I am still undecided on the wood trim. Then again, I want a manual, and the G35S doesn't have it as an option anyway. If this has already been posted somewhere, sorry for the repost. It's from Consumer Guide Automotive (never heard of them), dated 9/20: http://auto.consumerguide.com/Articl...DEEP_DIVE.html

ENJOY!

 

gangsta!

 

I dont like the color of the dash, and the steering wheel should be black, it looks strangely bland

 

Not really feeling it.
There's no continuity or flow from the wood on the center stack to the sides/door.

 

+1 - that is why I'm not a fan of photoshop advertisment pics and will reserve judment when I see the car in person. Because of the fact they over-emphasize the colors/ect, your expectation is set very high. In real lighting situations, the car will look much different and can be disappointing.

In this photo, it looks like the colors are washed out big time.

 

Even so, I'd still take it over the aluminum washi trim.

 

i do think it would look sharper with a black wheel but, even the way it is i like. i'm a big fan of wood trim.

 

I like it.

It's not a good photo though. Kinda fuzzy.

 

The wood looks nice, but this statment was the most important thing in the whole article IMO:

"While competitors are going to six and even seven speeds for their automatics, the G35 sticks with five, though a company insider said a seven-speed is in the works."

Getting a 7-speed automatic for the G, M, and the rest of the Infiniti lineup would be HUGE!

Better acceleration, fuel economy, lower revs at higher speeds, etc...

 

They wait till AFTER the car is released to update the transmission???

 

Well, I agree, but who knows what their reasoning is.

But, I do have to say that their 5-speed auto in particular always gets very high praise, even compared to the 6 and 7 speed auto's from others.

My guess is that we will see the new 7-speed auto make its first showing in the refreshed M, and then in the refreshed G.

But, Infiniti does a good job updating year after year, like they did with the first G, so who knows really.

 

WTF! That's crap. Why not offer a six-speed automatic for MY 2007 and a seven-speed automatic for the MY 2010 re-fresh ( i.e. G37 )? Infiniti and Acura are stuck in the past. Lexus may be expensive, but it offers a lot more to the consumer than Infiniti and Acura in terms of technology and advancements. Oh well ...

 

^ To whomever posted that rant above ...

Designing things like trannies takes a considerable amount of resources (ie $$$). Nissan & Honda don't have the resources of Toyota (ie cash cow). They have limited R&D budget and want to put out a good product with stringent testing. Their respective 5-speed trannies have a pretty good track record (note: the 5AT tranny in the Acura TL/CL/V6 Accord between 2000-03 are the exception).

So ... instead of developing a 6-speed just to develop a 7-speed three years later (as you suggest) ... why not go develop a seven-speed now? This is the engineer / economist in me speaking. That would make no sense to only use a 6AT for less than a product cycle.

 

^+1

 

Very true...
There's no value in rushing something out now if something better is in the wings.

JMO, but I think we're going to see huge advancements in auto tranny technologies shortly.
Don't forget that trannys are producted by 3rd party vendors.... Borg Warner, ZF et al.
Engineering, while partnered by Nissan etc. takes place at a nested level.

With the recent flurry of dual clutch manuals, auto tranny companies are being pushed to make better products.
I think BMWs new Steptronic is just the tip of the iceburg of things to come.