It's sad that all three German luxury brands are below industry standard.

 

J.D. Power ratings = joke

 

Buying a car is mostly an emotional thing. So saying a car is best in class means it is best in class for you...maybe not for everybody.

Having seen and driven the 07 G35, it is a phenomenal car. Haven't driven the 335i yet. IS350 is OK.

I'll look at the features I want, the money I want to spend, and the way I feel about the car. Then I'll buy based on emotion...after looking at those other things.

Good luck in your car search.

 

Why do you say that?

 

I agree. I don't think you can categorize the Infiniti in any one single class. For instance, the BMW 330/335 is very comparable to the IS350 in terms of price and size. However, the G is MUCH cheaper than both, yet also significantly larger so, despite the fact that it's compared all the time to those 2 cars, I'm not sure it's in the same "class".

The IS350 is definitely not on my list and the BMW is borderline off my list due to their small size.

I like the G35 because it seems to be a car that neatly fits between the 330i and 530i or the IS350 and GS350 in interior volume, yet is still small enough that it handles like the smaller cars. The fact that it's also thousands less places the G35 in a class of its own.

The only car that provides similar traits as the G35 is Acura's TL Type S. It's similar in price when equally optioned, has an available 6 speed manual, and has a roomy interior just like the G35. But, the TL's Achilles heel is its FWD.

 

Check out their testing methods. The quality/reliability ratings for instance: a broken coolant hose counts as a problem, yet so would the entire transmission failing. Hrmm, let's see, does that add up to good research? No. Minor problems and catastrophic problems are quantified as equal by J.D. Power studies, making them useless in my opinion.

 

+ their data gathering methods

 

BMW with 142 problems per 100 vehicles and people talk about their great build quality?

As far as I'm concerned, anything bellow the top of the line 5 series (545i) is a waste of money. With German name plates, the car lives up to its name on the higher trim levels only. BMW is a BMW when you buy a 6 or 7 series. MB is MB when you go into the upper E and S classes.

Only at those trim levels, you start getting what you pay for.

 

Well, if we're talking build quality..... I don't get your statement about value.
The 5er & up are known to have many more problems than the 3er.

I believe there is a clear advantage for Infiniti, building cars with packages.
It would be easier to maintain consistancy of build on an assembly line where there are only 3 or 4 variables.
This one of the reasons they do it... not just to make transport to N.America easier.

I can only imagine the difficulties on a BMW or M-B assembly line with almost every car built differently.

 

The first part of my statement was in regards to the reliability report posted above. Clearly BMW does not come even in the first 10 spots.

The latter part of my post was a general statement how anything bellow a 545i for BMW and E500 for MB is simply relatively overpriced - that is, you are paying for the name rather than the value you get.
For example: paying over $100K for an S55 AMG is understandable - with all the class, elegance, performance, features, etc. it makes sense. It DOESN'T make sense however, to pay mid to upper $40Ks for a stupid a$$ small C class - on those trim levels, you are being charged for the nameplate and not for the real value. Same concept can be applied on the Bimmers - It makes perfectly good sense to spend almost $100K and more on a 745i or 760Li - you simply get it all - power, workmanship, features, elegance, etc. But spending almost $50K on a compact 3 series sedan is a total waste of money - you pay for the name BMW, not what the car has to offer (or what it doesn't offer thereof), because the fact of the matter is, you are not getting much: You are not getting mind blowing performance, you are not getting techy features out of the wazzoo, hell, you have pay extra for leather interior and metallic paint.... - simply put: waste of money, or alternately - lack of value for your money.

 

That's pretty sad that BMW is ranked so low. The E46 came out in 1999, so they had 7 years to perfect it. I don't care how major the problem is. If I have to take off work and drive a loaner around, it's a problem for me. Infiniti is doing really well, considering its entire vehicle line up is less than 5 years old.

 

I agree that JD Power rating is a bit of a joke. So according to them Hyundai is #3 ? No doubt that they have improved over the years but to be #3 ? No. Initial quality is one thing also. How the car holds up over time is another. No way Subaru and Acura get beaten by Hyundai.

I prefer my non biased consumer report version:

 

Seeing as nobody knows what the price is on this vehicle (I cannot emphasize how bizarre that is, other mfgs. seem to announce that first and foremost, months before the vehicle is available), how can anyone have already concluded its value having already beat the competition?

I would say at 36k for a fully-loaded G35S, the value is tremendous, and where it should be, 8 grand less than that other car that keeps getting mentioned on this forum. At 38k, the value is avg., and at 40k, there's no reason to buy this car. my.02 But as long as the price is not known, who can say?

 

C'mon now, take a look at Consumer Reports' info on the 2k5 3 Series--it has all red circles except for one category. The BMW 7 brings that overall avg. way down. How many people on this forum will or will ever consider a BMW 7 Series? Even previous 7 Series owner usually do not keep the cor nor consider it again unless they are quite wealthy, it costs well over $1/mile to operate. Most people here make a comparison against the 3, which since 2k5 has gotten good ratings on Consumer Reports.

My thing is I cannot stand stats which are presented in such a way so as to misguide those who cannot determine for themselves that which is reliable and or valid....

 

Agreed. Look at where Infiniti is ranked. Had it not been for the QX56 issues the ranking would have been higher.