I finally took the time to swing by Loki Infinity in Tampa and test drive some Gs. Had a great sales guy who really took the time to answer all my questions and showed me what the car was capable of. I drove a 6mt coup and an AT sedan and here are my thoughts and questions.

Both cars had a great ride. I had expected it to be a harsher ride than it was especially considering the rough roads on the test drive loop. I also absolutely loved the way both cars handled. Again, I had heard it was good, but I didn't expect it to be better than my bosses BMW 3 and 5. It wasn't even a contest, between the power, handling and ride, the G35 completely floored me.

However, the sound system sucks. I jut thought everyone here was being snobish about the sound. I demand perfection out of my home sound systems, but I have always cared less about my car systems since there is so much road noise it's pointless to worry about too much quality. However, when the sales guy turned on the sound system and turned it up a little, he quickly turned it back down to a low volume level as it was obvious how bad it sounded. The pontic G6 rental I was driving sounded 10x better.

The biggest complaint I had were with the seats in the coup. I'm not skinny and the bolsters in the coup seat narrow the seat enough so that it wasn't comfortable on the right side. I blame the seat adjustments and I'm sure if they were in a more sane location it wouldn't be a problem. The salesman said that the 2006 FX had moved them to the left side like every other car and maybe the 2007 Gs would do the same. Anyone have any inside information or know how likely that is? The coupe seats btw were fine. Er....I mean the SEDAN seats were fine.

Finally, the trim level of the interrior leaves me a little flat. Again, I was driving a Pontaic G6 rental and I think it had a better interrior than either G. I know Infinity can do a good interrior. If you haven't been in an M35 I HIGHLY suggest it next time your at a dealer. It makes a 5 series or an A8 look cheap. Update: I wanted to ask; I know they really upgraded the M35 at some point to were it is now, do you think they will do the same thing for the G35 with the 2007 model? Thanks.

 

i agree with all your points regarding sucky stereo, misplaced seat controls and the interior starting to get dated. we keep hearing that a new replacement coupe and sedan are coming but i think everyone is fuzzy with the dates.

i'm pretty sure the 07 sedan will be replaced this year but the coupe is unknown. could be this year or next year (i have my fingers crossed for this year). u can look at the coupe concept in the 'future models' forum. the sedan will be debuting next week. hopefully the sedan debut will have a better representation of what is going into the car for final production.

i'm hoping for m'ish interior upgrade/appointments to join the rest of the line. sadly, only thing u can do is wait it out till there's some official news from nissan. cheers.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think maybe the stero tone levels were all messed up in the 6MT I drove. I didn't even turn the stero on in the Sedan after how bad the Coup sounded. I'm currently driving a 1993 Altima with the original speakers or what's left of them and it sounds better than what I heard coming out of the coup. The only thing that makes me think it really does sound that bad is I pulled up beside another coup this week that had the windows down playing the stero loud and all I could think of was how bad it sounded. What I heard sounded like an alarm clock turned up too loud. Very bad.

I also wanted to say that the interior was by no means bad. I think I was spoiled by how nice a $41K M35 interior is. I guess I expected something along the same lines but with much less tech and more basic.

The seat controls are just wacky where they are. I would think most people would adjust the seat to their preferences and then NEVER touch the controls ever again. Why give them such prime realestate?

Which brings me to the other item I left out. I LOVED the inteligent key. I was heart broken to hear you can't get it with the 6MT coup. I think every car on the planet will move to a similar system it just makes so much sense. When I drove the Sedan with the Intelegent Key, I never even had possession of the key. The salesman showed it to me, put it in his pocket and I drove.

 

If you read in the audio forum most people aren't too trilled with the sound system. However thats something that can be upgraded. The coupe's seats are not for ones with large bottoms. Over time the seats actually get destroyed if you are too big. Try a car with a navi; I think it improved the interior feel immensely. The overall interior is personal preference I suppose, but while I like how Pontiac lays out their dash I don't like the whole "rubbery plastic" thing they have going.

 

BOSE sucks, man! Thats one of the biggest downfalls alot of luxury car companies have. Unfortunately most of the US population believes that Bose is greatest thing in the world, so thats what the auto manufacturers put in their cars.

Infiniti should parter with a leading audio manufacturer like Lexus did with Mark Levinson.

 

I don't get the sucky sound system, I love my bose (minus the one small problem I had)

Slap in a Scott Stapp CD and turn the volume to 21 baby

 

Define destroy? Would I actually have to replace the seats because they become uncomfortable to me or will it just wear them out so it would hurt the resale? I wouldn't be selling the car as I keep a car until it's time to retire it to the junk yard.

It isn't like they could offer a bigger seat either. I can barely get my hand between the seat and the door when it's closed. They made the seats as wide as they could. While I'm not skinny by any streach of the imagination, I'm not huge either. I wear 38" pants. In the Sedan I've got loads of room. I could easily set a small cooler on the seat with me...not that I would because drinking and drving is wrong ummmk, I'm just saying.

 

Yes 'Blose' has got some major brand name recognition going for it for some reason and I just don't understand it. And upgrading the speakers is a major pain because of their non standard 1 watt spec - although I understand alot of people here have upgraded only their speakers satisfactorily. I think they did a good job tuning the rear deck speakers for a fake sub effect, but the mids and highs are pretty bad. Yes that mark levinson option in the IS350 must sound really sweet...

 

Grok if u get the coupe i will trade the seats with u with some extra cash for u. BTW my seats are black.

 

Let me append my previous statement, Bose, in and of itself, doesn't suck, but I think a "luxury" vehicle should have a more high quality sound.

 

Bose sucks. The only thing they make that doesn't suck is their sound cancelling headphones. My parent's Town and Country has the full Infinity sound system and that thing is AMAZING...