Hi gang.

I'm in the market for a new car and after exhaustive research, I've settled on this one. Sporty, fun to drive (supposedly), reliable (supposedly), fairly quick, AWD and it looks nice as well.

I'll probably be test driving one or two cars this week or in the coming week or so and would like input in terms of what to look out for when checking out these cars. Common issues with suspension, engine noises and that kind of stuff.

I'm 6'4" and 230 lbs. I feel claustrobic in a 3-series but I hope the G is a tad larger. Will I have problems with comfort perhaps? I drive around 20000 miles a year for work alone so a lack of comfort would not be good.
This car will be my daily driver.

Thanks

J

 

im 6'6", no problems with knee room or headroom. I would agree the 3series seem a little tight on the interior

 

Good info - thanks for that.
Any issues with the car? I see you have the one I'm looking to buy and I'm hoping to find one in the 30-40000 mile range. I heard of the 3.5 VQ having oil burning issues in some cars - is that true and if so, how severe is the issue?

 

I"m 6'10" and have no problems, I have an 06 X and my wife has an 05 X. No Oil problems with either one. Great cars and I highly recomend them. If you get snow you will be very impressed with the AWD, I've had a couple AWD cars before and the X blows them away. good luck on the new ride.

 

Thanks, Hiney. I've never had an AWD vehicle before so look forward to see what the G can do there. It doesn't snow a great deal here in NJ but this past winter was pretty bad and tough to get going up hills etc in my FWD car which I sold a month ago.

Is there anything I should look for on the test drive - any common squeaks or rattles or sunroof issues or electrical gremlins here and there that are points I should pay special attention to when look at the car? I've never driven this car so it'll be the first time when I test-drive one so any input about that would be appreciated as well.

 

I'm 6'3" and I feel very comfortable in this car. I've taken 3+ hours trips in it and it doesn't hurt my *** or back, its a very nice ride. Other Japanese cars like a Toyota Corolla or the Honda Civic both hurt my *** after an hour or so.

Also the X handles excellent in the snow. I'm very glad I got the X instead of the RWD.

 

Listen for any clunking in the front end, The control arm Bushings tend to go bad on all G's. Just had mine replaced for $355.00 from a private shop. usless it's got some warrenty left stay away from the dealer or they will rape you, another member just got a quote on the same work I had done from the dealer and it was $900.00 Good luck on the search.

 

Thanks for that info Dacket and Hiney - good to know. I'm trying to find a certified car if possible but at the very least one with some warranty on it.

 

Make sure you buy the car from a dependable dealership that is willing to work with you should you have any problems. My car had warranty and my dealership barely did any of the work or looked into the things I had pointed out. If they are willing to work with you on the price they will be willing to work with you period. I learned that the hard way. Anyways best of luck car hunting. Great car non the less minus the rattles and noises here and there. Nothing that will make you think twice.

 

Thanks Petro - yes dealing with most used car dealers is a royal PITA and I've had it with crappy little corner dealers - I really want to deal with an Infiniti dealer if I can find the right deal there. I've been car shopping for a couple of months for other brands and it's been a nightmare dealing with all the scams out there and less-than-stellar (putting that very mildly) dealerships.

 

Yea, but not all Infiniti dealerships are easy to talk to yet alone work with. Just wish they had better customer service?

 

Another very important question:

Does ALL G35Xs have side airbags? That has killed many potential deals for me and it's a requirement for me in our next car. On autotrader for example, if you click the "side airbags" box, the amount of cars fitting the search criteria drops dramatically, but I've noticed on other models that it might be a case of the dealer simply listing the car inaccurately and therefore missing a feature the car actually has but doesn't show in search when you look for that very option specifically. If I know all the cars have the airbags as standard equipment, that would help me a great deal in finding the right car.

 

Mine doesn't have side airbags, it's just the door panel. I don't know if they even have side airbags on any G.

 

What do you mean by "door panel"? I've seen pictures of the B pillar in some of them saying "SRS" so that would be the side airbags but I'm not sure if was an option or a standard feature. If yours doesn't have them that would mean it's not standard on the car.

 

Is there a list of option packages available where it says specifically what the "Premium package" or does anyone know? I'm looking at one which doesn't have the "Bose" logo on the audio display so does that mean it does not have the good sound system?

I heard the stock system is great but do people mean the Bose when they say that?

Here's a pic: