I don't think it is the tires though, because when I get out of my car, the smell is somewhere near the front end, maybe under the hood, not near the rear, where most of the burning rubber should occur

that's a good point. i would have to agree. i usually just thought that the smell is just "spreading" around my car, but originating from the tires; thus dismissed it.

maybe it's just the smell of pure sex?

^ lol yeah definitely sex smell. I think it might be all the friction and needs to be lubed more :P

I get the burning oil smell too. Only on aggressive highway driving though. I start to freak out and I think its the oil consumption problem.

03 5AT here.

Also, is it just me.. or does this engine warm up rapidly on this car? I used to own a car that would overheat alot and sometimes I go on the "temp guage watch" to make sure i don't overheat.

i've driven my 05 coupe hard and never seen the temp gauge go up at all, basically

... +1 on this... not sure what you mean by "heating up fast." Did you mean overheating or getting past the halfway temp mark, or did you mean heating up from a cold start or something?

I've noticed the same thing after driving my 07 coupe. The wife says it never does this when she drives, and I know I drive more aggressively than she does. Our car has 5k on it.

My temp gauge went past half only once in the last 5 years. I had flushed the coolant and I needed to get the air out. I like to push it fairly often and the car never overheats. I do remember that it did smell more after playing on the highway, but that was when the car was newer. I don't get any different smell now whether I'm pushing it or not.

I'm experiencing the same thing here. . .drive it "enthusiastically" or on the track and it smells like burning rubber/clutch. . .i'm not peeling out and the clutch still holds very strong. But even after a few minutes and I floor it I can smell it. . .

I meant from a cold start.. Like probably 1-2 minutes after start up I'm already at the halfway normal running temp.. Car doesn't overheat.

It would take my acura about 7-10 minutes to get to normal operating temp.

phew.... i thot i burned some clutch :/ i guess its good that its normal

Last night playing around with two G35 sedans on the 5 fwy and I was around 5 to 6K. After a nice 10 min run I got home and that same smell. The temp was ok but the smell scared me so ill go get an oil change like u all say to do.