I brought my G35S in for it's first oil change. The dealer discounts 50% off the first 4 oil changes. I thought that was funny. Instead of just two free like my old Lexus dealer. Amounts to pretty much the same thing for me anyways over time.

I had the heated seat harness replaced so they kept the car and gave me a loaner, an '07 G35X.

I have to say that I missed my sport seats when I had the X. Going through corners tossed me around the seat a hell of a lot more than in my car. Funny thing is, when I picked my car up, my sport seats felt almost a little too snug until I adjusted to it about 10 min down the road.

Otherwise, the car also must have had quite a few docile drivers as it seems to have adapted to sluggish driving. Floor it and it takes a little longer to kick down gears than my S. On the plus side, I noted that the gas mileage was a good 2mpg or so better than mine during the day. Maybe I am pushing my baby a little harder than I think I am.

Braking felt pretty much the same, and steering was pretty close. I managed to kick VDC in alot more than I do with my S so apparently the 245 summer tires do have some affect .

I don't know how people go in reverse without the backup camera (yeah i know, i'm spoiled now)

The SoW system is definitely alot nicer than the standard system on the loaner too.

The X was nice, but I really missed the summer tires, sport seats, SoW, paddle shifters and backup camera during the day.

 

Good post. I would definitely miss my Sport seats too.

 

Just curious, were you driving in the standard automatic or DS mode? Once I started driving in DS mode there is no going back. Sure I give up a mpg here and there but life's too short...

 

Good write up. I was on my way to work this morning and someone in a base G35x IP was next to me and they almost rear ended the guy in front of them checking out my car lol

 

I use standard most of the time. I don't use DS that much. When I want that spirited drive, I tend to just use the paddle shifters. I know that DS probably does things alot faster than I do, but there's a little something missing when you aren't doing everything yourself (I come from a standard transmission car).

The manual mode on the X made up for the slower responsiveness of the auto though, which is why I think it had to do with the car adapting to "boring" drivers. One thing I did notice, and I don't know if it's weight or that the dealer only puts in regular unleaded in their cars, but it just didn't feel like it pulled quite as fast as my S.

There was also less of that "holy crap, I'm melting into the seat" feeling when I floored it, but I figured maybe that's due to the AWD. The X throws some power up to the front when launching even if there's no slipping right? At what point does it throw all the power back to the rears?

 

That's only 12mph, then you're all RWD unless you have "snow" mode on.

It was probably all in your head though... the cars are basically the same.

 

The Sow and backup camera are also options on the X. When I brought my X in for service, I also got an X for a loaner, but it didn't have the nav, premium, and tech packages. I really did miss those features! Interestingly, the loaner X felt a little different than my X when accelerating from a full stop. When stepping on the gas, I didn't get the "need to be very gentle on the gas to prevent the whiplash effect" feeling. I suppose different cars of similar models behave differently, maybe either due to sample differences or the way they've been driven in the past. The loaner also had a bit more miles than my car if that makes a difference.

 

the added driveline losses not to mention overall weight of the AWD car goes a long way to explain the weaker acceleration feeling.

 

Not sure this is borne out in actual performance, be intersted to see some performance figures from some members. I just posted 0-60 times for my new X (best run 5.39s 0-60). I suspect although you are right about drivetrain loss and weight, I also suspect this is offset by better traction.

 

Not sure about that, and if true, whether the differences would be even noticeable with regular street (as oppossed to track) driving. The following article was pretty interesting (though it's for the 1st generation G35):

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....page_number=10

 

miles don't matter if the car was cared for, and yours was a dealer loaner right? they take good care of those. there is so little difference performance wise between the S and X models that you really can't tell. I've driven both, and I prefer the AWD of the X over the RWD of the sport. They accelerate evenly, and I thought the X turned more smoothly and had more "road feel."

 

x's are nice cars dont get me wrong...i just picked one up today from my manhasset store and brought it over to queens. But yes they are def not as quick as my S, espcially that i have a 6mt. The car is fast, but it almost feels sluggish and some points in comparison to my car. The handeling on the car is also pretty sloppy in comparison, alot of that was probably due to me getting thrown around in the seat lol. The seats are nice but they are def not supportive for agressive driving.

I never drove a RWD auto so i cant say if the acceleration difference im feeling is stictly because of the transmission or not.

 

that article doesn't disagree with my statement about driveline losses.

It is not surprising for well-configured AWD to be faster around a track due to more traction == more throttle input allowed. That doesn't mean it doesn't cost more HP than the lighter RWD driveline.

 

Randman, yeah, the options were less of a comparison between the S and the X and more of a comparison between my car and the loander .

The loaner had about 1800 miles on it. My car has 3750. The driveline loss might be what I was feeling. Dunno. Not to say the X isn't a nice car. I really liked how it drove.

 

HAHAHAHA......I'm not even going to say it.

It's tough when you are spoiled, LOL. I'd miss all of the features of your sport, too.