04 vs. 05 g35 sedan comparison

I took my 05 g35 sedan in for maintenance the other day. I purposely asked for an 04 sedan as a loaner so I could compare it to my car. They Gave me an 04 g35x Sedan. Now my car is a g35 with sport and premium packages which the 04 did not appear to have but both cars are automatics. The first thing you notice about the 04s is the dark underbody trim. When the G35 first came out I liked that but now that I have seen the 05s I really think the body colored underbody looks better. You also notice the difference in the taillights and the front air dam. The 04 front air dam just doesn’t look good with the horizontal slats. Personally I love the 05 front and rear end even though there are a few people who don’t like it. The new front end was enough to get me to buy the 05 by itself. However, once I got into the 04 I realized how extensive the interior changes were for 05 models. The first thing I noticed on the 04s interior was the cheap plastic interior. I understand why everyone thinks the interior of the G35s is so cheap. The problem is that the 05 models actually look quite decent. Now they are not up to the Acura TL or RL levels but they are simple and still stylish at the same time. I think the 05 G35 gets an unfair reputation for inferior interior quality because the older models were so bad. It is almost like the 05 model doesn’t get any credit for the extensive changes that Infiniti made. For example the 05 models have a nice aluminum trim on the center console. The 04s just have a huge mass of plastic. There are also a few subtle things that I noticed about the 04 G35 that I really didn’t like. For instance, the hands on the analog clock looked cheaper than the ones on my sons watch that he got out of a gumball machine. I thought that the analog clock was one of Infiniti’s signs of Luxury? Thankfully the 05 model has hands that at least appear to be high polished metal. The 04 also had very cheap and difficult to use radio buttons on the steering wheel. The 04 buttons were much shorter than the 05 buttons so it was actually quite difficult to operate them. I also hated the instrument cluster on the 04 model. It was very hard to read in direct sunlight and it just seemed like it was too small. Another thing that they changed was the automatic gear shifter. It looked very cheap and dare I say American in the 04 G35. Now it looks better but who was the idiot who decided to put a piece of metal on top of it? The gear shift in my car can get incredibly hot on these warm Carolina days. Enough about how the cars looked the real difference is in how they drove. Now the 04 loaner was a G35x without the sports package that my 05 has so it is not a fair or straight up comparison but I will let you know what I thought anyway. First off the 04 loaner had 17” very thin Bridgestone Turrenza tires. Are those things actually approved for use on a vehicle? They were Horrendous! Every time I would go around a corner even at safe normal speeds I would hear squealing from the tires. My 05 has 18” Goodyear NCT’s I think. Whatever they are they are quite good. I would prefer the Eagle GS D3s that I had on my 330i but these will do. As far as the engine goes. I noticed a HUGE difference! The 04 just did not pull like the 05 does. Now there are many factors that could have affected this so I am not sure if it is a fair comparison. For instance, the 04 was a loaner so it probably had 87 octane gas in it. It also was an awd model so it was heavier. It only had 9300 miles on it so it was still relatively new but past the so called break in period. In any event it was just plain slow compared to my 05. I also noticed that the seats were terribly uncomfortable in the 04. It was like I was back in 6th grade sitting on those hard plastic school chairs. There is no way I would have ever bought a car with those seats. I didn’t realize that they had changed the seats for 05? The suspension was also pretty bad in the 04 sedan. This is probably because I am used to the sport suspension in my car but it was just too floaty for my tastes. That was about it. I really think that the 04 cars were decent cars for their time which was only 1 year ago but the new 05 is so much better that you really can not compare the two cars. I really hope Infiniti continues to improve on their cars like they have done. With the new Lexus IS350 coming out the next generation G3?/G4? Series cars will have to be much better to keep pace. In the meantime I have my 05 back and I love every minute I drive it! Although they broke the face plate that they were trying to fix so back to the dealership I go. Maybe I will get the 04 G35 RWD drive this time. That should be a bit better comparison for performance than the 04 G35X was.

Here is an 04 interior picture for comparison.

https://g35driver.com/rides/spec/pix...1086986797.jpg

 

Um......that's not an '04 interior shot.

 

Oh well, it could have been worse, he could have been comparing his G35 to my previous car.

 

Man... can't read that rambling diatribe.

anyway...
glad you like your '05

 

What is it then? That looks like the interior that the loaner had minus the aftermarket stereo. Is that an 03.5? The dealer said that the car was an 04.

 

thats the worse comparison i ever heard, you compared two different cars buddy, the nismo front on 03/04 looks better then the 05 front, the 05 looks like its too high they need sideskirts and a lower lip on the bumper

 

I still can't beleive people are trying to 'justify' their reason for buying a 2005. Of course the 2005 has improvements over the previous model.

I still think the 2003/2004 with NIsmo body kit blows away the 2005 as far as looks. And it has also been proven time and time again that the difference between performance is minimal between years.

All i can say is when I purchased the g35 6mt in 2003 I owned the ultimate $30K sports sedan. I don't think the 2005ers can make that claim now. The new 330 and IS350 can easily make that claim now.

Don't bash the older models. If it wasn't for the sucess of the 2003/2004 G35s there wouldn't be no 2005 model.

 

I happen to like my 03's interior and I think it's quite nice...



...but the 05 interior is better overall. I don't like the shift **** of the 05, nor the look of the HVAC instrument pod or center bin cover, nor do l like the "wheat" interior they have now. The "stone" interior is VERY nice though.

Seat wise, I don't think much has changed. I know the lower cushion has an additional 1/2" in length and the upper cushion has a slightly different pattern, but those are the only changes. The 05 I sat in at the auto show felt no different.

Handling wise, that's apples to oranges. The X is lugging around an additional 300lbs, it's riding on the dismal Turanzas, it rides 1/2 higher, and has softer springs/struts.

As for acceleration, again, that's largely based on hauling around an additional 300lbs plus all the extra drivetrain loss of having to spin two extra differentials and three additional draft shafts. On average, the X models are about .3 seconds and 2mph slower than their 2WD 5AT counterparts. You can definitely feel that, especially from 0-70mph.

I'll agree though, the 05 is the better car. It's only natural.

 

I wasn’t trying to put down anyone else’s car. I was just stating my observations about the differences between the 04 G35X and an 05 G35 because so many people ask should I buy an 05 or get an 04 at a deep discount. Are there any statements that I made that are untrue? I was told that the car I drove was an 04 and it looked like the picture I showed. If that is not an 04 then what is it? Isn’t the nismo bumper an aftermarket part? You talk about not a fair comparison. You are comparing an aftermarket bumper to a factory one. Of course the aftermarket should look better. Why else would they make it? I totally agree that it is not a fair performance comparison to compare a G35X to a G35. I stated that. However, the G35X I drove didn’t feel powerful at all. Either the low octane fuel or the lower horsepower or both were making that car feel very slow. Regardless of that the interior differences would be the same even in the G35X, correct?

 

please post a comparisson when you have a chance to drive a 2003/2004 RWD with sports suspension. Its like comparing my 03 6MT to your 05 Auto. Apples and Oranges.

it would be more fair if you just compared the looks of the cars only (interior/exterior). But of course those type of stuff is all subjective.

Also you said you werent' trying to put down other peoples cars? how about these quotes then:

" I understand why everyone thinks the interior of the G35s is so cheap."

"I think the 05 G35 gets an unfair reputation for inferior interior quality because the older models were so bad."

" For instance, the hands on the analog clock looked cheaper than the ones on my sons watch that he got out of a gumball machine."

sound like a bitter FWD TL driver....

" It looked very cheap and dare I say American in the 04 G35. "

" In any event it was just plain slow compared to my 05."

" I also noticed that the seats were terribly uncomfortable in the 04. It was like I was back in 6th grade sitting on those hard plastic school chairs. "

I'm pretty sure your elementary school didn't have leather seats.

" The suspension was also pretty bad in the 04 sedan."

Maybe because it wasn't sports suspension?

" Maybe I will get the 04 G35 RWD drive this time. That should be a bit better comparison for performance than the 04 G35X was."

the understatement of the century

 

I agree that the IS350 is clearly a better car in almost all performance numbers than the G35. However, that car is about $10K more than the G35 so it is not really in its class. As far as the new 330i goes. I don’t think it is any better in performance than a G35 and it is more than $10K more than a G35 when you figure in the rebates and discounts on the G35. Plus even the new BMW 330i’s have numerous problems. That has now been proven by Car and Driver. Somehow they neglected to include that as a factor when they figured the results though.

 

The amazing thing about the 2003/2004 G35's is that they blew away sport sedans that were $10K more like the 330. Can't say the same thing about the 2005's. I agree bang for your buck the 2005's are awesome, but the gap is narrowing between price/performance for the G35/IS/330.

For example in 2003 I purchased a 6Mt with no options for $29,800 out the door, this included everything = tax, registration. What other sports sedan could I purchase that would have simular performance and a simular price tag? You could get a 330 with leather for about $40K (tax/registration included), but still the g35 would toast it. How about an IS300? TL-S? C class? Not even close, they all cost more and would still lose to the G. But today the competition is so much better (IS350/330i).

 

I think I sufficiently stated that the performance of the cars was not a fair comparison and why. I just gave my opinion about that so I will leave the comparison as is. As far as the interior differences go some of them are not subjective. Things like larger radio buttons are qualitative. Anyway if you don’t like my comparison then write your own. Tell us why the changes for 05 were not as good as I had stated.

 

The performance gap has narrowed but the price gap has not. The new 2006 BMWs and IS350’s as tested prices will be substantially higher than the older models. With the deep discounts on the 05’s now the price gap is still about the same $10K that it was before.

 

I agree that the 2005 interior is nicer. It just seems your sole purpose of your review was to bash the older models.