I do want to add one thing to what I said above. Both these articles mentioned "imprecise" and "light" steering when referring to the G. I have never felt this to be the case at all. As a matter of fact I can say that of the cars tested I've driven all but 2 of them *extensively* and I always felt that the G's steering was very solid feeling with good road feedback. It is not nearly as precise as the BMW's, but it certainly did not feel floaty (as the IS250 and Mazda did imo) and not light at all. I just wonder if this is yet another symptom of the car being a 4 year old model.

The reason I bought the G was because it offers good power and handling for a good price and has a decent enough ride, good styling, and a reasonable interior. It is by no means a Lexus on the inside, the styling is of course dated, but the power and handling are still top notch in it's class as far as I'm concerned.

 

Agreed re the steering. In fact my 03.5 feels artificially underboosted, so as to have you put more effort than my old rack and pinion CRX, to move into a parking space or change lanes abruptly. And I love it

BMW and Audi/VW steering is a wonder to drive with but the G sure does get the job done and done right when it comes to steering, acceleration, handling and weight bias. When you nail these things down you win my heart over and most who look for a proper sports sedan find G wins them over too. I bet 5% of buyers even know what a proper sports sedan is!

 

If they are comparing the G35x - I have never driven an AWD G35, the steering feel may be more numb than the regular G35s. I will say that the G35 steering is numb compared to the Z4 I drove yesterday. The whole G35 is numb compared to that car. but the Z4 had a lot more rattles.

 

A short wheelbase car on BMW suspension would make the G seem like a Caddilac!

 

I read the article in question... I think the tested G35 sedan had an as tested MSRP of about $36k or so. The others were definately over $40k.

So... the G35 was in fact the bargan of the group.

The main critizism of the G35 was the unstable handling feeling, which I totally agree with. If you take a corner quickly in the sedan and you hit some road imperfection, you definately feel the car want to oversteer. Their claim is that the other cars don't have this unstable feeling which make it more pleasant to drive. If you read the quotes from the editors who praise the car, they seem to like the car because of that unstable feeling - it reminded them of the American muscle cars of yesteryear.

 

That's why comparison publications are full of $hit. They compare by MSRP, we compare by what we KNOW the car can be owned for.

Having said that, it's obvious that the G is even a greater value (bang for the buck) than the competition.

No offense to the other cars, they're nice. If, however, this young lad slips into the low $40s on a new car purchase, the M will top my list. Certainly not two cars (350 and 330) that barely qualify as midsize.

The Mercedes wouldn't be considered by me until the three pointed star improves it's reliability.

 

+1

The G is slightly less nimble than a BMW and slightly slower than the IS350, but for the price you pay, it's a huge bargain. With the minimum 5k you save buying the G, you can upgrade the suspension to make it handle better than a bimmer and you can start adding mods to make it more zippy than the Lex.

I dont think I've ever seen any "loaded" G with a sticker of more than 40k. Heck, my fully loaded G had a sticker price of 36 and if I slapped in a nav, it would still have been less than 38000.

It's not really fair to compare the G to these newly refreshed models though. Sigh... stupid magazines :/

 

I agree for the most part with their review. The G is soft out of the box-
I believe that the interior of the new IS is clearly superior to any of the others. The powerplant in the 350 is also a winner.

However, I believe a shock and spring upgrade would do wonders to the stock car. Additionally, I believe the car does resemble a muscle car in terms of approach. That's why I bought the car.

I believe they should have mentioned that you can get a G for well less than $36k if you skip the Nav and Comfort package. That brings the car into a totally different category. And a very important feature for a lot of folks-

The G35x steering is a bit numb, though it offers pretty good feel, and it's accurate. That's on the G35 with those FX pieces up front.

The Net:
A few years ago, this magazine was praising the G35 left and right.
Since then, the competition has stepped up their game big time.

Lexus now has the most powerful car, where before their car was the slowest-Imagine when they offer a 6-speed and fix the Stability control.

Mercedes totally redesigned their offering while keeping the same body.

BMW's new BMW is like the other BMWs before it-only better.

 

I would still choose the 6 speed G35 sedan over any one of these cars. I picked up my G35 with 34K on it for $18,500 3 weeks ago. None of these cars equals the overall value of the G35, 4 year old design or not its still a GREAT design and this is a luxury car with rwd, I would say its feel is more similar to a 5 series BMW than a 3 series. The only car in that group I would consider would have been the Legacy GT. Look around, G35's are everywhere, the parts for G35's are dirt cheap, the resale for G35's is perfect for that guy who wants an entry level luxury car USED! Try to find a better deal. I hate when people compare new cars that are not even in the same class.

If car magazines were smart they would put more emphasis on the reliability of the vehicle and long term durability. Audis and BMWs would not even be in the equation. I have had countless times where my M3 had broken down or something electrical didnt work, and this was supposed to be one of the greatest sport sedans EVER. In my opinion, German and most American cars should just cease to exist, THEY NEVER DO IT RIGHT ANYMORE, the last time BMW made a nice and reliable car it was the E30 design. New cars come out, people/mags seem to overlook German cars' long term ownership costs and reliablity issues, cost of repair. Too many bells and whistles and emphasis on initial ownership (warranty). The IS250 is nice but its more of a luxury compact than a mid-sized luxury vehicle. Poor G35, it seems to always be hated on, I have owned Audis, BMW M3, Hondas, Acuras, etc....this is my favorite, and I love the interior, not overly complicated, lots of places for my coffee cup and misc items. Something breaks, thats ok, there are only 5-10 other cars in the market that use the same engine and parts, and the parts are "Honda Civic parts" cheap! I will stick with my G35 as I personally feel it is one of the best ideas that have come along in a long long time...and look at that price used! I feel the G35 is similar to the Nissan Maxima's treatment since 95, they perform very well in almost every category and keep the reliabilty/low repair costs in the equation but never get the credit they deserve. Sorry to rant and rave....

 

i agree +1, especially since i'm coming from a 4th gen maxima. however, i still think the maxima is much more of an overachiever than the G35C and sedan. i can run 1/4mi times of 14.0-14.3 and it still has more leg and trunk room than the G, get's 27mpg on the highway, never lower than 25mpg on my normal commutes and feels totally lighter in handling with mild suspension mods. i'm planning to tune the G35 in the same manner.

 

The Road and Track Article is dead on - the G35x is not much better than the Volvo, and the interior/assembly is clearly the worst. I love the comment about the 80's orange backlighting - clearly no-one like that either. I'm not sure how this engine gets into the Wards "10 best engines" so much when it does vibrate thru the cabin in my G35x and is very thirsty. Perhaps this engine in other applications is much better.

But like the article said, we'll see what's next - hopefully something a lot better than just value.

 

Normally I agree with you RLampke but in this case it's clear to me why the VQ gets on the 10 best year after year. It's a solid engine with a lot of low end torque and good hp/displacement capabilty, plus it's an open ended design and each revision adds a lot of new technology. In my opinion it's definitely top 10, maybe even top 5 in the industry right now. It's only real fault is that it is thirsty relative to it's displacement - but I think Nissan's going to fix that with the next revision.

 

^+1 for picus

the vq is awesome. with the money difference between a 330i and g35 or a is350 and g35 you could put that money into a g and you wont just outhandle and smoke both of them you'll pull on cars in much higher classes...i think the 7-8k price diff could easily put you in m3 category...and a note on the is350..anyone notice they look like avalons from the back? same co., maybe thats why...btw i dont know how the exhausts sound on the 2 other cars but i love mine...esp after it warms up

.02

 

Ok - given that view you both are correct. It is very powerful and for the most part it is quiet. Perhaps the vibrations that I have in my car especially on low RPM ranges is exclusive to my car. I understand most people's view here: "More bang-for-the-buck" is great if you are interested in modding your car, for why spend all that $$$ right out of the box when your intention is to purchase aftermarket parts. My view is that I since I lease vehicles, I want the best right out the box, so spending a few more thousand is well worth it if indeed I'm getting something better.

As I said before, the G35 is a great car but w/todays competition it's falling short. I came out of an '05 TL and I very much miss the interior refinement [especially the audio system and cool backlighting] but do not miss the FWD at all. It's almost a tease: if Inifiniti can make the drivetrain of the G35 that good why stop there...?

 

Ya, we agree about the interior definitely. It's not bad, but even inexpensive cars like the new civic have nicer interiors now. Then again it all comes back to the G being a 4 year old model.

One thing about the TL, even though it's OT - I clean a lot of them and the interiors are really nice, but are not durable at all. For some reason they're very prone to dash fade and leather cracking; it makes my job a pain in the butt.