For 33 months and just over 60,000 miles I have had my G. We crossed through the 60K mark in a last minute trip up LA and thought I owed everyone who’s thinking about this car an update and a realistic shakedown of what the G’s like to live with over the long haul. Mine is the 2003.5 Sedan with the 6 Speed Manual and Premium package. Seamless comes to mind…

Drive train: This car has enough torque to start in second gear and will do better than 60 mph before you need the clutch. I do not street race or autocross, but love a quick whip into traffic as much as anyone. The G gets it done with style. I live in the land of endless freeways and when cruising well in excess of the speed limit, the G is very well-mannered. Unless you have some sick dream about back country canyons with no one on them, this is about as fast a machine as you can actually drive on the street without scheduling much of your spare time in traffic school. I have explored this option twice since owning this car. The next one will be expensive.

Road manners: The G35 Sedan 6 MT came equipped with the sport package: 17” wheels, lower profile tires and a slightly stiffer suspension. The ride was firm, but not harsh. I replaced the Goodyear stock tires with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S at about 42K. I opted to upsize to the 235/50-17 which is both a great fit and look. Yes, my bride does comment that it is a little harsh as compared to her Honda Minivan. I think that is just fine. Control from behind the wheel is precise and predictable, even under adverse conditions. Last years deluge of rain in combination with Southern California’s terrific drivers provided several opportunities to test the both the new tires and antilock brakes. I’d swear the thing is on rails. Note: This brake and tire combination will stop you before just about anything else on the road and lesser vehicles may try to take out your backside. Brake pads: Dealer replaced the fronts under warranty at the 30K check up. I replaced the rears at 45K. I did the fronts again just under 60K. No issues. It stops.

Interior: At 6’3”, I am tall, but the G35 has enough room to get me where I need to drive and still have plenty for back seat passengers. I often take the G out for business and no one has said anything negative about the rear seats. They really are a great place to ride. The back seat has also turned into the kid’s limo. They dig the reclining back seats, pulling the center armrest and relaxing for a nice cruise with Dad. I have relaxed my “No food in the car!” rule to include bottled water and small bags of dry crackers as they seem to vacuum up easily. Soda pop is still excluded as are any of a number of sticky things they seem to crave. The seat controls take a little getting used to, but with the memory that comes with the premium package, it’s not an issue after you get it set up. I wish the mirrors moved with it. The passenger seat is quite comfortable and with its own A/C settings, your significant other can be in the desert while you are in the mountains. The controls for the stereo and climate control took a little getting used to. After a week or two of playing, I just switched it to A/C ECON at 74 degrees and forgot about it. It does the job without being bothersome. When it bugs me, I just flip it off . open the sunroof and step on the gas

Trunk: Two people’s stuff for a week fit just fine in the trunk with a little careful packing. It’s pretty big. I don’t golf, so I don’t know if clubs will fit. I can, however, get three HP 4000 series printers, three small CPU towers and there 17” LCD monitors with room enough for all the cables and bits.

Stereo: I work in the entertainment business and have some of the most sophisticated (and most bloody expensive) speakers systems ever built for reference. I do not have a problem with the sound system in this car. I have heard better, but most are far worse and totally out of balance. It’s not a mini pick-up truck playing 50 Cent at 120 dB. Its fine for most everything I listen too and gets plenty loud when required. Changing CDs can be a project that demands more attention than it should. I load the CDs while in the driveway. I use a combination of store bought and my own wave-file CDs with no problems. I hate the sound of the MP3 codec so it is just fine that the car does not play them. I am looking for a way to integrate an iPod into it as the kids got these for the Holidays and I am sick of burning there podcasts to disc.

Gas: My long term average is just under 23 MPG. I use 91 octane from Chevron or Arco, which ever is cheaper when I drive by. I did switch to the cheap stuff when the 91 crossed through the 3 dollar mark, but now I am back and it is better. There was a slight reduction in mileage when I upgraded the tires, but nothing that I cannot compensate for by taking my foot out of it a little.

Service: I change my own oil, I wash my own car and take it to the dealer every 15K or so. 15K was $250.00 to hook it up to the computer and tell me it was just fine. I did it again at 30K for $450.00 and at 45K for $488.00 including the rear brakes. I have just done the 60K at 59,500 so I could get a few kinks out before the warranty runs out. This one was a $1300.00 trip including rear brakes and the full shakedown. Ouch. I still use Mobil 1 5W-30, now from WalMart, and the Fram filters from AutoZone every 3500 miles or so. I put generic window cleaner into the reservoir and look at the rest of the engine for 3 minutes before shutting the hood again. It still looks cool.

Things that still bug me: The brakes still kick out enough dust to get the front wheels dirty with one trip to work. I used to scrape the bottom on the sidewalk going into the grocery store parking lot. Now I shop at a different store. The passenger side window was possessed for a little while. I would close it and 2 seconds later it would roll down about 2 inches. The only way to close it was to close it and hit the lock button. Warranty repair at the 60K check-up. The glove compartment is not big enough for my wife to stock up with girl stuff. I had to move the Infiniti CD case and the $3.00 navigation system (Maps, for short) to the door pocket to accommodate. It’s all good now.
VDC: It takes the fun out of punching it around a sharp corner. It works very, very well.

Summary: It continues to amaze me what a good value this car still is. I sat in a new Audio A-6 and an M-35 last month. Nice, but I still feel pretty good about the G and for the extra 20 Grand, I might be able to put the kids in a decent college after all.

Drive safe

 

Thanks for the great write-up. Makes me happier to have bought a G.

 

kfreefall
I couldn't agree with you more. I am coming up on 70,000 miles next week (after another weeks commute, I will be there).

I still love driving this car every day and have more than gotten my moneys worth with this purchase...even after having the first generation model (2003.0) with all the TSBs, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you very much for the write up. You have alot of people in agreeance wit you.

 

Great write up. I have 2003 G as well, original owner, pushing 61K miles. Word of advice for your brake dust problem, pick up some Stillen Metal Matix pads, I recently replaced my front brakes and put those on, and brake dust be gone! The OEM brake pads definitely put out a lot of brake dust residue.

 

Great write-up. Hopefully my 05 will give me, the same smooth motoring your sedan has given you.

 

kfreefall - thanks for sharing your g35 experience with us. It is very helpful mostly to new owner such as myself.

Me and my girl just picked up a silver sedan 05 last night. We didn't even know that the dealer was open. anywho, to make a long story short since my girl will be buying a new car in about a month or two, I decided to not let the deal go and grab this awesome car. Price we got was way below the invoice price.

I wanted the new lexus IS but since this car is mostly hers and for her job I'll still have a chance to own the IS later on.

I already love the car. I hope that the reliability of this car compares to my honda. I plan to change my own oil, too. other than that I'll leave it to the stealership to take care.

 

its a good write up, but if u work with true audio equipment, there is no way this system will not hurt ur ears.... i spent a decent amount of money on my home system, and on my previous two cars I had to upgrade the stereo to a mix of JL and Boston Acc. speakers and sub. Even after that upgrade the Infiniti "premium" system is painful to listen to for the first 3 month. I really think they could have used better quality speakers for the system.

 

Awesome, I have the same car and am about to turn 21k miles

 

My first gen G is nearing 55k miles. This review captures most of my experience quite well, including moving to up-sized Mich Pilot AS tires (at about 40k miles in my case). Dry and wet weather handling are so much improved that I will make the change to these or similar premo tires way sooner next time.

I'll add that I have been more than satisfied with the sales/service experience at Coleman in North Bethesda, MD.

For a while I was thinking of trading for an M, but it just doesn't feel just "right size" to me. (Well the M45 w the steering rear suspension makes up for being too chunky but doesn't grab hard enough to feel worth the $$ dif).

If the 07 G doesn't go off the mark (as Nissan sometimes does with cost cuts and "style" creep), and the rumored power bump feels like more than marketing, I'll likely replace it with a new one with the goodies I wished were available when it first came out!

 

Had a 03.5 premium w/aero. Best car & value I owned. I sold it after 3 years with only 20,000 miles but no problems except brakes. I wanted an AWD because I live in Canada & the dealer told me they are selling 20:1 AWD versus RWD so for resale I wanted AWD. I considered the IS 250X no power, 330Xi, too expensive, Audi A4 underpowered, & even thou I could of & wanted to try something different I bought a black on black X.

I loved the 03 but now with all the upgrades in the interior & the bottom sill painted instead of plastic, & brakes with no dust I am very happy to continue with Infiniti. I did research for 4 months again & still bang for buck came back to the G.

Might try something different in 3 or 4 years but if they increase hp's & have a new style I might be going into my 3rd G?

 

I suppose you are an avid consumer of "Audio jewelry" as well? At some point, you get beyond the point of considering how much a system costs when listening to it. I think you are still struck in that line of thinking. I took the shop's Smart system into the car when I first bought it and it actually reads pretty well as is. I have found the pro audio world has a lot less hype and a lot more results. See you at the show...

Ken

 

I have to agree with you here, I liked my '04 just fine, except for the brakes, but my '05 is so much nicer, inside and out, and yes, the painted sills make a huge difference in the appearance of the car, and no brake dust is nice!

 

Excellent write up, but I will agree with some of the posts above. I am not at all impressed with the stereo. Keep in mind I'm not an audiophile. I have only done one custom car stereo system in my life. But my 03 Altima with Bose sounded much better than my 05 G. Go figure. An upgrade is in my future.

 

Nice summary. I tend to keep a car for five to seven years so it is good to know the future looks good.

I don't have a problem with the Bose myself, for now. Most likely it will go away someday to make room for a DVD.

 

great review!
i have my eyes on a used 2005....still.

i cant seem to pull the trigger on a car yet. one eye on the TL and the other on the G35. i cant help it, same old addage...lux feature go to the TL, fun to drive features go to the G, both are a good value....no car offers both at this price point...well, at the same quality these 2 do.

i love reviews, thanks for this