By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
I am very happy with my current Nissan dealership (25 miles away) and salesman and would like to give them my business. I wish Nissan allowed its (good) dealers to sell Infiniti cars, especially since the Infiniti dealer network doesn't seem to have as good geographic coverage as Lexus and Acura, both of which are less than 5 miles from me.
All were glowing, and all lamented the fact that the manual is not available at launch. But one interesting tid-bit I found in the Road & Track preview is that they stated that the manual version of the car WILL have a handbrake on the center console.
Why Infiniti will add to their manufacturing costs by having a footbrake for the auto and a handbrake for the manny baffles me. They basically have to design two seperate consoles (not to mention the right and left side conversion for different markets), and have to have the cabling routed differently as well.
Obviously this is from Road & Track, and not Infiniti, so who knows what the true situation is.
(Let the endless debates of handbrakes vs. footbrakes begin!)
They speak favorably about corner roll and suspension response. They also state their estimate of 0-60 in 6.5. According to MT,that may even be "conservative".
Having personally tested the I35, which makes 5 less hp with the FWD configuration, I can say that rolling acceleration with this motor and the G35 layout is likely to be impressive for the class (I'm personally more interested in 40-60 and 50-70 times that stoplight runs).
DL
Let's hope the six-speed in the G35 incorporates a real overdrive ratio in the .7 range, as well as a LSD rear instead of the numerous traction control schemes that penalize true performance driving.
My current car's 5th gear is annoying as the car turns nearly 4000 rpm at reasonable freeway speeds (80-85). It's annoying on a long drive.
As for the G35s automatic, the (relatively) high torque numbers dictated the use of the Q sedan's automatic - may be that explains the gearing. I read in one of those numerous previews that Nissan currently only has the Qs auto to be able to cope with the G35s engine.
(And for those going in to make snide remarks about Infiniti cutting corners, remember that BMW uses GMs slush box in their 3er)
The Autoweek article quoted one Nissan exec saying they are benchmarking the Honda S2000's manual. All indications are that the manual will be good. We will have to wait till this Fall to find out. Either that, or keep an eye out for the new Z car's reviews and see what the reviewer has to say about that manual.
I thought Getrag was on the curve with the new CTS five-speed with overdrive. But fifth is only a .85, and with the deep rear ratio, cruise rpm is way up there. My Lincoln LS has a 3:07 rear and spins 3000 rpm at 75 mph. How ridiculous!
When you place your purchase, there is a $90.00 warranty fee. Even if you purchase from someone else your warranty work should be covered by local dealerships.
The car is out in Japan and being driven everyday yet no news here? I am just as concerned about 60-0 and RPM cruising at 80.
Don't they have G-techs?
Oh yeah is MPG on the Altima as bad as I have read. Anyone know?
Looking forward to driving it in April!!
Also, even if the 5 speed, gear ratio and HP were the same, the acceleration may not necessarily be the same. There are too many other variables. Does the car weigh the same, is the torque curve identical, etc... Your best bet is to wait until some production cars start showing up in North America.
http://www.nissan.co.jp/SKYLINE/V35/0106/DATA/LINEUP/index.html
and the HP the same it's ought to run the same. Sulfur content or not.
May be the 3L has less torque than the US spec-3.5L? And you really cannot compare a CVT with a conventional slushbox.
As for sulphur content, blame your friendly oil companies for that. Nissan (or any other car manufacturer) will not bring over direct injection engines to the US because high sulphur fuels destroy these engines. Too many product liability issues.
Too bad, because direct injection engines are more efficient, and can be designed for either better mileage or more horsepower (or some combination, there of).
Skyline 350GT has a VQ35DE Neo-di.
It's rated at 200KW(272PS) @ 6000RPM &
353N.M (36.0KgM) @ 4800RPM
Converts to 268HP@6000RPM and 260ft-lb Torque@4800
Skyline 300GT has a VQ30DE Neo-di engine.
It's rated at 191kW (260PS)@ 6400RPM &
324N.M (33KgM) @ 4800 RPM
Converts to 256HP@6400RPM & 239ft-lb@4800
The U.S. Spec G35 is a VQ35DE rated at:
260HP @ 6000 RPM
260ft-lb Torque at 4800RPM
As you can see, the number for the G35 engine is very different from the 3.0L 300GT engine. Its output is slightly less than the 350GT probably due to emission and the direct injection design.
http://www.nismo.co.jp
And regard to the 52/48 or 50.2/49.8 controversy. 1.8 percent is 60 pounds! I doubt you can really tell the difference. Do we even know if these numbers is measured with a full tank of gas? if not.. there's your 50/50! What about the driver? How much does he weigh? It's 60 pounds .. give it a rest.
I would buy that over the sedan - its pretty much the same chassis.
And tco99 - unless the driver is a teenage ballerina or gymnast, the driver weighs a lot more than 60 lbs (just teasing - these guys a re splitting hairs - conveniently ignoring the fact that the G35 offers the accomodations of the 5er or Audi A6, but in the 3er weight class).
Only when an actual production American-spec'ed G35 is finally independently tested will we know what it is potentially capable of doing.
Here's the link to the magazines's web site for that issue but there's no link for that particular article unfortunately, :-(
http://www.diamond.co.jp/magazines/car/C.html
Look under "Driving Impressions" .
In a perfect world, the bottom two gears would be chosen to get to 60 mph as quickly as possible. Designing a car that needs third to get to 60 quickly is a career-limiting move.
Next, pick the top gear to give 2000 - 2300 cruise at 75 mph.
Now, it's time to fill in the middle. You can look at 3rd and 4th (or 3rd, 4th & 5th in a 6-speed) to give equal rpm drop per shift (that's the old truck driver in me), or to give good downhill braking, or whatever. Probably if someone died and put me in charge, I'd space the ratios to be equal between second & top.
But, last I checked, no car company sets out with a clean sheet of paper to design a manual. We're lucky if they include one at all. It's a giant tradeoff between low-speed acceleration and top-gear economy. Overdirve ratios and rear-end ratios can be traded off till the world looks level, but end-to-end ratios are all that matter. It's obvious from many of the past posts that those who care know and some who care need training. Most put it in drive. Oh well. . .
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
But I'm sure that there are more than two of us that find the current Manual state of mind disappointing. It's like you are supposed to take some hit in mileage and performance to want to shift.
Let's hope the G35 gets it right. They will have more of a chance with a six-speed. You should get a higher first and a lower sixth than any automatic. The 350Z will be tell us a lot.
But they were saying the preproduction models of the sedan will be available for test drives on Feb 25. They also have a list of incoming G35 that you can order - not a good sign - since all of them look to have list prices above $30K. Here is their site -
http://www.infinitiownersclub.com/g35_frames.htm