Another new member (and new G35 owner)

jkohn · 2003-06-04 18:00:55

Howdy, after browsing the forums here and finding lots of great information I decided to register and introduce myself. I just purchased a desert platinum 2003.5 sedan over the past weekend, and man I have to say I'm in love with this car. I've never been much of a car person in the past, in fact I've been driving a POS chevy cavalier that I purchased just after college for the past 5 years (I let my wife get a new SUV first to score some points :) ). But the G35 has changed all that now, it's just so much fun to drive (and I haven't even had a chance to really put it through its paces yet, still eagerly awating 1200 miles). I haven't really kept up with autos much over the last few years, so the G35 wasn't even on my radar when I first started researching my new car purchase. I was originally leaning towards the new 04 Maxima, which seems to be a fairly nice car (though I'm not sure about that front grill). But in reading some of the reviews on the Maxima I saw the G35 come up more than once, so I decided to look into it. I was quite surprised that you can get a G35 with the luxury/feel of an infinity, RWD, better handling and better looks, all for about $1-2K more than a Maxima. To me it seemed like a no-brainer, so I went for a test drive and fell in love. I didn't even bother going to test-drive the Maxima, my mind was made up. As I said earlier I got a Desert Platinum 2003.5 Automatic with Willow Leather, Premium Option package, Navigtation system, window tint, wheel locks, truck mat and splash guards. Sticker price was about $36K, I got them to come down to just over $34K. I decided to go with a lease, I did a 42 month 15K miles/year lease with 53% residual and .0025 money rate (down from their standard .0031). Walk-out money was about $1,250 with no trade-in and my payments are $565, which I can live with. Note to other potential leasors, Infiniti will quote you the money rate as a whole number, ie instead of saying it's a "money rate of .0031", they'll say "the rate is 3.1". I think they do this because if you don't know any better and assume that's an APR, you'll think you're getting a much better deal than you think you are. (.0031 money rate is 7.44% APR, not such a great deal in today's market). Luckily I had done some research on leasing, and when it was clear to them that I knew what was going on they were quickly willing to come down on the money rate. Since it's a lease vehicle, mods aren't really an option, and to be truthful I think the stock sedan has plenty of performance for me, so I see no need to go that route. I may look into getting the black trim along the bottom painted to match the body, depending on whether my lease will allow that without having to pay a penalty at the end. I was seriously tempted to get the 6MT; I miss having a standard in some ways but it's just not practical driving to work every day in Houston traffic (I live in NW Houston and work in the Galleria area). Anyway, just wanted to share my G35 buying experience and say thanks for providing this excellent forum, I have a feeling I'll be visiting frequently to try and soak up all the valuable information here. Jeff Kohn H-Town, TX 2003.5 Automatic Sedan, Desert Bronze/Willow, Premium, Nav, Tint