I've had my '05 Sedan for a week now and, while I'm greatly enjoying it, I'm a bit dissappointed in the overall handling. I've got the Sport Tuned Suspension, which feels nice and tight, but does not provide that glued-to-the-road sensation that my old 328i had. In the Bimmer, you had the sensation of almost "leaning into" tight corners and on/off ramps. But in the G35, I can feel centrifigal force pushing me away from the turn. (Know what I mean?) I very rarely felt like I was sliding off my seat in the 328i, but get that feeling during any aggressive cornering so far in the G. (Even my old Benz C280 felt much more stable through curves.)

Is it possible that the horrible Turanza tires are the culprit here, or is this simply the best to expect from the G35 sport suspension system? I'm curious to hear other's experience with this and if it's been solved with even more agressive aftermarket suspension. (But please tell me it's just the tires! )

-T

 

I have a 05 6MT Sedan and thought it handled better than any other car I have driven, I can take a off ramp and feel in control faster than my friends 99 Vette... I do have the 19" wheels off the coupe so I have better tires and lower profile, but even with the 18", I was plenty happy with the handling..

 

You, I believe describe the problems I solved with a set of sway bars. All that force could also be the differences in seats and the better acceleration as well. The numbers are very much in favor of the G for any handling comparison. Steering feel is probably better in the BMW depending on what year you had.

 

It may "just be the tires".

I had an 03 330i Sdn ZHP (Performance Pkg) prior to trading for the G.
The handling on the ZHP is far superior to any other 3 except M.
IMHO - the 05 G 6-Spd is equal to if not better than the ZHP in handling.
Just my opinion though - this debate is never ending - just do a search on BMW on this forum.

Would recommend you swap out the shoes - and if it's pure performance you are looking for - try the PS2s. Good luck

 

I think you'll hear back that it's the following four things that you are feeling:

1. Tires
2. Sway Bars
3. Suspension
4. Seats

On my '04 6MT, I:
1. Installed sway bars first (Cusco) - much better, flatter in turns. $300
2. Then installed 350Z suspension (shocks and springs) - reduced dive and squat, cornered better & lowered ~1". Still classy looking, not "slammed". $200 (installed myself)
3. Am about to get new (235 series) tires. I've seen alot of bad press on the Turanzas, which I have. I'm looking at the Avon 550's (excellent reviews and reasonable $) because I want to keep the all-season capability.

As far as I've seen, it's tough to replace the seats, and to me, this is the biggest contributor to the bad "feel" you speak of. The seats in the Coupe, FX and Pathfinder are better for side support - I've driven all of them (and own an '05 Pathy).

 

My 05 has Goodyear tires and they hold up well IMO. I would try a good set of tires before doing any suspension mods.

 

I'm ashamed to say I don't even know what sway bars are or do? (Duh?) What should I get and where do I get them?

 

I've never owned a bimmer so I can't compare, but I can say that the g is the best handling car I've ever driven aggressively.

You say you have the turanzas? On the sports package? Are those the EL33's or the EL42's?

What year was your 328? I don't know how much it weighed, but the 05 g sedan is right at 3500lbs. That's an aweful lot of weight to toss around.

I've toss the g around a local autox a couple of times. Absolutely no problems with handling.

 

Yeah, for some deeply disturbing reason, Infiniti puts Turanza ER33's ("grand touring tires") on the 18" sport wheels. Not only are they the wrong type of tire for this car, but Tire Rack rates them as THE WORST grand touring tire in the group. Pitiful!

And FYI, my 328 was a '99 w/sport package. I'm starting to wonder if the big difference I'm noticing is simply the seats. The BMW "sport seat" just holds you in place like there's no tomorrow. The G Sedan seat is very comfortable but doesn't seem to grip you like a sport seat at all. -T

 

I also think the seats don't match the performance of the handling of the car.

The car, however, handles very well. I take the same high speed off ramp daily. My previous car was a MB E500. While that's not supercar handling by any stretch, it was still very good. No match for the G though. I could safely take that corner at 70 MPH in the Benz with 245/45R18 front and 265/35R18 rear Continental ContiSport 2 tires. Those aren't the best tires out there, but light years better than the Horenzas. In the G 6MT, I, so far, have nailed it at 75, and plan to push that much closer to triple digits as soon as I ditch the awful tires currently affixed to the car. Love the handling, am ambivolent about the seats, and hate the tires. Luckily they are the easiest to fix in the inverse order of suckage.

 

I have owned 3 BMW's over the course of some 20 plus years. Each served my family and I loyally. The last, being a 328i convertible with the Sports Pkg (got it for the wife, but I drove it most of the time). The G's handling doesn't match up to some of the other cars, which I have owned. However, with regard to handling between my previous BMW's versus my G Coupe . . .
The G wins hands down. When it comes to the twisties, the G is very smooth. I am able to push it harder than the bimmer. The G enters and exits turns with confidence. If needed, recovery is quite easy and manageable. The driver's seat is one of the better seats, which I have sat and driven in.

At least coupe to coupe the G is better, in my opinion. I would believe it would be the same for the sedans.

My only concern is that I trust the tires last a bit longer on my G than the 328i. I was changing tires every 8 to 10k.

 

Sway bars are just as they sound. They are bars that bolts across the axle and help prevent body roll in turns. The thicker the bar, the more effective. Dropper the car with shorter springs would also greatly help by lowering the center of gravity. Unless you are serious about tuning and know what you are doing, I wouldn't mess with it. It's easy to go overboard and end up with a harsh ride.

 

My 05 X came with the EL42s- Replacing with stock OEM 18s on Goodyears dramatically improve road feel, grip and confidence.

I still want more, but as mentioned above this will help.

 

I went to the Infinity dealer this past weekend to test drive the G-35 coupe and sedan. I was leaning toward buying the sedan, but I wanted to feel the difference and to see if the seat issues I keep reading about were true. After driving the two I changed my mind and decided I wanted the coupe. The sedan had softer seats, but they didn't grip you as well. The ride was also smoother and more refined, which is what I thought I was after. In the end I just kept thing about how much more responsive the coupe felt. The seats are harder in the coupe for sure and I can see why some would complain. But, for some reason I still preferred their feel to the sedan. The sedan was really good, but the coupe was more fun. A couple of weeks ago I drove a 06 BMW-330i with sport package and neither car comes close to the handling that car had IMO. I'm 48 years old and am by no means an expert, but I could easily feel the difference. However, I didn't try either G with the sport package so I wasn't comparing apples to apples. I'm waiting for our local dealer to get the 325i's back in stock so I can test drive one (without the sport package), and then I'll make my decison between it and the coupe.

 

Coupe's seats are so much better than those on sedans. It's a big difference in terms of handling between the sedan and the coupe. I own both right now and coupe handles much better.