Hi all,

Ok a bit of background...I bought a G35 Sedan 5AT a bit over a year ago. It's the first nice/fast car that I've owned...so i am a bit paranoid.

How much is too much when going for a spirited ride? There is an area of town where there is a couple of awesome roads, large hills with lots of turns, well paved, no traffic etc. About twice a week i take a couple trips around these roads, which is maybe a 5 mile trip in all. I'll be running in manual mode to cope with the hills better, running it pretty hard but generally under 5K rpms. Lot's of powersliding around turns and the like, VDC off with a bit of wheelspin. I don't really drag race ever and have only had 'er at full throttle maybe twice.

So i am wondering...how much do you guys drive like this? Am I going to have problems in a year?

 

No u wont have problems I asked my tech who installed my suspension about that too. His answer you will only where your tires out faster. The car is built for it so just enjoy!!!

 

I drive a 2003.5 6MT sedan, so I don't know how much this relates to the 5AT in manual. But 5000 revs isn't that hard on this car. Ran mine at drivers school at Watkins Glen track and was told by my SCCA racing instructor to keep it in 4th even on the long straight when it revved to the red line a couple of times in 4th going 110-115 mph. He said it wouldn't hurt the car. Rev limiter kicked in at 7000 revs, so the car has built in protection. Accelerating out of turns, the revs were often in the 4000-5000 range in 3rd gear, then shifted to 4th with the throttle to the floor on the straights. Going out of the pit and onto the track, revs in 1st and 2nd were usually in the 5 to 6K range before shifting.

Car did great. Most important thing is making sure your brakes and tires are in good condition, and hard driving wears them faster of course. Also, re: VDC. Every instructor at the track, as well as many of the advanced non-instructor drivers said to keep VDC on--and they kept theirs on as well. VDC kicked in only a couple times for a split second. Car handled great.

Dreams garnet fire/graphite leather 6MT 2003.5 premium/aero/winter

 

Maybe Watkins Glen has fairly wide turns. Here he's trying to powerslide around a corner. Maybe it's not the safest way to go, but VDC will definately prevent that and kill your power coming out of the corner.

2003.5 G35 Sedan Desert Platinum/Graphite Premium/Sport/Aero/Nav/Winter

 

quote"
I don't really drag race ever and have only had 'er at full throttle maybe twice."

I usually go full throttle almost every time I drive my car. Just yesterday I raced my friend's 67 Camaro on the highway. I was in 3rd gear at 5000rpms when I punched it. As long as the motor is up to operating temps you'll be fine. Enjoy your car!


03.5 G35 Sedan M6

 

I wouldn't worry about it at all. I have had Porsches, VWs, Acuras and BMWs and have dogged every one of them. I have never had a problem with any engine, but of course, a clutch can be torn up fairly easily if you don't use it correctly. My last car was a 99 M Coupe, which I leased new. After the break-in, I flogged this car every single day. Really, not a single day passed in three years where I didn't redline that thing many times. After 34K miles, it ran just as good as it did the day I got it. When I returned it, I half expected to get a letter from BMW telling me that they had read the computer and found it to be the most dogged car they have ever seen. And I wasn't easy on the bottom half either -- I replaced the rear tires every 10K miles because of how often I would either power oversteer the car, or do a dragster burnout at a stoplight. I was just too easy! I am treating my 2003.5 G35 better, but I suspect that it would take years of high-revs without flinching.

 

The last thing to go in these cars is the motor...any japanese car especially...i have had many hondas and an acura where the shell was falling apart around a perfect motor with 100k plus miles on it that was HAMMERED every day. These cars shells will last longer than and civic or crx ever could and the VQ is on some editorials top ten motor of the decade list. I think you could beat on those for 250,000 miles as long as you do the maintenance and all the other periph stuff like ecu and emissions stuff doesn't crap out.

 

I have already beat on this engine (the vq35) for 55,000 miles. (40 in an altima, then 16 more in this car)

only problems I had were after i put some mods on the engine making about 300 crank hp (auto tranny dyno at 234 whp), the tranny started overheating. as long as your shifts feel good you won't have any problems with the engine (the tranny will more than likely overheat first), IMHO, that is where I would pay most attention.

but again, do the maintenance yourself if you are going to beat on it. that way YOU can tell if there are anomalies.

I have NEVER had engine problems with a nissan and I have had 4 sentras (2 with SR20DE engines), 2 altimas, a max with the 3.0, a KA24DE truck, and now the G. that adds up to well over 400k miles on them. None of the sentras or the truck were new when I bought em

I redline at least a few times every DAY in all those vehicles


Better Life thru Chemistry

 

the tranny in G comes from Q45 - i would think that it would never be a problem adding a few hp unless you exceeded say 340 or so. That tranny is strong if unrefined - thank god for grounding kit