The only Gs that I've seen ping so far are the 298hp (rev-up) types. Given that most (if not all) loaners are autos, none of them should ping. To answer your question specifically, no, the loaner doesn't ping.. and neither has any other loaner I've had.

Update - my car started pinging pretty badly again last Friday during the day; I was still on the same tank of gas as I was earlier in the week, but temps had fallen over 20 degrees from the previous day.

The plugs didn't help there.

I have a a 03 6mt sedan.... its pings a bit when low in the rpm range. Has been for years now.

Thats because they spend majority of their time high up in the RPMS

The loaners shouldn't be pinging because they get the **** beat out of them.

Carbon build-up is no excuse since they do this from day one. Could you please explain why higher revs would resolve pinging?

It was kind of a joke. Shiesh, sorry you did not catch on. But if the car is being driven pretty hard (loaner), it won't knock simply because most knocking cases result from low RPM use, automatics don't lug so easy.

In this particular pinging case, the pinging happens in almost any gear through the rpm range from say 2.5k rmp to 4k rpm even in 1st or 2nd gear. Having your foot halfway down on the throttle at 2.5k rmp in 2nd gear is not engine lugging by any means.

I think pinging is a characterisitic of Nissan as mentioned earlier. My car has been pinging since new. I just check the oil once in awhile, as long as its registering on the stick...I figure I am safe as far as the warranty goes.

I plan on keeping the vehicle far past the warranty period so this pinging issue is very imporant to me since it will affect long-term reliability of the engine. The vq is one rock solid motor (which is one of the main reasons I bought it) and anytime there has been pinging associated with it, there have always been serious problems discovered and TSBs issued such as a new ECU or new coil packs. Check infinitihelp.com to learn more.

So they've had the car now for 4 days (since monday morning). I'm enjoying putting some miles on the 05 loaner they gave me though. My guess is that since they're keeping it this long, they must be trying to figure out what the issue is - and that's good because they're not just brushing it off.

You sure from the way Infiniti stealerships sound maybe there trying to find an excuse to void your warranty.

Yeah, I noticed they tried that initially.. but couldn't find anything

they didnt' complain about your exhaust?