My G seems Underpowered
#1
10-23-2002 | 11:42 AM
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From: So Cal
My G seems Underpowered
I am a huge fan of my G35. I have owned it since late March and have found it the best car I have owned. Having spent the last 10 years seriously modifying two Taurus SHO's, dyno testing them, track racing them, etc. I feel I am a good judge of power- not a human dyno, just have a good gut feeling.
I felt - until this past Saturday- my G35 had plenty of power, and really impresses me. I had to take my G in for the 7500 mile, fuel pump recall, rattle fixes and oil change and got another G for a loaner. Well, bottom line is the G35 I received as a loaner has MUCH better power than mine. The loaner's low end from a stop was amazing, it's shifts from 1-2 and 2-3 were snappy, and any time I applied tip-in throttle the car simply pulled hard.
My G shifts tame-almost a lull between shifts-, has a weak takeoff from a stop, usually downshifts with throttle tip-in and does not seem to pull as hard while staying in the same gear. Mind you, I still like the car, but finding another G with what I estimate as 15 more horsepower, and/or finding mine has a poorly programmed ECM, or engine or transmission problems is frustrating. I'd say on a scale of 1-10 with the loaner G being a 10 for power, my G is a 7.
Does anyone else out there feel that there are some underpowered G's out there? Also, does anyone know of any ECM (computer) updates that the dealer can flash my G with?
I still love my G, Just having some doubts about it's power after driving another.
Jim
Southern California
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by TallG35 on 10/23/02 10:40 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
I felt - until this past Saturday- my G35 had plenty of power, and really impresses me. I had to take my G in for the 7500 mile, fuel pump recall, rattle fixes and oil change and got another G for a loaner. Well, bottom line is the G35 I received as a loaner has MUCH better power than mine. The loaner's low end from a stop was amazing, it's shifts from 1-2 and 2-3 were snappy, and any time I applied tip-in throttle the car simply pulled hard.
My G shifts tame-almost a lull between shifts-, has a weak takeoff from a stop, usually downshifts with throttle tip-in and does not seem to pull as hard while staying in the same gear. Mind you, I still like the car, but finding another G with what I estimate as 15 more horsepower, and/or finding mine has a poorly programmed ECM, or engine or transmission problems is frustrating. I'd say on a scale of 1-10 with the loaner G being a 10 for power, my G is a 7.
Does anyone else out there feel that there are some underpowered G's out there? Also, does anyone know of any ECM (computer) updates that the dealer can flash my G with?
I still love my G, Just having some doubts about it's power after driving another.
Jim
Southern California
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by TallG35 on 10/23/02 10:40 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
#2
10-23-2002 | 08:05 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: South Florida
Re: My G seems Underpowered
While at my dealer getting an oil filter I was BSing with the Assist. Parts Mgr and mentioned it would be nice if the Service Dept would reprogram my computer for me to shift quicker while in Manual Mode. The Parts Mgr walked up at that point and said that while they may be able to do it, Infiniti has been very clear that they are NOT supposed to. Maybe you can find a tech that is willing to when in for service, but if you take your car to another dealer they can find out it was done and by whom from the records. So you will be risking someones job.
Merlin.
Merlin.
#3
10-23-2002 | 09:09 PM
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Re: My G seems Underpowered
Speaking from an engineering standpoint and I've seen and heard this done before in other companies:
one possibility is that Nissan decided to detune or increase the performance of the engine.
They would detune it b/c they may have discovered (or to be on the safe side) that having quicker shift points and/or porgramming the ecu more agressively may hurt long term reliability in terms of additional stresses on the suspension and engine. Additionaly, assuming one doesn't upgrade the brakes, the durability of the brakes is an important issue from a safety perspective when one is accelerating faster (in this case due to more aggresive ecu tuning) b/c they now need to be able to slow down quicker too. A prime example of Nissan detuning a car is the 350Z. 287 Hp is not the most that they can get out of that engine!
On the flip side they would increase the performance b/c they know they could get away with it from a warranty issue in that the added performance wouldn't affect the reliability of parts in the car.
It also could be a genuine mistake on the part of Nissan in faulty programming/chips.
Having said all this, other factors can play a role in the difference one feels bwtn cars such as a base model vs. a loaded or semi-loaded model in terms of weight (which can be significant ~ hundreds of pounds), having VDC on or off, humidity and weather conditions, and others.
One last thing I must mention is that this car does have a driver-adaptive learning algorithm that will electronically tailor the tranmission's response. So, perhaps there is a bug(s) in the code that allows it to work better in some cases/cars and not so well in others.
one possibility is that Nissan decided to detune or increase the performance of the engine.
They would detune it b/c they may have discovered (or to be on the safe side) that having quicker shift points and/or porgramming the ecu more agressively may hurt long term reliability in terms of additional stresses on the suspension and engine. Additionaly, assuming one doesn't upgrade the brakes, the durability of the brakes is an important issue from a safety perspective when one is accelerating faster (in this case due to more aggresive ecu tuning) b/c they now need to be able to slow down quicker too. A prime example of Nissan detuning a car is the 350Z. 287 Hp is not the most that they can get out of that engine!
On the flip side they would increase the performance b/c they know they could get away with it from a warranty issue in that the added performance wouldn't affect the reliability of parts in the car.
It also could be a genuine mistake on the part of Nissan in faulty programming/chips.
Having said all this, other factors can play a role in the difference one feels bwtn cars such as a base model vs. a loaded or semi-loaded model in terms of weight (which can be significant ~ hundreds of pounds), having VDC on or off, humidity and weather conditions, and others.
One last thing I must mention is that this car does have a driver-adaptive learning algorithm that will electronically tailor the tranmission's response. So, perhaps there is a bug(s) in the code that allows it to work better in some cases/cars and not so well in others.
#4
10-24-2002 | 02:27 AM
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Re: My G seems Underpowered
do you have the a/c problem? have you had itb 02-057 installed in your car?
the reason i ask is because those that have had this fix installed in their car have noticed that there is an increase in power in their cars. apparently, the a/c compressor was robbing the cars of some of its power
the reason i ask is because those that have had this fix installed in their car have noticed that there is an increase in power in their cars. apparently, the a/c compressor was robbing the cars of some of its power
#5
10-24-2002 | 10:31 AM
Re: My G seems Underpowered
Is there a way to determine from Infinity whether this is one of the
changes rolled into the 2003.5 model (along with trunk, passenger
side power outlet, etc)? If there's a new flash, I want it!
changes rolled into the 2003.5 model (along with trunk, passenger
side power outlet, etc)? If there's a new flash, I want it!
#6
10-24-2002 | 03:02 PM
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From: So Cal
Re: My G seems Underpowered
I have one more tidbit to add that may relate to my isses. My VIN# is 398, yes as in the 398th G35 to roll off the assemnbly line!
Strangely my calipers are a flat dark gray, versus all other G's I have seen that are a shiny cad-coated caliper. Does anyone else have flat dark gray calipers? My car is obviously a VERY early production car, and there could be some issues related to that.
I made a call to my dealer, Miller Infiniti in Van Nuys, CA and the service manager took down my concerns and is contacting Infiniti.
I am hoping the service at Miller service is better than that of Infiniti Customer Service. On an unrelated matter I had earlier in the year I received feigned helpfulness on the phone and a promise of a callback and resolution- 5 months and still waiting.
Strangely my calipers are a flat dark gray, versus all other G's I have seen that are a shiny cad-coated caliper. Does anyone else have flat dark gray calipers? My car is obviously a VERY early production car, and there could be some issues related to that.
I made a call to my dealer, Miller Infiniti in Van Nuys, CA and the service manager took down my concerns and is contacting Infiniti.
I am hoping the service at Miller service is better than that of Infiniti Customer Service. On an unrelated matter I had earlier in the year I received feigned helpfulness on the phone and a promise of a callback and resolution- 5 months and still waiting.
#7
10-24-2002 | 04:16 PM
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Re: My G seems Underpowered
I have car 000475. My calibers are dark gray. My car is very fast, especially on cool days. It feels like the a/c compressor is sucking a lot of power. The cooling fan also robs power.
I drove four different G's before I bought mine and one of them was noticeably slower.
Some others on this forum have mentioned taking their G's back and having the "timing" adjusted. We can only figure that they mean valve timing, not ignition. If the valve timing is off, it would cause poor performance, but there is some question as to whether this is even adjustable.
my two cents.
I drove four different G's before I bought mine and one of them was noticeably slower.
Some others on this forum have mentioned taking their G's back and having the "timing" adjusted. We can only figure that they mean valve timing, not ignition. If the valve timing is off, it would cause poor performance, but there is some question as to whether this is even adjustable.
my two cents.
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#8
10-24-2002 | 04:45 PM
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Re: My G seems Underpowered
Jim,
I concur with your accessment... my G35S, Mar 02 production.....and I have the same issues, specifically unacceptable off the line acceleration and down-shift points sometimes appear to be soft, sponge like, and not crisp. Don't get me wrong, The car screams after 3000 rpms but there are issues that Infiniti needs to address.
Although I've not yet had it in for service (2300 mi) I hope this is something that can be corrected. ex: ECM Program change or timing adjustment if there is one. I also have the noisy A/C compressor.
Bottom line is, from the posts I've seen on serveral forums, there are several similar complaints, as well as varing 0-60 times from the auto rags, ...and that appears to confirm my judgement that initial production line inconsistencies exist.
I have owned many higher performance production cars, such as, an 84 300ZX , 99 Lexus GS400 and the G35 needs some rework on the ECM.....to improve low end acceleration.
Time will tell, when I take it in for service for the first time.
Thanks for your post,
Regards,
Uncle Al
I concur with your accessment... my G35S, Mar 02 production.....and I have the same issues, specifically unacceptable off the line acceleration and down-shift points sometimes appear to be soft, sponge like, and not crisp. Don't get me wrong, The car screams after 3000 rpms but there are issues that Infiniti needs to address.
Although I've not yet had it in for service (2300 mi) I hope this is something that can be corrected. ex: ECM Program change or timing adjustment if there is one. I also have the noisy A/C compressor.
Bottom line is, from the posts I've seen on serveral forums, there are several similar complaints, as well as varing 0-60 times from the auto rags, ...and that appears to confirm my judgement that initial production line inconsistencies exist.
I have owned many higher performance production cars, such as, an 84 300ZX , 99 Lexus GS400 and the G35 needs some rework on the ECM.....to improve low end acceleration.
Time will tell, when I take it in for service for the first time.
Thanks for your post,
Regards,
Uncle Al
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