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Infiniti G35 Sedan 2006 and earlier
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Comments
Nice to see you on freshalloy.com , was surprised to see that where the owners seem to be hanging. Catch you there
Gabman
1. If you are stopped at a light and switch from auto to manual, it automagically reads '4m', but it actually rachets up from 1 to 4 like an auto when you start moving.
2. If you are moving in auto and the car currently is in 5th gear and you switch to manual, the car shifts into 4th gear. The indicator reads '4m'.
3. If you are moving in auto and the car currently is in 4th gear or less (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and you switch to manual, the car stays in the current gear and the car reads '4m'.
There are many other scenarios (specifically what happens to the gear selection during braking) that I haven't explored, but from the 3 scenarios mentioned above, I came up with some explainations.
For the 1st scenario, it is obvious that you really don't want to start in 4th gear, so the car rachet up the gears till 4th gear and holds it. One may argue why not start at 1st gear when you switch from manual to auto at the start. For one, you may accidentally knocked the shifter into manual (small dogs running around, spill drinks, etc) and stay in 1st gear without knowing why. To put it kindly, this effectively protects an accidental shift from auto to manual. To put it more bluntly, it is a simpler algorithm vs the better solution of looking at engine rev and road speed and find the proper gear to go to.
The 2nd scenario is simple. For people who wants to make a fast get away on the freeway and make a pass, one single movement of the shifter to the right gives you more passing power.
The 3rd scenario is just like the 1st scenario, it is a safeguard against accidental change from auto to manual.
With all that said, I seemed to remember that once I shifted to manual, and actually selected a gear other than 4th, it put the car in true manual mode (can start the car in 3rd gear for example). Could someone confirm or verify this?
Again, this is only deduction, not scientific or based on credible source.
My prediction is that once the auto tranny with computer clutch becomes more common, or CVT, what I want and what I can afford can finally match up.
Someone earlier said 2200@70, 2500@80, sht that's bad enough but 2500 and 2800, that's ridiculous. This thing is gonna drink premium gas big time at that rate. No wonder they put in a larger gas tank than most in class.
It does slide up out of the dash...almost like the monitor on The Tonight Show. It's about an inch thick, and has the ability to tilt slightly, to avoid glare. It has a pleasant female voice to give you instructions, if you like. The view is what's called 'birds-eye'. This is like a three-dimensional overview. Funky, but I could get accustomed to it. It *isn't* like current GPS's or maps, you see everything from an angle less than 90 degrees from the planet.
The nav systems incorporates a few neat features besides being able to look for a restaurant and the like. There is a page which allows you to program service reminders based on mileage for oil changes, tire rotation, and something else. I noticed the oil changes went only to 7,500. I guess I'm one of the few people with absolutely no problems going 10K on Mobil 1. The tire roataion bit is nice, as I'm always forgetting it, and this cuts back on log-book referencing.
There is also an avg. MPG display and a second (third?) trip computer.
It seemed all of this was accessable via a joystick on the top right of the radio panel. I wasn't playing with it, I was watching the other customer do it. I was there merely to see what desert platinum looks like compared to the brilliant silver. Looks just like it, except a shade darker, with maybe a touch of champagne. Hey, closer to dirt color, which works for me. My '94 Grand Cherokee was the exact color of Colorado dirt, which was awesome in the winter, as the truck never looked dirty, just way duller than it should.
Thanks, Memphisslim1, it's nice to know there are others who appreciate the feedback on these kinds of forums. I mean, to think, ten years ago, you were basically on your own to figure out whatever you could think of. Definitely easier to overlook items.
Oh, there is supposed to be a lumbar adjustment on the driver's seat, on the right side of the seat back. Can anyone confirm????
Also, I did a close inspection of the tranny tunnel's lumpiness, as my wife made mention of it several times...it reminded her of her '84 Continental (ack, the memories of towing it home 400 miles...). I looked, and I can't imagine the driver's side causing trouble to anyone with relatively normal lower leg shapes. You'd have to have a calf the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's thigh to smack it in normal use. Now the passenger's side is a bit lumpy, but it's pretty far back. For comparison, I try to remember a friend's mid-80's RWD Maxima, that thing had a tree stump under the carpet on the driver's side.
I guess with automatics now having 5 speeds, the cases keep getting bigger. I can't imagine how much one of those weighs, now. Gone are the days of unbolting it, dropping it on your chest, and wiggling out. Ah, the good ol' days, when you had better be a decent road mechanic to take a trip in an older vehicle.
G35Mann
player, your deductions seem very logical, and gabman's post #3057 seemed to have validated it.
If nothing else, it's probably due to the fact the final drive, also known as the rear end, ratio is pretty high, numerically. This is what helps us with a great 0-60 time. For being the the lower 6 seconds, I'll give up an MPG or two.
Given the second set of figures above, 2200 @ 70, 2500 @ 80, that means 1900 @ 60, which should net just a hair better than our Intrepid, which does return about 20-22 in-town, and close to 30, if you're gentle, on the hwy.
What's amazing is, the Northstar in the DeVille. 28 mpg, not being at all gentle with it. Now *that* car has some mass to haul about, and a nice 4.6L V-8, attached to a cheesy 4-sp auto, to haul it around with. I think the MPG on the G is going to be better than we think. Just give it some time.
Also, don't forget, if you live where they do the 'oxygenated' gas bit, write off 5-10% of your MPG for winter. You'll get it back in the summer, though.
Does it really *require* premium, 92 octane, gas? Ugh, that's a bummer.
G35Mann
1 gallon = 3.75 liter
450 km using 70 liter
(0.625 x 450) / (70 / 3.75) = 15 mile/gallon
70 liter = 18.66 gallon, which I think is about right, since that is at most one can fill a 20-gallon gas tank.
manumatic's logic sure sounds screwed up. All other manufacturers manage to do it the right way and don't destroy the tranny. Infiniti just wanted to do something different I think, for the sake of being different.
My 300M had AutoStick. When swithing from auto to manual, it always showed the exact gear I was in. At the stop light, it sure was in [1]. Also 300M had a nice feature that allowed to manually shift to [2] and [3] while standing still. This way you could start without wheelspin on slippery surface.
Acura TL-S also shows the current gear no matter when you switch from auto to manual.
To be fair, I have a 1991 Honda ST1100, a motorcycle almost identical in spirit to the G, and it holds 7.4 gallons, stock. With the extra tank I put on, it holds 10.4 gallons. 10.4 gallons?!?!?! On a motorcycle?!?!?!?!?! Yep, and I've run clean out, one time, in Nevada. Had a time in Texas when my MPG was low-20's, thanks to some awful wind...and an unchecked right hand... ;-) I've come close to walking several times, with the extra fuel, so I'm a tad sensitive to range...especially as I like to 'play' in rather remote areas.
If, even on the highway, I get 20 mpg, which I'd hope not to, what with an efficient engine and a .27 cD, then I'd still have a 400 mile range.
Even using the old 24 mpg EPA figure for hwy, and a two gallon reserve, that's 432 miles before you need to be concerned. Not bad, at all, really.
The monetary difference for three MPG, using a price of $1.40 ('bout par for premium in the Pac NW here, being as we're so far inland, and nowhere near any Alaskan pilelines (eye-roll)), and 12K miles a year, is 84 bucks. Not terrible, and spread out over 30 tanks, that's about three bucks a tank...well, $2.80. I'm not going to notice that, over time. Heck, I use 4 dollar a quart oil, and a ten dollar filter. Three bucks a tank won't kill me. Actually, I'd save way more by being able to use regular unleaded, as that's about a $.25 cent a gallon savings, or about $185 a year, using 23 MPG and 12K a year.
One thing you hear a lot, well, used to hear a lot about. Use the cruise control for better MPG. WRONG. Personally, unless I can see the horizon, I don't use it, as I can gently increase speed for a hill, then gently back off as I'm climbing it, to keep overall consumption down. Plus, I can back off as I crest said hill, and get a free ride down. Cruise control, on the other hand, will downshift to hold a speed on a hill, probably because it waited too long to get on it, 'cause it can't see the hill coming. Plus, on the Intrepid at least, it'll freakin' downshift on the downhill side, so you don't 'exceed the limit' you set. Yeah, whatever. When hills are involved, I have no trouble with a ten MPH leeway. My Colorado commute had me going from 8720 feet to 5280 in about ten miles. My MPG was better there than in Dallas, as I could get a free ride into town, and I knew how to 'play' the hills on the way home. That, and with fuel injection, it'll lean out the mixture, so it's like you have a smaller engine...with less HP to go with it. Requires planning, that's for sure, but it's an interesting challenge.
G35Mann
I fear what we have here is a compromise. Infiniti is trying to make sure the car doesn't become a dog in 5th, so revs are kept higher.
Saw the car this weekend but didn't get a chance to drive it. Loved the exterior, as expected. Interior is in the "good enough" category. The wood trim works very nicely with the willow -- good blending of colors. The graphite and wood combo just didn't do it for me. The organish/yellowish tint of the wood doesn't match well with the black, IMHO. Needs to have more of a stained cherry color when mated to the black interior. Strangely, the fact that there's not much wood just accentuates the mismatch -- your eye is forced to focus on the little bit of orangish/yellowish wood in a sea of black. On the other hand, the black interior is awfully stark without something to break it up. The extra titanium trim in the sports edition might do the trick, or maybe one of the aftermarket wood trim add-ons.
The sales guy let me wander back to the service area to check out the half-dozen G35's slumbering there. Saw black, blue, silver, white and green. No red or platinum, unfortunately. Black is...well...black, and so is silver -- i.e., they look like the pictures and what you'd expect. My 10-year-old son loved the blue, but I found it to be just ok. Didn't seem to mate well with the willow interior. The white was rather dirty from transport. In that less than optimal condition, it looked boring (hard to do with this car!). The big surprise for me was the green. "Green" is a color I would never buy, but this color I would consider. To paraphrase the guy in the new Toyota Matrix commercial, "it's a greenish-grayish-brownish thing". "Muted" might also be appropriate. The best thing about it was how well it worked with the willow interior. I suspect the platinum will also work well with the willow, but none of the other colors seemed to blend all that nicely with the willow.
Question for Gabman or another owner: If you set it to manumatic when stopped and then tap down once, what happens? Does it set to third or go to first? In other words, to get to first in manual mode when stopped, do you tap right>down>down>down or just right>down.
Regards...
The platinum color is basically the same as silver, but a shade more subdued. It's like looking at a silver car, but with a bulb burned out in the overhead lights. Beaverton Infiniti had a Q in platinum next to a G in silver, and even then it was tough to tell that the Q wasn't just dirty, or had a light burned out over it.
-juice
The 19/26 EPA estimate is on par for this class as evidenced by the competing makes (all autos except the CTS:
330i 19/27
A4 CVT 19/27
LS V6 18/25
TL-S 19/29
S60 20/27
CTS 18/25
While the Acura gets 3 mpg better on highway, the real difference is essentially no difference in terms of money spent. At $1.50/gal, that appears to be .6 cents per mile difference for highway driving. For the typical urban commute type driving, it is probably nil.
I wouldn't worry about the 15mpg at 500 miles - typically the mpg will increase once the car exceeds 1000 miles. Gabman and others, why don't you report back on mpg (or litres in your case) after you've had the car a while?
-juice
The first time I saw it, it didn't jump out at me as the nav area, but after I popped open the door, "trashcan" was my first thought. I'd hope that sucker has some kind of drain in it for the inevitable intrusion of liquid.
[No personal offense intended - just trying to have a little fun.]
AFAIK, drag coefficents are "coefficients", and in order to get the total aerodynamic drag, we have to take the frontal area into account. Compared to the BMW 3 series, the G35 has a smaller drag coefficient, but a somewhat larger frontal area. The 330i with 5-speed automatic quotes 19/27MPG, so I don't think the G35, at 18/26, is out of line. Now the 330i with manual gets 21/30, so maybe the 6 speed or the CVT would have better gas mileage. We'll see I guess.
I played with the manumatic shifter a bit when I test drove the G35, and the thing that jumped out at me was the difference in tactile feel between upshift and downshift. Did anyone else notice that? Since I have never seen anyone else mention it, I was wondering if it was just the car I test drove. On that car, when upshifting, I only had to move the lever a little bit, and I feel the switch click, and the car upshifts. The resistance to activate that switch was very low. However when downshifting, moving the same distance had no effect, and in order to downshift you had to pull the lever much further. You also had to use more force to overcome that switch. It is like the upshift switch clicks as soon as you move the lever forward, but in order to downshift you have to pull the lever much further, then hit the "kickdown" switch. At the time I thought it was a brilliant design. Did anyone else notice that?
For those of you who want to see what the DVD Nav system is like, take a look at the one in the Q45 (all Infiniti dealers should have at least one), they are supposed to be the same.
The Ivory Pearl/Willow combination looks pretty good. I just wish that I could see what the Ivory/Graphite looks like. Personally, I prefer the titanium finish to the wood. Don't like the colors of the wood, too light in color.
Wife and I may have to special order. If we do, will probably get it with everything that can be tacked on. With financing, is only $55 a month price difference. This would include the Aero Package (different bumpers, kick panel, etc.). Should make it darned near unique in US/Canada.
As for pricing, I can concur with memphisslim1 that the dealer here in Memphis will not even consider coming off MSRP. Definitely hard for me to take as I ALMOST cannot pay retail for ANYTHING. (Yeah, I am cheap, but for what reason did I pay for those negotiation classes, if not that?)
BTW, if any of you order a car that has a unique/rare config, be SURE to spec that NO ONE other than a shop person is to drive it before you take delivery. I know for a fact that some dealerships will let potential customers drive them, especially if they don't have anything comparable. (I've been one of the drivers, didn't realize it until the end of the drive and noticed that the "card" on the dash said, "Sold".)
I agree with most that the behavior of the auto to manumatic gear change is brain dead. CAN'T be that tough to have the tranny computer look to see what gear the auto is in and KEEP it there...
Oh, and for those "purists" out there, the reason why some of us are interested in the manumatic is that we have spouses who have never/don't drive sticks and HAVE to share the car with them. Otherwise, I would never own one. Learned to drive a stick at 12 years old (and for the next 18 years) and really miss it. Was SO much more involving an experience. Those who say it is too much work, otherwise, have trouble chewing gum and walking?
Anyway, at least with a manual mode, I can have SOME fun!
Scott
It was definitely a "thong in cheek" exchange.
Sorry, OK, we'll get a true sports sedan. Forget I ever mentioned minivans! :-)
-juice
Darn this forum, now I'm over on FreshAlloy, too. Argh, more wasted time....
Beaverton Infiniti claims, today, their shipments are going to dry up in a couple of weeks for an undetermined amount of time. Interesting sales tactic, but I'm in no screamin' hurry to pay MSRP for first year model vehicle, which isn't even on the boat, yet. Sure, the trucklet is hard to shift with a right elbow which is more titanium than bone, but hey, I just don't drive it much....
G35Mann
You'll have no trouble at all selling your Sequoia on the open market, BTW.
-juice
My Suzuki Grand Vitara JLX+, which was about 21K new in '99, has a trade value of about $10,500 on Kelley BB and an Edmunds trade-in of about $9,400. This is more than 50% value loss in basically two and a half years. Ouch. Ouch, again.
Of course, the dealer's price is $3k more than trade-in, so the dealer gets MSRP on the new car, plus another three grand profit on my trade....Grrrrr.....
Personally, I look at Kelley BB, trade-in and dealer retail prices, take the average of 'em, then shoot for it.
G35Mann
The manual mode is fun and entertaining. I find myself using it to slow the vehicle down when taking the exit off the interstate, and it works every bit as well in this capacity as having a clutch (in fact, much easier).
Living in Memphis, we may just see an Elvis clone driving a G35.
The only way to get the best deal is to negotiate the purchase price of the new car and the trade price separately. Otherwise, the dealer will play all day with the "trade differential" and you will end up taking it in the shorts. Watch those add ons as well as they are designed to do nothing more than take your money!
The only other thing to do is stay away from cars that do not hold value or plan to keep them until they are ready for the scrap yard.
And as far as discounting.... Infiniti would be in big boatloads of trouble if they started to force dealers to sell at list price. And why would they care anyway? Selling at high prices doesn't make Nissan of North America more money. The difference is the dealer's profit and his business.
-Jon
(small fish)
Lexus has done this on many models in the past. Typically, it will start out a new model at a value price, work like hell to create market demand in the car, and then raise prices in subsequent years to more lofty levels and higher margins. Worked for the original LS400 and SC; didn't work for the IS300. It's a great strategy if you can get it to work, but it requires convincing the buying public that it is a must have the car at sticker.
Once in a great while a car is produced that truly has demand in excess of supply. Like it or not, the SC430 is such a car as well as the new Thunderbird. The numbers produced are so small that waiting lists are inevitable since the cars give the buyers exclusiveness among those willing to pay for it. You may only see 2 or 3 on a dealer's lot at a time, if that many. Other times circumstances make the car in great demand - the oil crisis that coincided with the release of the original Accord (small economical car when others were large and consumed gallons of fuel), for example.
The G35 on the other hand, is not in that situation. The dealers here are getting large numbers of the cars. Look at Grubbs website - it lists about 50 cars. You don't need to wait in line to be "privileged" to buy the car. For those saying the STS version is such a car, just wait. Once they are shipped over here, there will be numbers of them on the lots as well.
This is not a criticism of the car. It is just a discussion about marketing and market factors. Infiniti wants to sell a LOT of these cars; therefore, they have to send a lot to dealers. That will create buying opportunities.
I see no movement off MSRP here for a good while, espcially as Infiniti seems to have a potential winner on their hands. Unless they start stacking up at the dealers, causing said dealers to have to shell out for monthly payments to carry 'em, then we're going to be paying top dollar.
You're right about the trade. Having been in the biz, about ten years ago, for a whopping 6 months (before my concious got to me), I saw what was basically theft, just done very cleverly, and with the permission of the victim. It was unethical, and ruined the car business for me. I was hoping to be involved with something I truly had a love for, but sales wasn't it (engineering was way too math-intensive, and not very fun). The salesmen are lucky to know what it is they're selling, that is, should they even care. I see this in the business I'm in sometimes. "Well, sales said this..." Yeah, well, sales fed you a line, bud. Sorry, and let's see what we can do, now that you're stuck.
Another bad line of business to deal with...the securities industry. Enron was just the one you heard about, 'cause it was impossible to ignore, so it had to have some spin put on it. Glad to be out of that, too. Sales of a different kind, even if you're in the back office. Sorry for the rant.