Jordan, I drove my old g coupe thru 3 winters here in Chicago (probably about 4 months of snow a yr). I still would've made the same choice even with 6 months of snow. You just have to realize that it's a compromise in many ways. Thank God, though, that my new G won't ever see snow because I have an Elantra for that now.
As for real world combined city/hwy gas mileage, for a non-granny driver, I'd expect probably 19-21 mpg.

 

Dude you are placing waaaaaaaaaay too much pressure on one car choice.
Speaking from the vantage point of a 40 year old geezer looking back through the time tunnel I say: Cars and women are meant for test driving. Try them all. Drive em hard, keep em clean, trade em in often.

Oh yeah, as my uncle says: If it flies,f***s, or floats - rent it!

 

I don't think a G35c is meant for you based on your needs. The mileage isn't great at ~20mpg, people capacity is limited along with cargo space and it probably won't handle snow as well as your Acura as you're use to. Your choices are limited but I believe a 325xi/330xi might fit your bill since they come in manuals. By the time you're ready to purchase a car though, you might be limited to the E90 body style unless you want a used E46.

 

Not only is your post disrespectful to women, but it is out of place too....

To the OP: For those 6 winter months, you'll have to take off your pretty 19" wheels and buy some 17" with winter tires, and the backseat really isn't that bad for short trips, but soon enough your friends will start complaining. But waiting for the front seats to move forward everytime is a pain.. After all, keep in mind you're buying the car for yourself and not for your friends. Have you looked at the new 3-series?

 

[QUOTE=Finiti35]Not only is your post disrespectful to women, but it is out of place too....

[QUOTE]

Hey my bad and I apologize. However I'm just saying at 21 years old its pretty hard to say what your needs are for the next 12 years and 300000 miles. Work on a little shorter term plan and enjoy what you have to the fullest right now.

And I'm still right about boats and planes.

 

You see there's a problem here. I can't afford to do that. I'm stretching myself to get a $46000 car (CDN). My family doesn't have money. Right now I'm driving the nicest car out of all of them. My mom has a 1994 Intrepid ES and my dad has a 1993 4Runner. Right out of school the oil companies are offering me $60-65k per year, but taxes take off more than 30% of that. I'm living with my parents for an extra year so I can afford the car and have it fully paid off.

 

I think I could live with the mileage. Real world TL'ers are getting 23-24mpg mixed and 32-ish on the highway. Depends on who you talk to. I would guess it's similar for the G, maybe a little lower due the higher power output, but nothing that breaks the deal for me. BMW is absolutely out of the question. I can't afford to buy one initially unless it's used, because they're overpriced for the same stuff essentially in my opinion. And worst of all, once it's out of warranty (which it will be in 2 years because I drive a lot), then BMW maintanence is MUCH more expensive than either Infiniti or Acura. I'm not really concerned about losing wheel diameter for the winter in the G, because the Acura only comes with 17" stock wheels anyway (way to go Acura ).

What's the clutch engagement like on the 6MT? I know it's a weird and subjective question but I'm curious. And is it easy to break your rear tires loose if you give it too much gas?

 

Oh hey I didn't realize that you're Canadian too. I'm in Vancouver. I love German cars - see this thread:

https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-sedan-v35-2003-06/55772-damn-i-ve-been-thieved.html

However the sad fact is that here in Canada the taxes, duties, and exchange are brutal on the German rides and as soon as you're off warranty they start eating you out of house and home. Shop time for Audi in Vancouver is $95 and parts are to the moon cos of the above reasons.

Have you thought about biting the hand that is soon to feed (oil companies) and getting an Accord Hybrid? Similar 0-60 times (faster than the regular by 1/2 second), great in snow, go forever, and lots of back seat. Spend your savings tricking it out!

Yes I know I sound 40 now.

 

If you are under the impression that the manual trans will be more reliable than the auto trans when it comes to this car, I suggest you do a search, and see how many more issues you see with people and something related to their 6MT transmission, then see if you can find any with the 5AT.

To answer the initial question:
I have friends and girls in the back seat ALL THE TIME!. We go on long trips to the city all the time, and none of them have ever complained. I always question how the room is back there and they all respond that it is more than fine. The leg room is great. The only problem that some very tall people may have is the headroom, but its nothing all that bad. Very nice back seat for a sports coupe. Then again, I am 17 and all of my friends are that age and under, and are smaller, so a full grown adult might have a bit more of a problem with the back seat size.

 

I know all about the Accord Hybrid. I like it, but the styling is far worse than the G35 sedan. The interior is very nice, but it lacks the sunroof (one of my requirements) and the navigation (another of my requirements). It's not luxury enough for me. I think after all my hard work I deserve to drive a luxury car (at least by my standards). Also, stupid Honda won't offer their V6 Accord sedan in manual! Grrr! Could you imagine the Accord hybrid with a manual? I'd consider it if they made a coupe hybrid with the 6MT. The normal coupe is pretty damn fast for a car in it's class. Besides I don't think I could get the maximum benefit from the hybrid powertrain fuel economy wise because I'm a little heavy on the right foot sometimes. Today I'm going to stop by the Infiniti dealer to check out the interior of the 05 Sedan. I've sat in the new TL plenty of times and I fell in love with the interior (they made some tweaks since 04 to fix butt-print issues and stuff), but I've only sat in the 04 G at the auto show. I've read here that the 05 is much improved, so I definately will have to check it out. I think I could get used to the orange gauge lighting. The worst lighting I've seen was red in a pontiac grand prix...sooo hard on the eyes. I'm guessing the orange is a bit more visible. How is it in the sun?

 

In the long term, it is a fact that WHEN the AT finally dies (even if it is after 200 000km or more), it WILL cost you more than all of the manual transmission issues COMBINED for the entire life of the car. A lot of problems with manual transmissions are caused by DRIVER ERROR. Most people actually don't know how to properly downshift, even if they think they do. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the issues are caused by abuse (whether intentional or not).