I have bose in my RSX S and its nothing spectacular at all either. Yeah, its about 15% better than the stock honda units, but still, nothing great by any means, and I am a music producer who loves to hear intricate sounds and have a balanced mix. I hate the way the Bose systems roll off bass at high volume levels. It seems like the whole overall sound gets compressed at higher levels. I guess this is their crappy way of keeping the sound from distorting.

 

sounds like some substantial "cons"... i'm on the verge of ordering the same exact car (minus aero, plus navi--do you like the blue/wheat?), but i'll admit you've given me pause... i have yet to test drive this car since the nearest dealer is over 1.5 hours away (word is we're getting one locally within 6 months) and sure wouldn't commit before taking it for a spin... but i also am pretty "exacting" in nature so i'm curious to see where our thresholds for comfort overlap... my current car is an S2000 and my goal in switching was to get something which has sport/luxury features but spares me the relative day to day ride harshness of the S... i wonder if i may be exchanging one set of shortcomings for another...

could you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by the handling being "busy", even on smooth roads?

have you driven many other manual transmissions? what were your impressions of those gearboxes?

are you an engineer for infiniti? given your financial investment it's in your best interest to "really like" the new car, but if someone had loaned it to you for 24 hours with no strings attached, would you gladly sign on the dotted line and take delivery on the spot?

i find your feedback very valuable... thanks

 

No whine from the clutch at over 4000rpm here on my '04 Coupe w/ 3000 miles- or maybe I'm going deaf from years of listening to Philip Glass at ear shattering levels My 6MT shifts great, IMHO. Sounds like he shouldn't have ordered the Sport Tuned Suspension Package. The standard suspension has a smooth ride and isn't as harsh (it's actually too smooth in my opinion)- I want to upgrade the springs with Tein or Eibach springs (the '04 didn't have the sport tuned suspension package available). Compared to my other car, a '91 300ZX which has Eibach springs and KYB AGX shocks, the G rides like butter. The Bose is decent for a factory system and nothing more than that. I plan to upgrade the stereo in the future. At least the controls aren't tied into the Nav system, which will make upgrading the stereo easier. If you can find a better $38K car, buy it!

 

Listen to a Mark Levinson system in a lexus, or hell even their "stock" sound system and you'll think what the F**K is wrong with Infiniti for using bose...I'm driving a '00 ES300 and the stock sound system in that car is amazing. When i get my G I'm almost definately changing out that bLoWse system. Trust me, when you compare to other speaker systems in the market BOSE really is the worst and you dont have to be an audiophile to notice it either.

 

A few comments. In my opinion, the '04 rides much more comfortably than the '05 with sport suspension. I test drove an '05, and couldn't believe the amount of road noise and harshness. My '04 is very firm, but not punishing. It's still as far as I'd like for an extended trip, however. Not to mention that the wheels (in my opinion) fit with the design of the car more on an '04, they will be cheaper to buy tires for (18's are cheaper than 19's), you get BREMBO brakes (phenomenal in my experience), you get a cassette player (hey, some of us still listen to books on tape or something), the '04's are cheaper (if you can still find one), the seats automatically power forward when you release them (don't know why they changed for '05), and they have more usable torque in the lower and mid-range RPM's....and you have a good case for buying a new or pre-owned '04. Sounds like that will be more your style if you are worried about ride harshness.

 

i've had this car just under 2 weeks... here's my take (i'll compare it to my last '03 acura cl-s and '01 vette):

steering:
-too light for my tastes. should be stiffer... i also feel it doesn't 'point and shoot' like the acura or vette i had ie. i'm turning the wheel too much to get the car moving in the direction i want. not a biggie though.

clutch:
-too much movement imo. my acura was like a button... much, much better than my vette though (that sucker was like a tractor).
-i don't recall hearing any howling from the clutch... haven't driven over 3,800 rpms either though.
-only howling i get is on cold starts in the morning for a few of minutes... sounds like wind howling... goes away though.

power:
-can't comment too much.
-feels good though from what i've seen. i have no problems driving this car at low rpm's (under 1500)... seems to have a very smooth powerband.
-can't wait to really open this sucker up.

suspension:
-soaks up bumps better than my acura. can't really explain why... my acura would 'thud sharply' on every bump where this car will 'thud softly'... that's my best analysis between the 2.
-i'm also driving on bigger winter tires ... that might have an effect
-my vette was much harsher on performance mode. this car behaves as expected for a sports coupe.

gas mileage:
-so far has been great! was worried from others that it might be bad... i expected the worse (especially from new)... but have been very impressed. i estimate i'm doing about 12-13 litres/100 right now (for my canadian buddies). sorry.... don't know mpg, u can probably calculate it though.

shifter:
-very notchy in 1st and 2nd.
-i only find it really annoying in the morning... on cold starts. have to sometimes double clutch to get it into first. gets better after warm-up.
-i have no problems with actual shifts. i have no problems comparing the gate on this car to my acura. short, crisp shifts in my opinion (other than notchiness from 1-2). puts my vette's shifter to shame.
-this car has much better gear spacing than my acura. especially between 1 and 2.

radio:
-sucks, sucks, and oh... sucks.
-this is the only area where i was extremely dissapointed. i expect some level of crapiness from a stock stereo but this one is the worst i have heard.
-i won't even compare the sound quality to the acura or vette.. yes, even the vette was better (better overall bass). my wife's harmon kardon in her cooper s puts this stereo to shame. bose should be ashamed of themselves.
-plus... there is a known bug with this stereo... check this thread here:
https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-video-electronics/41302-05-bose-radio-problems.html
-i think the hu itself is good though. i love the mp3 funtionality... and the song titling options.

fit and finish:
-very nice
-no scratches or marks on the aluminum finish yet
-no gaps
-everything operates as expected
-no rattles ! (knock on wood)
-doesn't have the m-b touch of class though.

overall i am extremely happy with this vehicle. it drives great, gas mileage has been exceptional, looks good, and in my opinion cannot be beat in it's category or class. the only car i would put up next to it is the 325 from that other crappy company . i really can't wait 'till the break-in is over so that i can really see and feel how this car drives on the open road. should be fun... afterall, i bought it to be fun!

the above are my own general opinion about the vehicle. you may see some categories differently. to each his own. to everyone that owns this wonderful car... cheers! and enjoy the drive.

-regards.

 

How about adding a seoerate amp or EQ to the system? Would that make it sound better?

 

an EQ would eliminate probably 90% of the complaints i have with the system. I dont feel like dumping more money into a sound system - I'd rather spend the money on performance mods. The power is adequate, as are the speakers, but the factory EQ-ing sucks IMO.

 

That's cool. But you could pick up a cheap EQ and pop it in. Too bad Infiniti or BOSE didn't think of it but along with driving, the radio is a big part of the car.

 

on a different thread in the audio forum, they talked about the CleanSweep made by JL due out in a few months. I am DEFINITELY going to pick one of these up. It takes the signal from the radio, processes out the frequency drop offs and other bad EQs and feeds the signal out to the amps for a cleaner sound. for $400, I get to keep the stock head unit and not look aftermarket, get a CleanSweep that can open up cleaner subwoofer output etc....

 

My only complaint is the seat belt. I am so short, and in order to engage the clutch I'm pretty close to the steering wheel which causes the belt to rub on my neck. It's very uncomfortable. Is there a way to adjust the seat belt?

 

Yes. Sit on some phone books

 

ha ha ha very funny but that would make me too high up to properly hit the clutch. I tried to adjust my seat everyway possible.

 

Wear high heels That's what I do even though I'm tall enough, but you have be careful when pushing the clutch all the way in. Guys willl never know how much easier it is to drive when you're wearing high heels

 

I say use small pillows, most of the girls I know who are 4'11 - 5'2 use pillows and it has been very effective in adjusting their height or seating position...even using it to take care of the belt rubbing