Photos of '05 Ivory Pearl 6MT sedan
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From: DeSoto, TX
Photos of '05 Ivory Pearl 6MT sedan
Hello all,
I've been lurking here among the forums here for a bit, so much so that I nearly talked myself out of buying a G35 after three years of vaguely lusting after one. ("Vaguely lusting" means that every time I saw one on the road, I'd say to myself, "You should really buy one of those things.") Stories of brake pads, rotors and clutches soft and crumbly as sandstone, manual transmissions with hiccupy one-two shifts and neutral gear rattle, and Infiniti doing its best impression of a greedy, nonresponsive American (er, Japanese... ah, French) company all conspired to nearly push me over to the Subaru dealership into a Legacy 2.5 GT 5MT Limited Wagon. (My wife and I just had a baby, you see, thus the Superman AWD box-on-wheels idea. SUVs are demon seed to both of us.)
In the end, all the practical stuff went out the window. I let myself go and based the decision entirely on emotion, always a smart thing to do when throwing around $30K or so. That favored the G strongly, so I signed the papers agreeing to let IFS loan me money at 2.9 percent for the next five years and drove away.
My wife and I have owned Nissans and Infinitis for 15 years: '91 Sentra SE-R 5MT (mine), '98 Altima SE 5MT (please forgive me; it was her car), '02 Altima 3.5 SE 5MT (mine), '02 G20 Sport 5MT (hers). All have been fantastic, and the few times we've had problems Nissan or Infiniti stepped up to the plate. The '02 Altima, for example, had its factory clutch go bad at 4000 miles. Nissan replaced it without a fuss and even paid for a rental Maxima. (That was the last time, I told myself, I'd ever buy a new car with 120 miles on the odo, particularly one that had been on display at the State Fair a week prior to my buying it in October of '02. I *know* the salesmen ragged the hell out of the car driving it back and forth. In addition to the dead clutch -- I've never replaced one of those in my life -- the VQ in that one always burned about 3/4 quart of Mobil 1 between 3500-mile changes thanks to loud men in bad suits.)
Forgive me. I digress. The story is this: Altima 3.5 out, G35 in. We bought the car from Sewell Infiniti in Dallas, the same place we bought our G20 a few years ago. I can't recommend them enough if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Great no-hassle sales staff, good selection of cars (they've got several 6MT sedans in stock), aggressive pricing, etc.
The car is Ivory Pearl with splash guards as you can see. What you cannot see are the Stone interior and Premium package that I really like, or the $70 jack-up-the-margin trunk mat that I could've done without. I picked it up yesterday with nine miles on the odo, two of which were put on by me during the confirmation test-drive. Our salesman suggested a second set of black cloth floormats to replace the factory gray ones, as they collect dirt like nobody's business. Coupled with the black dash and black upper accents I think they look great.
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it. An FYI too from one who knows: Beware 5-speed 3.5 Altimas. They rattle and shake and roar and loose bits occasionally flutter free inside and out, but based on the initial 6MT sedan I tore into around the block (a silver one on the lot; you might avoid buying that one), they're a match in a straight line. They may very well be faster. In the twisties, however, obviously a different story...
Sorry for the long long post. I do that, which is why I don't post that often. Enjoy the pics.
Take care,
Jarrod
I've been lurking here among the forums here for a bit, so much so that I nearly talked myself out of buying a G35 after three years of vaguely lusting after one. ("Vaguely lusting" means that every time I saw one on the road, I'd say to myself, "You should really buy one of those things.") Stories of brake pads, rotors and clutches soft and crumbly as sandstone, manual transmissions with hiccupy one-two shifts and neutral gear rattle, and Infiniti doing its best impression of a greedy, nonresponsive American (er, Japanese... ah, French) company all conspired to nearly push me over to the Subaru dealership into a Legacy 2.5 GT 5MT Limited Wagon. (My wife and I just had a baby, you see, thus the Superman AWD box-on-wheels idea. SUVs are demon seed to both of us.)
In the end, all the practical stuff went out the window. I let myself go and based the decision entirely on emotion, always a smart thing to do when throwing around $30K or so. That favored the G strongly, so I signed the papers agreeing to let IFS loan me money at 2.9 percent for the next five years and drove away.
My wife and I have owned Nissans and Infinitis for 15 years: '91 Sentra SE-R 5MT (mine), '98 Altima SE 5MT (please forgive me; it was her car), '02 Altima 3.5 SE 5MT (mine), '02 G20 Sport 5MT (hers). All have been fantastic, and the few times we've had problems Nissan or Infiniti stepped up to the plate. The '02 Altima, for example, had its factory clutch go bad at 4000 miles. Nissan replaced it without a fuss and even paid for a rental Maxima. (That was the last time, I told myself, I'd ever buy a new car with 120 miles on the odo, particularly one that had been on display at the State Fair a week prior to my buying it in October of '02. I *know* the salesmen ragged the hell out of the car driving it back and forth. In addition to the dead clutch -- I've never replaced one of those in my life -- the VQ in that one always burned about 3/4 quart of Mobil 1 between 3500-mile changes thanks to loud men in bad suits.)
Forgive me. I digress. The story is this: Altima 3.5 out, G35 in. We bought the car from Sewell Infiniti in Dallas, the same place we bought our G20 a few years ago. I can't recommend them enough if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Great no-hassle sales staff, good selection of cars (they've got several 6MT sedans in stock), aggressive pricing, etc.
The car is Ivory Pearl with splash guards as you can see. What you cannot see are the Stone interior and Premium package that I really like, or the $70 jack-up-the-margin trunk mat that I could've done without. I picked it up yesterday with nine miles on the odo, two of which were put on by me during the confirmation test-drive. Our salesman suggested a second set of black cloth floormats to replace the factory gray ones, as they collect dirt like nobody's business. Coupled with the black dash and black upper accents I think they look great.
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it. An FYI too from one who knows: Beware 5-speed 3.5 Altimas. They rattle and shake and roar and loose bits occasionally flutter free inside and out, but based on the initial 6MT sedan I tore into around the block (a silver one on the lot; you might avoid buying that one), they're a match in a straight line. They may very well be faster. In the twisties, however, obviously a different story...
Sorry for the long long post. I do that, which is why I don't post that often. Enjoy the pics.
Take care,
Jarrod
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 58
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White 6MT looks very nice!
Congrats.
I want to buy one just like that. I am hoping to Nav as awell. I like the wheat interior.
Did you get close to invoice?
I have Maxima 6MT 03. Very quick but need more high tech stuff, and stability control and curtain air bags. Hope to do the transition in the summer.
Enjoy
I want to buy one just like that. I am hoping to Nav as awell. I like the wheat interior.
Did you get close to invoice?
I have Maxima 6MT 03. Very quick but need more high tech stuff, and stability control and curtain air bags. Hope to do the transition in the summer.
Enjoy
Walking The Fine Line...
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 19,883
Likes: 128
From: The Lounge
Great post and congrats on the new car. Looks very nice.
Side note - you were in Dallas and didn't go to Grubbs - was curious what drove that decision?
I like the splash guards - going to install mine today methinks!
Side note - you were in Dallas and didn't go to Grubbs - was curious what drove that decision?
I like the splash guards - going to install mine today methinks!
3.5 altimas
An FYI too from one who knows: Beware 5-speed 3.5 Altimas. They rattle and shake and roar and loose bits occasionally flutter free inside and out, but based on the initial 6MT sedan I tore into around the block (a silver one on the lot; you might avoid buying that one), they're a match in a straight line. They may very well be faster. In the twisties, however, obviously a different story...
There fast but not THAT fast.
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From: East Bay Area, CA
Originally Posted by JKWright
Hello all,
I've been lurking here among the forums here for a bit, so much so that I nearly talked myself out of buying a G35 after three years of vaguely lusting after one. ("Vaguely lusting" means that every time I saw one on the road, I'd say to myself, "You should really buy one of those things.") Stories of brake pads, rotors and clutches soft and crumbly as sandstone, manual transmissions with hiccupy one-two shifts and neutral gear rattle, and Infiniti doing its best impression of a greedy, nonresponsive American (er, Japanese... ah, French) company all conspired to nearly push me over to the Subaru dealership into a Legacy 2.5 GT 5MT Limited Wagon. (My wife and I just had a baby, you see, thus the Superman AWD box-on-wheels idea. SUVs are demon seed to both of us.)
In the end, all the practical stuff went out the window. I let myself go and based the decision entirely on emotion, always a smart thing to do when throwing around $30K or so. That favored the G strongly, so I signed the papers agreeing to let IFS loan me money at 2.9 percent for the next five years and drove away.
My wife and I have owned Nissans and Infinitis for 15 years: '91 Sentra SE-R 5MT (mine), '98 Altima SE 5MT (please forgive me; it was her car), '02 Altima 3.5 SE 5MT (mine), '02 G20 Sport 5MT (hers). All have been fantastic, and the few times we've had problems Nissan or Infiniti stepped up to the plate. The '02 Altima, for example, had its factory clutch go bad at 4000 miles. Nissan replaced it without a fuss and even paid for a rental Maxima. (That was the last time, I told myself, I'd ever buy a new car with 120 miles on the odo, particularly one that had been on display at the State Fair a week prior to my buying it in October of '02. I *know* the salesmen ragged the hell out of the car driving it back and forth. In addition to the dead clutch -- I've never replaced one of those in my life -- the VQ in that one always burned about 3/4 quart of Mobil 1 between 3500-mile changes thanks to loud men in bad suits.)
Forgive me. I digress. The story is this: Altima 3.5 out, G35 in. We bought the car from Sewell Infiniti in Dallas, the same place we bought our G20 a few years ago. I can't recommend them enough if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Great no-hassle sales staff, good selection of cars (they've got several 6MT sedans in stock), aggressive pricing, etc.
The car is Ivory Pearl with splash guards as you can see. What you cannot see are the Stone interior and Premium package that I really like, or the $70 jack-up-the-margin trunk mat that I could've done without. I picked it up yesterday with nine miles on the odo, two of which were put on by me during the confirmation test-drive. Our salesman suggested a second set of black cloth floormats to replace the factory gray ones, as they collect dirt like nobody's business. Coupled with the black dash and black upper accents I think they look great.
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it. An FYI too from one who knows: Beware 5-speed 3.5 Altimas. They rattle and shake and roar and loose bits occasionally flutter free inside and out, but based on the initial 6MT sedan I tore into around the block (a silver one on the lot; you might avoid buying that one), they're a match in a straight line. They may very well be faster. In the twisties, however, obviously a different story...
Sorry for the long long post. I do that, which is why I don't post that often. Enjoy the pics.
Take care,
Jarrod
I've been lurking here among the forums here for a bit, so much so that I nearly talked myself out of buying a G35 after three years of vaguely lusting after one. ("Vaguely lusting" means that every time I saw one on the road, I'd say to myself, "You should really buy one of those things.") Stories of brake pads, rotors and clutches soft and crumbly as sandstone, manual transmissions with hiccupy one-two shifts and neutral gear rattle, and Infiniti doing its best impression of a greedy, nonresponsive American (er, Japanese... ah, French) company all conspired to nearly push me over to the Subaru dealership into a Legacy 2.5 GT 5MT Limited Wagon. (My wife and I just had a baby, you see, thus the Superman AWD box-on-wheels idea. SUVs are demon seed to both of us.)
In the end, all the practical stuff went out the window. I let myself go and based the decision entirely on emotion, always a smart thing to do when throwing around $30K or so. That favored the G strongly, so I signed the papers agreeing to let IFS loan me money at 2.9 percent for the next five years and drove away.
My wife and I have owned Nissans and Infinitis for 15 years: '91 Sentra SE-R 5MT (mine), '98 Altima SE 5MT (please forgive me; it was her car), '02 Altima 3.5 SE 5MT (mine), '02 G20 Sport 5MT (hers). All have been fantastic, and the few times we've had problems Nissan or Infiniti stepped up to the plate. The '02 Altima, for example, had its factory clutch go bad at 4000 miles. Nissan replaced it without a fuss and even paid for a rental Maxima. (That was the last time, I told myself, I'd ever buy a new car with 120 miles on the odo, particularly one that had been on display at the State Fair a week prior to my buying it in October of '02. I *know* the salesmen ragged the hell out of the car driving it back and forth. In addition to the dead clutch -- I've never replaced one of those in my life -- the VQ in that one always burned about 3/4 quart of Mobil 1 between 3500-mile changes thanks to loud men in bad suits.)
Forgive me. I digress. The story is this: Altima 3.5 out, G35 in. We bought the car from Sewell Infiniti in Dallas, the same place we bought our G20 a few years ago. I can't recommend them enough if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Great no-hassle sales staff, good selection of cars (they've got several 6MT sedans in stock), aggressive pricing, etc.
The car is Ivory Pearl with splash guards as you can see. What you cannot see are the Stone interior and Premium package that I really like, or the $70 jack-up-the-margin trunk mat that I could've done without. I picked it up yesterday with nine miles on the odo, two of which were put on by me during the confirmation test-drive. Our salesman suggested a second set of black cloth floormats to replace the factory gray ones, as they collect dirt like nobody's business. Coupled with the black dash and black upper accents I think they look great.
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it. An FYI too from one who knows: Beware 5-speed 3.5 Altimas. They rattle and shake and roar and loose bits occasionally flutter free inside and out, but based on the initial 6MT sedan I tore into around the block (a silver one on the lot; you might avoid buying that one), they're a match in a straight line. They may very well be faster. In the twisties, however, obviously a different story...
Sorry for the long long post. I do that, which is why I don't post that often. Enjoy the pics.
Take care,
Jarrod
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Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: DeSoto, TX
Thanks for the kind words, all.
AgisA and nardeezy: Regarding price, no, I don't mind talking publicly about it. I got a decent deal: $32193 for the G ($560 over invoice) including an extra set of black cloth floormats, wheel locks and two touch-up paint pens (clear and basecoat) for the stone chips that will be forthcoming.
What really made the deal happen was that Sewell came in at $300 over the "Good" Kelley Blue Book trade-in rating for my Altima, which needed a new windshield and bodywork done to both the front and rear bumper covers. (Nothing major; some repainting to the front where I'd whacked it with my lawn mower and touched it up [don't ask] and probably a replace-and-paint job to the rear, where a moron in an empty Tom Thumb parking lot backed into me in his Avalanche, offered to pay, then flew the coop when I told him of the $590 estimate.)
I don't do extended warranties, Lo-Jacks or other dealer fluff, so the $32193 was what I paid plus taxes and standard Texas legal fees.
GeeWillikers: I never bothered with Grubbs because my wife and I had a great experience with Sewell the last time around. The guy who sold us the G20 is now the finance manager there, and our salesman was really nice as I hemmed and hawed for the last three months or so regarding the G35. We did make the mistake of driving to Crest in Plano early on just for grins. What a waste of time. The place looked and felt like a Kia dealership. Sleazy-looking guys descended on us immediately, giving us the old "What's it gonna take to get you in a G today?" line. We drove an '04 FX35 they were selling as new -- not a demo, mind you, but NEW -- and after noticing the copius amount of brake dust on the front wheels I found out it had 1100 miles on it.
"That's way too many miles," I told the salesman. "You've got to be kidding me. You'd have to drop a grand for the mileage just to get me to talk to you about the car."
"A grand?" he replied, as if I'd just handed him a dead fish. "I could talk to my boss, maybe knock off a hundred or two. But that's like a dollar a mile."
Well, duh. Needless to say we left immediately.
Sorry, off-topic again. (Did I mention I do that?) Why not Grubbs you asked? Two reasons: One, Sewell treated us well in the past and had a bunch of 6MT sedans on the lot; and Two, Grubbs had either one or zero 6MT sedans at any given time during our search. Plus they're in Fort Worth. But I hear they're great, especially right now if you're military.
Texasscout: As a guy who's owned both the Alty 3.5 5MT and now a 6MT G, you'll have to trust me on this. And believe me, I'm not exactly partial to Altimas. But typical quarter-miles for manual 3.5s at Altimas.net run in the 14.3 to 14.7 range at 96 to 98 mph. The best "official" mainsteam media time I've personally seen was Motorweek's test: Zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds, the quarter in 14.1 @ 101. I read this month's Car and Driver test of the 35th Anniversary Edition of the 350Z with (presumably) the same 298-horsepower-plus-two-for-marketing-reasons engine in my 6MT G: Zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds, the quarter in 14.3 @ 101. The Z tested at 3360 pounds, and my G is closer to 3600 pounds.
You can see where I'm going. Take it as you will. Setting aside straight-line performance, do I think the 3.5 Altima is even remotely comparable to the G35? No I do not. The G is light-years beyond the aspirations of an Altima's wildest wettest dreams.
IP05G35: The Subaru dealer offered me a better trade and better overall deal on the Legacy. In fact I took the numbers back to Sewell and told them in no uncertain terms they'd have to do better or I'd go with the Suby. This was a true statement, and they knew it. But they flat-out couldn't match the Subaru dealer's $300 better trade-in offer for my Altima. They were resigned to losing the sale. I was ready to go with the Legacy until my wife told me, "J, you've been talking about this car for two years now. Setting aside the fact that we could really use a wagon, you're gonna go with the other car because the deal is $300 better?"
Hey, when the wife has to tell you to grow some *****, you need to take that personally.
Thanks again all for the nice posts.
J
AgisA and nardeezy: Regarding price, no, I don't mind talking publicly about it. I got a decent deal: $32193 for the G ($560 over invoice) including an extra set of black cloth floormats, wheel locks and two touch-up paint pens (clear and basecoat) for the stone chips that will be forthcoming.
What really made the deal happen was that Sewell came in at $300 over the "Good" Kelley Blue Book trade-in rating for my Altima, which needed a new windshield and bodywork done to both the front and rear bumper covers. (Nothing major; some repainting to the front where I'd whacked it with my lawn mower and touched it up [don't ask] and probably a replace-and-paint job to the rear, where a moron in an empty Tom Thumb parking lot backed into me in his Avalanche, offered to pay, then flew the coop when I told him of the $590 estimate.)
I don't do extended warranties, Lo-Jacks or other dealer fluff, so the $32193 was what I paid plus taxes and standard Texas legal fees.
GeeWillikers: I never bothered with Grubbs because my wife and I had a great experience with Sewell the last time around. The guy who sold us the G20 is now the finance manager there, and our salesman was really nice as I hemmed and hawed for the last three months or so regarding the G35. We did make the mistake of driving to Crest in Plano early on just for grins. What a waste of time. The place looked and felt like a Kia dealership. Sleazy-looking guys descended on us immediately, giving us the old "What's it gonna take to get you in a G today?" line. We drove an '04 FX35 they were selling as new -- not a demo, mind you, but NEW -- and after noticing the copius amount of brake dust on the front wheels I found out it had 1100 miles on it.
"That's way too many miles," I told the salesman. "You've got to be kidding me. You'd have to drop a grand for the mileage just to get me to talk to you about the car."
"A grand?" he replied, as if I'd just handed him a dead fish. "I could talk to my boss, maybe knock off a hundred or two. But that's like a dollar a mile."
Well, duh. Needless to say we left immediately.
Sorry, off-topic again. (Did I mention I do that?) Why not Grubbs you asked? Two reasons: One, Sewell treated us well in the past and had a bunch of 6MT sedans on the lot; and Two, Grubbs had either one or zero 6MT sedans at any given time during our search. Plus they're in Fort Worth. But I hear they're great, especially right now if you're military.
Texasscout: As a guy who's owned both the Alty 3.5 5MT and now a 6MT G, you'll have to trust me on this. And believe me, I'm not exactly partial to Altimas. But typical quarter-miles for manual 3.5s at Altimas.net run in the 14.3 to 14.7 range at 96 to 98 mph. The best "official" mainsteam media time I've personally seen was Motorweek's test: Zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds, the quarter in 14.1 @ 101. I read this month's Car and Driver test of the 35th Anniversary Edition of the 350Z with (presumably) the same 298-horsepower-plus-two-for-marketing-reasons engine in my 6MT G: Zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds, the quarter in 14.3 @ 101. The Z tested at 3360 pounds, and my G is closer to 3600 pounds.
You can see where I'm going. Take it as you will. Setting aside straight-line performance, do I think the 3.5 Altima is even remotely comparable to the G35? No I do not. The G is light-years beyond the aspirations of an Altima's wildest wettest dreams.
IP05G35: The Subaru dealer offered me a better trade and better overall deal on the Legacy. In fact I took the numbers back to Sewell and told them in no uncertain terms they'd have to do better or I'd go with the Suby. This was a true statement, and they knew it. But they flat-out couldn't match the Subaru dealer's $300 better trade-in offer for my Altima. They were resigned to losing the sale. I was ready to go with the Legacy until my wife told me, "J, you've been talking about this car for two years now. Setting aside the fact that we could really use a wagon, you're gonna go with the other car because the deal is $300 better?"
Hey, when the wife has to tell you to grow some *****, you need to take that personally.
Thanks again all for the nice posts.
J
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 56
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Originally Posted by JKWright
Hello all,
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it.
Jarrod
One very sad note: I set the upshift light at 4000 rpm for the next 1200 miles. That's about two months worth of driving for me. I don't know if I can make it.
Jarrod
Jarrod - I read this in your post and was wondering about it. I'm picking up my 6mt sedan today. You can set the upshift light for different RPMs? Is this something I do, or the dealer? He didn't mention it. Thanx!
