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Comments
-juice
Nice car, good power, noise somewhat intrusive under acceleration, handling good for what you can do in urban areas (drove it in Dallas with lots of congestion, did not drive in rural area), not too crazy about interior (was hoping for something a little more upscale), probably a good buy at $30K with options. IS300 - more fun to drive and more tossable, but too small for family. BMW - overpriced IMO.
Am waiting for the sport models too see if any difference of value or if too harsh for day to day use. Still anxious to see what the trade rags have to say about production models and what they think about comparisons to others in class.
Btw, really like the Infiniti service - best of any brand ever owned ( but have heard great things about Lexus service as well).
7. Lexus IS300. Fun!
6. Cadillac CTS & BMW 330. Above average.
5. Lincoln LS & BMW 540. Average.
4.5. Infiniti G35 & MB320. Commuter car feel.
1. SUV. (another reference point)
is probably about right because of what I've read in those car magazine reviews some of you don't care about. Not all of us have G-tech meters, skidpads, dragstrips, slaloms, etc. Maybe you do?
1. IS300 is supposed to handle better than 330.
2. CTS & 330: I've heard that on CTS board.
2. LS & 540 about same, LS maybe better (per LS board).
3. G35 & MB320: disappointing, if true.
babylou: I, like you, just hope that the RX-8 has more rear seat room than the IS300. Not sure that it will.
Let me tell you, during my test drive of the G35...I tried, but could not stop. I think my sales person was laughing to herself.
Let the great debate continue...
Sunny and 75...I'm heading to the golf course.
I am glad the postings here are a lot more mature (even if they may be about prop rods and real estate agents. LOL!)
I hope they bring that event back to DC, I'd love to sample a G35. Even if it's close, the back seat is far more livable, and I think that's acceptable.
-juice
Anyway, I digress. My point (which you have missed again) is that *everything* in a market economy has market driven prices. It has little or nothing to do with whatever invoice or MSRP prices are thought up by the manufacturer. Dealers (or "middlemen" as you pejoratively refer to them) do not have the luxury of negotiating with the factory on what price they will pay. Also, holdbacks are not generally given for cars that sell well. Now, since the dealers are THE distribution network for the cars they have to make their nut on sales, used car sales, parts and service. Most dealers can subsidize the new car sales with much bigger profits on used cars and service. This does not mean they HAVE to subsidize and nor would any reasonable person expect them too if they can sell cars at a mark-up. You seem to feel that somehow they do not deserve to make a profit on cars that sell well ONLY beacuse you know they are willing to not make a profit on cars that do not sell well. I find this reasoning counterintuitive, to say the least. In fact, if all buyers were like you, car manufacturers would only have to massively inflate the price of "invoice", have all dealers sell at or below invoice (thus making you a happy buyer) and then provide a monthly kickback to the dealer to cover his operational costs.
Anyway, at the risk of rambling on even further, I have to point something out from your post:
>"...for me a sales person is useless. I know the car inside and out, I know the comp and I really don't want to bother with idle chit-chat or listen to the pitch. I'd prefer if we could hand a person at the front desk our wallet, credit cards, etc and then take the car out alone for 15-20 minutes. After the drive, return the car and then go home/back to work to fire off emails to the online sales reps"<
So, the person at the front desk, person that preps the car and the on-line sales reps all work for free? Who pays that overhead?
>"BTW, I understand business (I happened to attend business school) and if I'm running a business I want to make maximum profit while hopefully providing the best customer service customers have experienced (assuming I'm manufacturing/selling a niche or upscale good). Good CRM goes a long, long way and can often make up for high prices (look at the big boys in the auto industry, MB/Lexus/Infiniti, etc). Make cash and make the experience so pleasant that the rubes'll keep coming back. I get it. Doesn't mean I want to return the favor to other companies though">
Ah, NOW I get it: you want to have your cake and eat it too! Let me know when they get to the part in business school that explains the economic theory/practice that makes that possible. I think that B-school of yours may be on to something even better than perpetual motion!
Sarcastically yours,
HiC
For reference, I will be trading in a 1999 TL, so fair treatment on trade-ins is a matter of concern.
The Sewell salesdude spent a lot of time with my wife and me, but he kind of rushed us through the test drive (first day they had the cars--he had not even driven it yet!). I really liked the car. I am a partially ex-street-racer and appreciated the extra power, torque and lower weight as compared to the TL. I didn't nail it off the line, so I'm not sure how well it would do a a stoplight race. I did take the Texas U-Turn on LBJ at about 45 and the car felt pretty damn good. My wife and I both felt the G35 has a more classy interior than the TL. It really made the "upscale Accord" thing obvious, and that is from a long term TL owner. I'm a pretty big dude shoulder width wise, but relatively short (5'9") and I could very easily get comfortable in the all the seats.
Make mine Desert Platinum, Charcoal, Premium Package, and Nav.
Dallas is a congested concrete highway city, and my butt is getting too old and tender so I think I will forgo the sport package and manual transmission. (God, this is from a guy who had a Cobra with a blower and street slicks!)
Call Danny Mayer at Grubbs Infiniti. Super guy and it has been posted that he is discounting off of MSRP now. Just got back from there and they have 20 or so on the floor.
Don't worry about stop light, you will be pleasantly surprised especially driving it with the stick. Good luck in your purchase let us know when you get it
I'm pretty busy right now with work (a good thing considering I'm in telecomm), so I may not get around to buying for a month or so, but that should get me a chance to test the sport package.
It looks like desert platinum is going to be the common color on this car (same thing happened with the Maxima).
I imagine that most of the color options can be found on other Infinitis, so you can see them even it it isn't on a G.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Has anyone else found it to be a problem ?
Also, I have to say that when I got back into my 330Ci I felt like my bimmer was a sports car in comparison both from the Bimmer sport seats down to the aggressive looks when compared to the G35.
I could understand how the Acura TL owners (or shoppers) will be loving the Infiniti. It has an air of luxury around it. The bimmer on the other hand is a sports car in a Coupe or Sedan body. It's just a little more hard core in my book.
This is not a knock to the G35 because overall I was really impressed with it. Now I have to take the time to Drive it !!!
I don't profess to be a car and motor expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I would just like to have a plausible explanation of how it is possible to break-in a motor at the factory right after it's construction and negate the need for the driving protocol that I thought was critically important to all new vehicles?
Proper mating of parts, heat cycling, varying RPM to reduce single point wear... How can these things be reproduced without actually driving the car on the road? Do they place each motor on a test stand and run it thru a computerized load schedule to simulate the first 500 miles? or haowver long they think it takes to get the engine running smoothly and mated properly? I would think that to be prohibitively expensive, and the regime of the super-exotic marques...
Not meaning to be condescending to anyone posting here... I would just really like to have an explanation of how this pre-break-in process works...
Thanks in Advance...
David
I have about a month before I have to turn in my lease, and this was an extremely hard car to find configured the way I wanted. I found two great dealers that went the extra mile to try and find one for me - Jackie Cooper Imports in Tulsa and Orr Automotive in Shreveport. The manager in Tulsa did a national search for the car, but couldn't find the exact configuration. He offered me a slightly different configuration which I was seriously considering. He even offered to ship the car to me for free, which was very cool. But in the end the guys in Shreveport hit the grand slam and pulled through for me. I had given up hope, but I got the call right before I left the office this evening telling me they had found the car exactly the way I wanted it and had already made the trade for it. Awesome! I'm a happy camper tonight.
These were two of the most pleasant and helpful dealers I have worked with. I would recommend either of them.
thanks
2002 Aurora 3.5L, $25300 after all rebates and loyalty certificate, 5-year warranty;
2003 Infiniti G35 w/leather, $26950, 4-year warranty;
2002 Maxima GLE plus 4 splash guards, $23500, 3-year warranty.
All things considered, which one is the best deal?
Thanks in advance.
Well, it really depends on what timeline you are looking at for your purchase.
First, I would not recommend the Oldsmobile Aurora - GM killed off that division and there will no longer be an Oldsmobile in the next couple of years - do you really want to deal with a different GM dealer for your after-sales service?
The G35 is the newest model right now, and from the many discussions on these forums, it looks like you would be paying very close to MSRP - which is not necessarily bad - because this car represents tremendous value.
The Maxima is going to be completely redesigned for 2003 - look for it to be introduced at the 2003 Detroit auto show. No details are available - rumors range from an Volkswagen Passat/Audi A4 fighter, all the way to a Toyota Avalon competitor. But the rumors are just that - RUMOURS. Either way, you may be able to get a good deal on a current Maxima.
But remeber that the Aurora and the Maxima are FWD cars, and the G35 is RWD - a very BIG difference IMO.
Finally, test drive all of them, and buy the one that "speaks" to your soul. It is your money, it will be your car. Buy what you like.
How can you lose with the splash guards? Go with the Maxima! ;-)
All three are great cars.
G35 RWD (best handling), new design, great infiniti quality and service, a bit too small;
Aurora, best style of three IMO, the most luxurious, better handing than Maxima, dead car walking;
Maxima, good quality, good power, enough luxury and size, great value, less attractive personality, redesign coming.
What else? Decisions...hmm...
Where did you find a G35 with leather for $26,950?
Also remember you can't beat the reliability of Infiniti cars in general. The Maxima also gets rated fairly well in that regard. However, Consumer Reports gives the Aurora the black mark of death for predicted reliability. From my perspective that would make me think twice about the Aurora. Reliability is one of the reasons I ruled out the CTS and chose to buy the G35 instead. Granted, nobody knows how reliable the CTS will be, but when you look at Cadillac's track record it makes you wonder. (And nobody knows how reliable the G35 will be either, but when you look at Infiniti's track record, it makes you feel pretty confident.)
It's just something to consider. But at the end of the day ask yourself which one makes you excited about buying it. Which one will you feel proud about driving home? That's the one you should buy.
Anyone know if and how the VDC would impact the sports - especially in turns? Does the VDC (if on) control the hard turn before you would even fell effect of the suspension kick in?
The sad part about my whole test drive experience was the pathetic dealer. They'd gotten several cars in during the week (maybe 10 total) and people were in picking them up that afternoon - for a total about 6 deliveries within a few hours. The salesmen immediately went into 'blood in the water' mode and telling everyone that these cars would be 2-4K over MSRP soon and you better buy today. Great, I can get this down at a GM dealer. So much for any pretense of professionalism. Of course, this dealership is more like a morgue on any other day. To make matters worse, I have had a car on order with these morons since early January. They have always said that a handshake was fine, their word was good, and did not want a deposit. Today they want a deposit for a car they still can't deliver 'til late April.
As far as overall sport ride and performance goes, I would take a BMW 330 (with sports pack) over the G35 - no question. A 328 would be a tougher choice. The G35 is better than the 323 and 325. In my experience, that would also put it ahead of the 525 and 528. Of course, for the money, the G35 is the better overall value.
Anyone else finding dealers slipping into 'sleaze' mode?
On the other hand, I have been very excited for the G35 for QUITE some time and I expect the resale value to be very good.
Maxima GLE, much improved, leather, xenon lights and bose, etc. all standard, AND, WIFE find it ridiculous to spend more than $24000 for a car primarily for commute!
Now you know why I have a headache.
Thank you all. Keep on the good job of giving me more reasons!
Happy Motoring,
DL
J1G35 - You are correct about the lurching of the G35. The auto tranny is not as smooth as I had hoped. Infiniti stated this is the same tranny as the Q45 but test drive that one and it is much, much smoother. Performance cars like the BMW 330i, Acura TL-S and Lexus IS300 do not have this same "lunge" feeling when shifting. The G35 tranny feels like the same one in the I35 with an extra gear + sport shift. The 6 speed manual will clear this issue up for me and provide me with more control of the wonderful VQ engine. Question for me is will I wait the 12-14 months that Infiniti has now told me it will take before the 6 speed sedan is available...
- this is the first time I have heard anything like that - an Aurora is a boat compared to the Maxima, especially the SE. Cannot understand why anyone who is looking for a driver's car would even consider an Aurora as an alternative to a Maxima or G35.
I agree with you about the signal lights on the mirrors, that has always been a big turn on for me, however our mirrors are so small that I do not think they would have the same effect as those we see on the other cars you mentioned. Also the signal lights are there more to please other drivers that see them in action, we, driving our own cars do not get anything out of them.
Enjoy the car, I know one thing , it is going to be very difficult for you to hold back from firmly stepping on the gas in the next little while. I have a running battle going with my foot which I am loosing and my foot is winning.
I am enjoying this vehicle so much.
A word of caution to those reading this. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER BUYING A DEMO. I know someone else posted this caution earlier so I am not taking any credit for it. These demo's are having the
s_ _ t kicked out of them by everyone wanting to test the limits of the car, it will have to have an effect on the cars down the road.
Let me know your driving experiences with your new G, also are you considering a darker Tint for the windows?
Enjoy, I know I am