I recently returned from an 1100 mile trip to NY and Philly in the G, putting our total miles right at 4000. During this time I was able to really evaluate the car's general driveability, comfort and quirkiness. A few items of note (I'm sure some or most are repeats, so I'll apologize in advance):

1. I could feel the windshield wiper mechanical action in the clutch pedal. When the clutch was depressed and the wipers cycled, I could feel it. What up with this?

2. The rain gutters are not very effective.

3. Bitchin' Betty (the Nav system) gets a below average grade in what she should do best, navigate. We left Virginia Beach and headed north via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and she kept wanting us to go around Richmond via I-95. Even when we were 20 miles north of the Bridge-Tunnel on the Eastern Shore, she kept telling us to make a legal u-turn. She eventually recalculated, but it was very annoying. I did double check all the preferences, but it made no difference.

4. Location/alignment of the seat belt guide is bad (for me at least at 5'10")

5. If packed properly, the small a$$ trunk will actually hold quite a bit of stuff. It does get very hot back there from the exhaust, so make sure to store the wine bottles with you in the cockpit.

6. They have small bugs up there that will stain the paint yellow. My front end is peppered with tiny dark yellow spots that I couldn't buff out. Shoulda got a bra I guess.

7. The Bose system really does $uck. Is it the speakers or the head unit? The stock system in my Dodge Durango sounds better than this. I am amazed that Infiniti has gotten away with this in a close to $40K car.

Overall, it was a pleasant drive. The cruise worked well as did the a/c. We averaged about 26.5 mpg. Didn't see many other G coupes on the way, so we got a few admiring looks as a result. I think we'll keep it.

 

ROCK ON!! i own an 03 6MT 52k mi and i'm loving every single mi on it! No other car i see on the road gets as much attention as our G...unless its an exotic car obviously. I'm glad that you enjoyed your road trip and may your G have many many more.

 

Nice observations..I love taking the G for long trips...it must be even better with navi..mine is w/o.

 

Did you have any comfort issue with the seat? I can never really get comfortable with my 03 coupe seat, especially in a long trip. I'm around 5'6".

How about the good old hot air from the vent? If the a/c is not on, man, you get roasted from the vent air. Did they find a fix for the 06?

 

the wipers move with too much force. i feel them in my gas pedal all the time and it kinda bugs me so i definitely agree with you on that one.

rain gutters also kinda suck b/c i get water on my seats opening and closing the door... that's obnoxious.

on the other hand, the nav system has been awesome for me....

 

Nice road trip review

I too complained the first week about the wipers/clutch. The dealer thought I was a lunatic... I can live with it.

Rain gutters? Yeah right. You should be here in Seattle. I keep a clean wash cloth in the map pocket just to wipe things down and keep things dry.

The Bose has been discussed adnauseum on this and all the other G35 forums. And most would agree Nissan blew it. There are some intermediate fixes, and each one has its pros and cons. I compromised and changed out the amp and speakers. It's much better but still nowhere close to being as good is it should be in a car of this class and price.

Seat belt has been a major complaint for a lot of drivers. I also wish the rear portion of the seat could be raised (without raising the whole thing) as it's just barely tolerable with my lower back problem. And I wish the head rest would move further forward. It will probably save my neck from whiplash during an accident, but I can't comfortably rest my head on it while driving.

Best MPG I've gotten with my 6MT was a little over 26 on the hwy, but it wasn't a very long trip. I have found the overall mileage has improved after the engine loosened up. (Currently have about 5k on it.) Still, I'm not expecting it to be a Corolla.

Instead of the bra, consider film. A lot of G ownerns have gone that route, as have I.

 

My wife just got an 06 and we like the climate control (never had a car with it) but the problem is that it seems to want to set the fan speed really high when the AC is on in auto mode. As soon as you adjust the fan speed down, it cancels auto mode.

I read the manual and in auto mode it does control the fan speed but I can't believe anyone could live with that high unless it's just for an initial cool down period. Seems like even when the cab temp reaches the desired temp it still wants to set the fan near max speed whenever AC is on.

Anyone else notice this?

 

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

over excited much buddy?

 

Did you try turning the automatic temperature setting up a few degrees? Fan speed seems to be adjusted based on how close the cabin is to your requested temp. Too much difference will raise the speed.

Curt

 

Yeah, they're all connected to the firewall, so you'll feel it. Nothing's wrong, that's just how it is.
The coupe has rain gutters?

Curt

 

don't be cranky because your G is "under construction".




re the topic, I drive back and forth from cleveland and columbus all the time (so far, 30K in 14 months) and the coupe is a good all purpose car. The only thing I don't like about mine is that the tires are roaring at certain speeds (around 40-50), and that gets on my nerves. Once I stop being lazy and order the tires already, I'll finally get those on and get an alignment done. Hopefully, that'll fix it.

The bose is definitely not as good as the harmon kardon system in the cooper S I used to have (and that system is widely regarded as being sub-par on the mini forums). I think when they say they want to be able to reproduce "live" quality music, they must be thinking a 64 bitrate recording from a stadium concert. The highs are fuzzy, and the lows are shallow.

 

wow you guys are getting near 26 mpgs? i do half streets half highway and cant seem to get above 16... with 91 v-power

 

The seat itself is okay for me (still not quite as comfortable as my ole '84 Supra), could use a little bit more lumbar support, but I had to keep pushing the seat belt down lower on my shoulder. It kept rubbing on my neck, very annoying. I took it out of the guide and it kinda stayed in the same place. Concur, a tilting headrest should be standard. Again, what is Infiniti thinking?

When it was sunny but not too hot for freh air outside, once I cooled the air ducts off with a bit of a/c, the fresh air was tolerable. The dash can soak up and radiate huge amounts of heat though, even with a good sunshade, so it takes a while to cool off. So I'm not sure they really fixed anything about it from the '03.

Mileage was mostly highway at reasonable speeds (~74 mph max) with a combination of windows and a/c. Best I've gotten from my VR6 Corrado was about 29 on a road trip, so with the extra 600 lbs and .7 liters of displacement, I can live with 26.5. I've been getting 21-22 around town to and from work. Beats the hell out of my 15 mpg Durango. I'm sure I'm not the only on here that didn't even look at the mpg specs when buying this car.

 

Please post pix of said rain gutters. They must have forgotten to put them on my 03

 

You only need the rain gutters for the 10 months or so it rains in Seattle. During parts of July and August the rain gutters aren't really necessary :-)