Did it make you cringe when you saw a Hyundai Genesis 3.8 Coupe beat the G37S around Willow Springs by 3 seconds? Me neither lol that is my point

 

Well, Lexus has taken the plunge into the super car pool. They must think it is worth the time and effort and their car is.... RIDICULOUS ..... for all the wrong reasons, mostly that it is waaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive for what you get....more than a Ferrari, etc.

My point in bringing that up is that Lexus clearly thinks that having a high end car is beneficial for the brand and as far as I am concerned Lexus is a lot less associated with performance and prestige than Infiniti. Not saying they don't make great cars, maybe even better than Infiniti....but they have a hard time shaking the reputation of making great, realiable luxury cars for grandpa.

So if the effort was worth it for Lexus, it would be worth it for Infiniti....especially since net sales of the G/GT-R combo at $90k would far exceed that of Lexus' super car....how many are they planning to sell? Two?

 

No, it didn't make me cringe, it made me VERY interested in the Hyundai. Like I said, I'm not a status symbol kind of guy. If Hyundai does it better for less than I'm a Hyundai guy. THAT has to make Infiniti cringe and THAT is my point.

But we don't have to debate anyone 'cringing'. I still think gorgeous super car that competes with the world's best but costs 2/3rds less is an interesting idea. If it doesn't make sense to anyone else, well, opinions are as common as.....well, you know.

My opinion is that there would be more people than me who might appreciate such a car. And who knows, with a Merc V8 the future IPL might get there by a different route....but it would never be the performance break through the GT-R represents.

 

Lexus is only building 500 LFAs this model year and you just can't buy one. Lexus must approve you first. The price is $375,000 and they currently have more orders than the 500 cars they are producing. Go Figure! Someone out there can afford them.

 

It is a matter of opinion if it is too expensive for what you get. At the end of the day, it's a high revving, v10, all carbon fiber supercar. And even though their road cars are very sedentary, Lexus/Toyota, as a company, ran an F1 team for a very long time. The technology in the LF-A came directly from that. Like BlkCoupe said, all of them are spoken for. Lexus had no issues filling the orders.

 

High end owners don't really race or care so much for speed, its more about the prestige and name rather then the race. Heck most people I run to that are up for a race are Golfs, honda's and other Nissan owners.

 

They're all old people, course haha.

 

Street racing aside, you would be surprised how many people with "high end" cars actually attend HPDE. Every time I've gone, I've seen at least one Gallardo, GT3, GT2, Murcielago, 360/430, or a similar exotic at the track. Granted some people buy them and tootle around looking cool, but some guy legitimately buy them and beat the **** out of them. One of my friends has quite a few exotics, and he regularly races (actually, used to, not so much lately) his ACR and LP560.

 

i personally wouldnt buy a G again... everyone has thier opinions on what car to like and what not to like...personally i would buy a car off of the way it makes me feel when i drive it while putting the numbers aside. just giving some of my thoughts...

 

That's exactly why I have owned my G35 for over eight years. It is flat out fun to drive. Handles well, adequate power and sounds great stock.

 

We're going in circles here. My point was that if Lexus (also not a prestige name like Ferrari, Lambo or even BMW M or AMG) can do it with a vastly overpriced supercar with performance only on par with other super cars....THEN.....Infiniti should be able to do the same thing with a beautiful car that costs 2/3 less than a supercar (or 1/5 of the LF-a) and ALSO performs on par with prestige supercars.

Clearly there must be a reason Nissan/Infiniti aren't doing this and in all probability won't do this......but I have not heard it here.

In any case, even if it is totally impossible.....well... I can still dream, right?

 

I've got friends with Porsches, one who used to have a Ferrari (not a close friend), BMW's they all track and/or race them. Some of these cars are super expensive. A day at the track is relatively cheap in comparison. Heck, a day at the track is relatively cheap compared to a lot of the useless mods we do to our G's.

I have never had my G on the track and may never get the chance. Its more of a time issue than a money issue. As soon as life settles down a bit, I'm there. Got a great track about an hour south of here.

If I had a G/GT-R combo, well, I'd make time to track it.

 

I know that 300 HP in my car is more than sufficient. It's a luxury (or "sub luxury") vehicle, not a race car.

If I want to drive a race car, I'll do so, in a lightweight, low slung actual sports car. The G35/G37 (coupe or sedan) is a great car, but let it do what it's best at, comfy, luxurious car with fairly good power.

 

You clearly have not driven a first gen 6MT coupe. Yes, its 300 HP and yes it is a pig when it comes to weight, but it is lower, much more tightly sprung, handles better, and steers better than an 07 G35X....I know because I drive both of them every day (see my sig line). The coupe also rides rough and is noisy inside. You feel every expansion joint and every highway reflector. Engine noise is not too bad but road and tire noise is bad. It feels much more like a sports car than a luxury car and makes the second gen G35x feel like a land yacht by comparison.

Not knocking the 07 X. It has a great ride, very good interior, good handling and is probably faster in a straight line than the coupe. For a trip of any length I take the X not the coupe.

And I guess I should have qualified, the G/GT-R combo in my mind would be a coupe but it could just as well translate to a sedan and it would hardly be the first high performance 4 door on the planet. But it would be the best. Period.

 

Honestly I'd hope the coupe is more tightly sprung and lower than my sedan, it's a coupe. If my 'x drove like that, I wouldn't have purchased it.

That said, to me, interior noise, etc. that you're describing doesn't have a place in an Infiniti, or any luxury car. At that point, it's living between two worlds, and succeeding in neither. I expect my RX7 to vibrate and be loud inside, it's a race bred sports car. I expect an Infiniti to give me a nice, enjoyable ride, without shaking my brains out or making me want to wear ear plugs.

I'm not an old guy either, and I'm not against shaking my brains and needing ear plugs, I drive my RX7 regularly. I just expect a higher level of refinement from a luxury marque, and you can only go so fast, and handle so well before you give up the "niceness" of a car, unless you want to spend oodles of cash. Oodles being a relative term, of course.

Shoot, on the way home from work today, my G35x held up very well against a '04-'06 CTS-V. That's respectable performance in my book.

I guess all I'm saying is that if you want a race car, build a race car. If you want a car that's enjoyable to drive, don't try to make it a race car, because it'll end up neither a race car, nor enjoyable to drive. I speak from experience on that one. :P

edit: FWIW, I'm not saying Infiniti couldn't engineer a G sedan with a GTR drivetrain and have an incredible car; I just don't see a real need for it with the Nissan GTR already on the market. Opinions are like *******s though.