I agree, the amount of technology in this car compared to my old G35 is really impressive. In general, it's amazing all the stuff being put in cars over the last 5-6 years. My sales guy also spent a long time going over everything and I too had a really good buying experience. I couldn't help but think that sales has a much bigger responsibility now in showing how to operate all this stuff compared to 10 years ago when none of this technology existed (at least not in cars). I happened to buy it from the same dealer I bought my 03 G35 from and the same dealer I used to service that car (and will continue to use to service my new G).

Have fun with all the new technology and don't forget to drive it from time to time. haha

 

Thanks. Good to hear you're a long term Infiniti customer with similar positive experience. It speaks well for the brand that the dealers are uniformly providing a high level of customer satisfaction. As an owner new to the brand that's encouraging.

By contrast, the Caddy dealer we worked with seemed demoralized and never even called to follow up on our visit. Never provided a trade-in value even though they went to the trouble to examine the car. My wife was livid and insists she wants to send an e-mail to Cadillac. No wonder they're circling the drain. I think the "Big 3" just never really got the premium brand thing. They try and sell $40-$75K cars like they sell Chevys. Too bad.

As for the technology, a good sales guy has got to know a daunting range of stuff these days. Horsepower and power seat controls don't quite cover it any more. I wonder if the factory provides any formal training to dealer personnel.

 

I do like the styling of the CTS. But for me the G35 was the only car I was going to buy. I liked my old G that much. So, had I not bought the new G I would be still driving the old one.

I was wondering if they got any training too. It's at least a good thing that a lot of the same (or similar) technology exists across the model lineup so it's not like they need to learn a lot of unique technology within each model.

 

Oh yeah, forgot to mention one other nice touch from our dealer. I usually take a fit when a dealer plasters his/her advertising on the back of my car. Some of their decals or badges can be large or tacky. But I completely forgot to tell them "no badges" when they were prepping the car.

Our dealer was Harte Infiniti. They went to the trouble of having a custom chrome badge made with a font that blends with the Infiniti badges on the back of the car. At the end of the word Harte, they have a stylized red chrome heart wrapping around the last couple of letters of the word. It actually looks like it belongs on the car. Very nice. Other dealers could take a lesson.

 

Congrats again! Glad the delivery exceeded your expectations. We shouldn't be surprised when this happens but it's always nice to appreciate it.

One quick note. A few years ago when I bought my wife's car we were going through the same exercise (different brand but similar, positive experience). When it got to the point of setting up our 'Home' on the nav the salesman made an interesting point.

He recommended that we not put in our actual address. His reasoning was that if you have a valet park your car or park in a lot with attendants, they can easily see your address and possibly call someone to alert them that you aren't home. I had never thought about that before and surely most people leave their insurance card and registration in the glove compartment anyway but you can lock the glove compartment.

Since then I've used an address up the street or the intersection of our street and the first turn. Gets me really close but then I don't have to worry about that idea the sales guy planted in my brain.

Just thought I'd throw it out there as a thought. Probably more urban legend than anything else but for the minor change I thought it wasn't that big of a deal so I've done it this way ever since.

Enjoy the car!

Jay

 

Excellent point. It's little effort to thwart whatever security risk does exist. Why not do it? LOL if you can't navigate home when the satellites get you within a couple blocks of your house, you're either drunk or suffering from alzheimers. So, there's really no reason not to do this. New features.....new risks.

 

Congrats on the new ride!
Financially, I went in with a target, laid it out for them and asked them if they could do it, we had a deal. The salesman really worked for it, he went back and forth a few times until we came up with something that worked.
And the pickup was great, the salesman went through the vehicle and all the gadgets. There was even a box in the trunk and he said that was for you and the wife, once opened it revealed a cherry wood box with a full wine kit inside (corkscrew, thermometer, etc). And they didn't badge it, just the dealership name on the license plate covers, I'll give em that for a year or so. I would have to say also had the same experience at Toyota couple years back, it goes a long way to developing a relationship with their customers and building loyalty.
So far so good with the car, appreciating it more and more. Hope it will be the same for you.

 

My dealer (Infiniti of Willow Grove) doesn't badge. They just put their license plate frame on which I don't have a problem with (even though I removed it).

As for putting my home address in the navigation, my sales guy said the same thing. Although, I did wind up putting my address in anyway since I avoid valet parking at all costs. But I guess you never know when you might have to use valet parking so it's probably not a bad idea to just put in a nearby intersection instead of my actual address.

 

Thanks. Wow, I didn't get a wine kit. That was a nice touch. But it's nice to hear all the positive feedback about Infiniti dealers. It seems that there's a consistently favorable experience which is exactly what a premium brand should be striving for.

 

Yeah, no wine kit for me either. That's definitely a nice touch. However, I did get a coupon book that has coupons for free first oil change, 10% off various service intervals, accessories and detailing as well as $350 off my next vehicle purchase.

 

I'll trade you!!!!

 

It was a nice surprise. I think I'll keep them for myself.

 

Hey TakeFlight. I bought my M at Willow Grove and had a horrible service experience with the owner there (said he 'doesn't talk to customers'!!).

I did have a good sales experience though - still no wine box

I'm sure the basic stuff will be fine there but if you run into any significant issues feel free to PM me. I have found a very good service dept. not too far away that I started using after the debacle at Willow Grove.

Not trying to raise a concern for you - just offering some support since I've found that if they owner doesn't really value the customer it definitely rolls downhill - and that's exactly what happened there.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread but any time I see Willow Grove mentioned I feel compelled to offer alternatives

Jay

 

Thanks for the info. Although, this is partly why I'm typically reluctant to say where I bought and service my car on forums (but did this time anyway) because there is no dealer anywhere that doesn't have a ding to it's reputation somewhere along the way. And I'm not saying that your experience isn't legitimate. I'm sure it is and maybe if I knew the details it would be alarming. But, my experience has been good. I mean, I'm not saying that every single time I've gone there I was 100% satisfied, but I really have nothing serious to complain about after being a customer for 6 years. The only thing that comes to mind was when I first started going their for service it was sometimes a pain to make a service appointment (of all things). It seemed the service department was too busy to answer the phone and they were the only ones that would make the appointment (no one else at the dealer would do it). But, this problem was solved a long while ago.

So, I think I will just keep my head in the sand to your specific problem. But, I'll remember this message thread if I ever do have a problem.