Where are you from? In Maryland (and pretty much any state that gets snow) really all you see are X's.

 

I bought my 6MT back in 2005 from a dealer in PA. The had to get it shipped from NC.

 

i found mine within an hour of looking. lol

 

C&D did an article about purchasing a certified preowned g35. The highlights are as follows: "The g35 is as good a value in certified pre-owned form as it is new. The only problem is finding one. Most of the g35s listed on infiniti's website are 2005-2008 models. 389 sedans and coupes including x model were listed. Manual transmissions are rare indeed-just 26 of them in this population, ALL BUT FOUR OF THEM BOLTED INTO COUPES. THE SEDANS MUST BE LEFTOVER CAR-MAGAZINE TEST CARS" Endquote.

 

I don't understand why it's such a problem to find 6MT sedans. I just searched cars.com and found 12 6MT 03-06 G sedans within 500 miles of Kansas City. They're not that rare, fellas.

I had three manual cars in the past and I test drove 2 6MT sedans when looking for my G. I've got to say the 6MT in G is probably the worst manual I've experienced in a passenger car. My friend's 5MT 87 and 90 5.0 Stangs had a better feeling and smoother tranny. The shifter throw on the 6MT is needlessly short which causes resistance between the gates due to the reduced leverage. The clutch take-up is a like a light switch (my 5MT Maxima was very much the same way). The 6MT has a horrendous track record for reliability (weak syncros) hence the reason it's on it's EIGHTH redesign since introduction in late 2002. The clutch is weak and doesn't take well to track/strip driving. The dual mass flywheel weighs more than a fluid filled torque converter (yikes!!!!). All these reasons were why I passed up the manual G.

If I had a 6MT G, I would have gone through a handful of clutches and trannies after my 6 years of ownership. My Maxima's 5MT was stout as hell and handled well over 200 1/4 mile passes with 5000+rpm launches, some of which were on drag radials. I never replaced the clutch in that car. If I were to drive a 6MT G that way or the way I do the 5AT, it would not have survived a year of my driving.

I can understand and respect the "connection" of having a manual, but the G's manual has WAY too much feedback and questionable reliability for me to have pulled the trigger on one. Not until 07 did the 6MT's feel become vastily improved. The syncros are still quite the problem though if you drive aggressively.

 

I bought my 2003 6MT in 2004. It was originally a California car.

 

Sorry, I should have clarified that I meant 6MT Sedans - not the Coupes.

And Dave, I know you said you found several 6 MTs available within a few hundred miles of your home, but they are NOT that common - maybe in your area, but not nationwide.

When I wanted one in November, 2003 there were none available anywhere in Northern California, so I ordered one. After 3 months they hadn't even started building the car. I was told that they had a backorder shortage of 6 speed transmissions, and when they did get them, the priority was to allocate them in the following order: Z Cars came first, then 6MT G35 Coupes, and then the Sedans got what was left. That's why the dealer said they expected only approx.700 to be built in 2004. After 5 months they still hadn't started building the car, and then I found the one I wanted at a local dealership via an internet alert I received at 12:30 AM! It had been special ordered for the Sales Manager 7 months prior, had been delivered after hours the night I was alerted, and it had been placed in dealer stock because the Sales Manager had left the dealership before it arrived. I called at 8 AM and bought the car before the dealership opened. When I arrived to pick it up there were three salesmen loitering around it out front where they parked it, and I was offered $5,000 cash to "walk away" from the car right then and there, because a salesman had a local attorney client who wanted one and was willing to pay the price. Sure, he was crazy, but that's what he wanted. But I wanted it more.

I know the 6MT's have had their problems, and you are entitled to your opinion about their quality and whatever else, but automatics (now matter how good) are NOT 6MT's, and those of us who like them want them - warts and all.

As so many others have stated in this thread, the 6MT sedans are rare in 2003 and 2004 (and really, up through 2007). As I understand it, there were approx. 35,000 sedans built in 2004, so if there were even 700 hundred 6MT Sedans built (most sources doubt even that many), it would be 2%, which seems more in line with people's experiences in finding them.

I just wondered if anyone had the actual production figures - guess not.

Thanks everyone for your comments, opinions, etc.

DB

 

I got lucky and found mine like the first week I started looking for them on Craigslist, found it from a Curbstoner in Queens new york fresh from an upper scale auction