I test drove new 04 G35 yesterday at dealership... Actually I drove a demo car. And then a salesman showed me the car I'll buy after testdriving the demo. It looks fine (car has been garaged, all seats were covered by vinyl covers and seemed no one testdrove this before, but alot of dusts outside which was ok for me). But the problme is the battery. The battery was totally dischared and I couldn't even start. salesman said it hasn't been driven for several month. Is this still good to buy? Or should I get away from it?

And one dealer, 30miles from my house, is offering me life time free oil change and the other dealer, 3miles from my house, is offering free paint protection pkg instead of free oil change..(not sure exactly what it is but he said it worth about $800)

I prefer the free oil change but its far from my place, 60 miles round trip for oil change.

What should I choose? any comment?

 

The maintenance on these vehicles is pretty high if you use a dealer. If free oil changes is your idea of maintenance on this car you should think again. It is fun to drive but not a very practical car. I am not trying to talk you out of it I am just saying that free oil changes in the bigger picture is not that much of an incentive over time. Go with the car and the dealer you will be happy with. 30 miles from you house is about 1.5 Gallons of fuel. This is what I mean When I say not the most practical car.
Some people on here have complained of an uncomfortable drivers seat. I would agree with them on that. My girlfriend prefers me to drive at night because she does not see very good at night. I drove her toyota camry and I immediately noticed a very supportive seat. I, over time, noticed I preferred her car more than mine for many reasons.
Extremely low maintenace costs.
Better gas mileage. I averaged about 3 full tanks of gas to go 1000 miles
In the Camry I could to it in 2 fill ups.
More comfortable seats
Quieter ride
Her stereo sounds better and I had the Bose upgraded stereo
Lower payments
Lower insurance costs by 30 dollars a month
Brake issues and general reliability

Ok, I ended up giving up my bling bling Infiniti and I traded it in on a Toyota Camry LE myself. So now I have a comfortable car that is fun to drive and it does not drain my wallet.
I did not even have to pay sales tax because if the trade in is more than the cost of the vehicle youre buying you don't pay again.

Now, the Camry is not the fasted ride around but I did not use all of the 260 horses under the hood anyway. I drive pretty conservatively.
I am not a hater I just wanted to give you a few things to think about before purchasing this car. Take your time when making this decision.
I enjoyed my 35X for 11 months and then got a little more practical
I have really enjoyed this forum and will continue to learn and watch
Respectfully
A once happy G35X owner

 

wow g35x -----> Toyota Camry, hmm i could see selling it for the M3, 911 and some other cars people have traded in for but a Camry.. why not an Lexus

 

What's a battery? They'll replace that before you buy the car, right? And the oil changes vs paint protection sounds like a lot of salesperson double talk. $800 worth of paint protection = 10 oil changes at $80 per change. (That's good for 75,000 miles if you choose the low maintenance interval of an oil change every 7,500 miles.) It doesn't seem that it would be hard to talk the nearby dealer into 10 oil changes - unless the "paint protection" package is really only worth $100 in which case it's not much of an incentive in the first place.

Several months in storage isn't a big deal. I'd still check to see if it was parked with a full tank of gas to minimize condensation. You'll get the full warranty from Infiniti so you're protected there.

So, how much money do they want for the car? That's the bigger question.

Cale

 

I cant believe u sold ur G for a camry. WTF!

 

I did not mean to offend or hijack the thread. I slowly had more fun driving the other car mentioned above. It was more comfortable.
I wish it were not true a $20,000 more comfortable than the G.
Maybe I, I just can't explain it. I don't race or even really drive fast. It was fun for a while but then those Camry seats, I fell in love.
Wait a minute.
I can't taste my beer. Has this ever happened to you?

 

I see his point, but only becuase I put myself in his shoes, my parents love their plush cars and hate my bumpy G.

But from my point of view, its worth the discomfort for the drive.

 

Haha, I think you are confusing fun with comfortable. Yes the camry is more comfortable, but that sure don't make it more fun to drive

 

Oh boy - I go through these types of acrobatics on just about everything I buy...

Sounds to me like you've broken this down to a money issue. If the oil change runs about $80.00 per, and you drive an average 12K a year, change your oil every 3K, then you'd be saving $320.00/year. I get about 20 mpg on my sedan so you'd be spending (60 - 6 miles to other dealer = 54 miles/20 X 2.25 gallon = ) $6.075 in gas money per trip or about $24. The value of the paint protection? Can't answer that - but doubt if you'll lose about $300 worth of paint a year vs. $800 for "paint protection".

The bigger question - what's the convenience worth? Is it worth spending about $300 a year to go to a dealer that's 3 miles away? What's your time worth as you have to make that 60 mile trip several times a year to get your oil/maintennance done?

Make your best deal as to the purchase price. If you've got the ability, negotiate the oil changes with the dealer closest to you - after you've set the purchase price. Neither dealer is looking to make tons of profit on the oil changes alone - the balance of the service according to the maintennance schedule will make up for any "loss" of profit by providing you free oil changes.

Remember, the sale price of the car is not what provides the highest margin of profit to the dealership. It's the service that does. They want you back.

 

There's the truth! I would take the cheaper purchase price and then learn how to do an oil change. An oil change takes about 10-15 minutes max and is really easy to learn. Then, you'll save the money the closer dealer would've charged you for the service. Also, you might find it's fun to work on cars and find a new hobby.

 

I just had my first (about 3500 miles) oil and filter change on my 04 G35x at Douglas Infiniti. The total was $39.91. They gave me a loaner (another G35x) and washed and vacuumed the car. I have found this dealer to be fair and helpful in my dealings with them in my 2 previous Infinitis (G20 and I30)

I would not drive 30 miles for an oil change-my time is too valuable and there is the potential for damage to the car on the trip, as well as the items mentioned by others. Also, if you need work in a hurry the local dealer will be much happier if you had bought the car from them rather than their competitor. I suspect the paint protection package isn't worth much and might even include "undercoating" that most people say you DO NOT want. The closer dealer, as GAWDog said, might give you the oil and filter changes instead of the "paint protection".

They will give you a new battery or charge the one in it-I'd ask for a new one. They certainly don't want you stuck on the road calling Infiniti service the day after you buy the car.

I don't have an issue with the seat and I am not skinny or fat (I think of myself as cosmetically overweight, despite regular exercise). It has a lot of adjustments possible and I have found a comfortable combination. It is easy to vary if I need a change.

It is a very "sporty" car, and while I rarely use all the horsepower, it handles very well even with normal driving and the AWD helps when needed.

Good luck with your decision.

 

There was a previous thread in which quality and comparison of cars, speed, hp etc was spoken about. I stated that if I had not chosen the G sedan, I would have gone away from sport luxury to just luxury and also mentioned the (then) very boring Toyota Avalon. I had previosuly driven a Lexus GS300 but it was to expensive for me and they wanted to much for pre-owned. So, for kicks, I drove the Avalon and boy, I ws surprised. The quality, fit, finish and comfort was shocking. After a hard day at the office, isolation from road noise(and feel) isn't always a bad thing. And now, the new Avalon has about 270 HP. Yes it is a front wheel drive car but nobody buying them is doing so for the HP. Now, you can have comfort and get out of your own way for somewhat less than the price of a G. The Toyota probably gets better mileage also.

 

"Extremely low maintenace costs."

I'm still struggling to figure out what all these maintenance costs consist of...

Most of what I see in the scheduled maint consists of oil and air filter changes. Sure, there are alot of little bull__it checks, but the dealer themselves told me that I don't neec to worry about most of those.

"Better gas mileage. I averaged about 3 full tanks of gas to go 1000 miles
In the Camry I could to it in 2 fill ups. "

And you'd probably only use one tank in a Prius, but then again, you'd be driving a Prius.

"More comfortable seats"

Some struggle with the right-hand controls. They have yet to bother me, but I'll give you this as it seems to affect alot of others.

"Quieter ride"

The Prius running on electric drive should be nice and quiet as well. Buicks even excel in this space.

"Her stereo sounds better and I had the Bose upgraded stereo"

My father-in-law has a loaded Solara. My non-Bose stereo sounds better than his upgraded unit.

"Lower payments
Lower insurance costs by 30 dollars a month"

Camry = automotive equiv. of a toaster. This makes sense for a utilitarian car like this.

"Brake issues and general reliability"

No reliability I'm aware of....Infiniti ranks in the top with Toyota here - but I'll give you the brakes. Oh, by the way, those brakes also bring the car to a screaching halt from 60mph in only 111 feet. Try that in your Camry.

I wont even get into the handling comparison as it simply wouldn't be fair to compare the floaty FWD Camry to anything FM platform-based.

 

Whatever. The G and Camry are totally different cars obviously. There is NO WAY that I personally would consider the Camry fun to drive. In all honesty, how or why did you even get the G in the first place? I mean, really, if the Camry is your idea of a fun car, I do not see how the G ever appealed to you. The gas mileage is no secret, the power should have been obvious, the sporty ride is clear.

Of all of the car message boards that I follow and read this thread has to be one of the most bizarre. I just cannot get my head around it.

Pags

 

I guess it depends on how your G35 is configured.

Sports suspension or not.

Wheels/tires?

I know that, in my case, my 04 G35 5AT sedan is the least fatiquing car I've driven significantly so far. Even less fatiqueing than the Camry (94) I drove > 2000 miles on vacation back in 1996.

But my car doesn't have the sports suspension either.

On the other hand, there was a period last summer for about 2 months where it was more comfortable for me to drive my F150 pickup I had herniated a disk in my back, and it was very painful to get into the G35. The truck had slick leather seats, so I could slide in easier.

Or, I've rode in my father's 97 Le Sabre. Seats much softer. Sink right into them. Not good on my back. But he likes the ride better than my car.