 4-dr, 285 HP V-6, REAR wheel drive (which I love), and 5 sp auto. There's supposedly 43.9 inches of front leg room in this car. If that number is accurate, I might very well fit comfortably in the thing, too.




I've checked carreview.com and owners seem to be quite satisfied with them. I was hoping that someone here may know someone who owns one, or maybe even have owned one him/herself in the past.

Every so often I get the new-car bug. The reason I have it for this car is that it's RWD, seems to have a good reputation, and is a lot less dough than the Acura or Lexus - probably because the name is relatively unknown.

I'm very curious about what a 285 hp, RWD car drives like - especially one that is about the same size as our 120 hp, FWD 92 Accord, so maybe I'll go take it for a test drive. If I do, I'll post my impressions.

In terms of raw engine performance a TL is better....it is .5 sec qicker to 60 and through the quater mile....RWD is find and dandy on dry pavement but I would not want to driver that sucker in the winter time....it is a whole different ball game.......the coupes get the stronger engine as well compared to the sedans....

Me, I am going to get a new 2007 TL type S ehehheeh

Here is my opinion.. so don't shoot the messenger! While recently shopping for a new car to replace my BMW, I went and test drove an Infiniti G35 sedan. First impressions; nice car, quick, great exhaust note, handles well, interior material ah so-so not that great, but as car critics have stated , good car for the money, but seriiously not a bimmer. Lousy gasoline mileage... and I can attested to it. Worst than the bimmer. Nissan/Infiniti is in a sales slump and well. I tried the Acura TL... forget it. Far close performance wise.. problem... front drive although much nicer interior than the Infiniti. Heard exciting potential for '07 TL.... very disappointed. Type S well too much $$$. For 35K-40K+ I'll choose the BMW.

Thanks for the review.

I figured with that much hp, the gas mileage cannot be that great.

My wife and I sat in two cars today - an Inifinti G35 and a 2002 Lexus LS430. It was the first time I ever sat in either brand.

To make the short G35 story very short, there was not enough leg room for me in the G35. The End.

The Lexus LS 430 is one big car - as big inside as our old Mercedes 560SEL, or my parents' 1961 Bucik Electra 225. My wife and I were very comfortable in it. Plenty of leg room for me.

One big difference between Mercedes and Lexus is that Lexus owners are almost unanimous in their praise of the quality and reliability of their cars. Most former Mercedes owners refer to themselves as "walking wounded", or "survivors" of a Mercedes "financial seige".

Believe it or not, the Lexus was on display in the used-car show room of a Kia dealership. The one and only previous owner was an old gentleman who recently died. Somehow the dealership had acquired the car from the man's widow. (I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during the dealership's "negotiations" with the poor widow.)

The car has 44000 kilometers - a little over 27K miles - on it, and, as far as I can tell, it is in beautiful, show room condition - a real stunner in and out. The previous owner probably never drove it during the winter. Sand color outside and black leather inside.

I really like the Lexus, but I also love our 92 Accord - the car that's lately running so good that it allows us to avoid spending over $40K for the Lexus. I ask myself - what will the Lexus provide that our Accord will not? The Lexus sold for at least $84K when new - that's a depreciation of over $40k in five model years. Yikes!

To my knowledge, there's only one Lexus dealer in Edmonton, so an Edmonton Lexus owner had better be on his/her best bahavior when going to that place for anything. Also, on an $84K vehicle, a little voice tells me that parts are going to be very very expensive - probably at least 3 times as expensive as the equivalent Honda part, and let's face it, Honda parts are not exactly cheap, either.

One thing I am astounded at is that the real-world highway gas consumption on this 290-hp vehicle is between 26 and 29 mpg. http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef806d4/0 Amazing. I think our 120 hp Accord does only marginally better than that - mabe a bit over 31 mpg. How does Lexus do it?

It is a very impressive car, indeed.

Just in case anyone's interested, here's a CanadianDriver review of the 2001 LS 430:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/testdrives/01ls430.htm

I would not be too suprised about FI

1994 accord LX
25/34 mpg
130hp
2880lbs
revs at 70mph 2800

1998 accord lx v6
25/24 mpg
200 hp
3197 lbs
revs at 70mph 2200

2002 acura cl type s modified with headers
23/32mpg
290hp
3510lbs
revs at 70mph 2000

each engine's fuel management and hp output is a significant improvement over the previous one and the acura has 2 over drive gears. I bet if the acura weighed the same as the accord, it's milage would be the same...

Yeu,
You're right. When it comes to having up-to-date knowledge of vehicle fuel consumption, I guess I've been living in a cave since 92.

For example, I just took a look at the 07 Camry's highway fuel consumption data:
158 hp 4 cyl - 43 mpg
268 hp V6 - 40 mpg !!! Amazing, but I simply have to wonder if these are real-world numbers.

And the new Lexus LS460 is an absolutely astounding vehicle in every way - especially the price - and the fuel consumption is, again, amazing.
http://www.automobilemag.com/am/2007/lexus/ls460/specifications.html
380 hp; city-19 mpg highway-27 mpg Again, if an owner achieves this in the real world is a big question. If they do, then I guess you CAN get blood out of a stone. In the 60's, you'd be lucky to get 15 mpg out of a car that had that much hp, and this was in the days BEFORE any vehicle emission restrictions.

the g 35 is ripped. even the old sedan one. the new one has even more hp. the acceleration is big block quick. i have never driven a 3.2 type s but the g35 feels much quicker. once the second stage of timing kicks in at about 3 thousand the tach just slaps over, and a 35 with a shorty intake on it has a ferocious sound that is on its own level. i just bought a q 45 a couple months ago and it is really nice. i am a little worried about the window motors going out.....because (nissan)........ but other than that its been great. i just took it on a 3000 mile road trip last weekend and it was nice. seat heaters, bose stereo, smooth ride. it will go up the steepest hill and never need to shift with the big v8. it averaged 25 mpg. i did get into some bad snow though and i got worried a little bit. i was coming out of seattle and went through "the pass" and it was like a blizzard, everyone was stuck except for the 4 wheel drives. i went sideways and had to slam on the brakes and when i came to a stop i was really dead in the water cause i didn t have any momentum. and then the TCS kept cutting out the power cause the tires were just spinning. so i just turned the tcs off and dumped it and drifted up the entire hill, it was probably a mile or more. i can only imaging what the other people were thinking especially when they saw my arizona license plate

*ROFL* the visual that I just got of that happening is hysterical.... I travel to spokane frequently and that's over two different mountain passes so I feel your pain but I would have loved to see that...

if you turn off the VSA on my car and step on the gas you don't move...the tires don't get grip and just spin.......i rather not eat tires CL type S inst the faestest car out there but for under $500 you can get almost 50 HP with mods. Unfortunately with the new TL type S you cannot add headers and if the trend hold true, an exhaust isn't really good for more than 2 hp.

Because I was pretty taken with the big Lexus, I have been doing some investigation of the relative prices of 2002 Lexus LS430, vs. 1992 Honda Accord replacement parts - parts that one certainly will have to replace on either car as time goes on and the miles pile up.

Here are some approximate price comparisons (92 Accord left colum, 02 Lexus LS430 right column) using two rather famous on-line Honda (Majestic Honda) and Lexus (Park Place) vendors:
Front damper...........$85......$81
Rear damper............$88.....$73
Front spring.............$46......$114
Frnt lwr ball joint......$16......$76
Upper control arm....$138....$380
Outer tie rod............$50......$57
Inner tie rod.............$41......$100
Tie rod boot.............$16......$15
Frnt brake pads...... .$38......$54
Steering knuckle...... $189.....$225
Transmission............$????...$2360
Alternator.................$200.....$311
Radiator...................$216.....$360
Water Pump..............$50...... $109
Starter.....................$300.....$230

Well, the difference in OEM price between these various parts is not nearly as great as I thought it would be - particularly for those parts that constitute the real "consumables" of every car - dampers, pads, ball joints, tie rods, etc.

Frankly, I'd also rather work on a RWD car than a FWD. If the Lexus V8 engine is anything like GM, there's no doubt that the water pump is going to be much easier to replace on the Lexus. In the unfortunate event that the tranny goes, I'd rather replace it on the RWD.

It appears to me that the original cost and reliability of the car are the all-important factors. If you pay $80000 for a Lexus and keep it for 20 years, the cost of ownership, aside from any maintenance costs, is $4000 per year. If you pay $20000 for a vehicle and keep if for 20 years, your cost of ownership is $1000 per year. Ideally, if one wanted a Lexus, the thing to do is pick up a well-depreciated, but low-mile, well-maintained car - like the one we just sat in!

One thing really scares me, though. If you pay the big Lexus "entry fee", what happens when all those innumerable, fancy "gizmos" start failing - as they all must in the end? Those are things that, if you want to keep, are certainly going to "nickel and dime" you to financial death. It's a very sobering thought.

I guess it all depends on what you are willing to pay, and how "comfortable" you want to be, to get from point A to point B.