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Comments
May be with some *serious* R-Spec massaging, but otherwise no.
Since I am already gripeing anyway. There are also those of us out there that simply prefer cloth. To be fair, the cloth seats on this car are really nice. However, it is rediculous that this car can only be had in cloth in a stripped version. I wanted cloth and the premium package with power seats etc. The dealer tells me that this is not possible and his words are backed up by the fine print on the G35 brochure which states that the options are not available on the base (cloth) model. Marketing morons!
Actually, the phenomena I think you are seeing is more marketing than you might at first think. The G35 is aimed squarely at a particular age group and demographic, and I think the Infiniti designers had this firmly in mind when they chose "sedate" (what you term "boring") colours
The fact that you might be offended by their colour choices only means that you could be one of the number that fall outside their target audience. To be certain, the choices of colour ARE very muted, but on the bright side (no pun intended) they brighten way up as you flash by other cars at a high rate of speed and the doppler light shift kicks in
You just have to remember, this is a sedan that is in the mid 30k range, not outlandishly expensive, but enough to draw an older segment who think that the yellow, bright red, and electric purple cars that tool down the highway with enough plastic and airfoils to get a 737 airborne are insanely ridiculous looking...
The same reasons they chose the colours they chose are the exact same one's that led them to put a 5 speed auto in it rather than launching it with a 6 speed manny...
Regards,
Faenor/Dane4
Bottom line, I think Infiniti sees this car pulling up to the Tennis Club or the symphony, not as the fresh ride for clubbing in the city
Scott
By the way, I noticed that you spelled color - "colours". No doubt you have been overly influenced by Alexander Julian products. Please don't tell me you call a Coke a "soda" or a "pop". What on earth is going to happen to your generation? (kidding)
Lastly, I have a personal delima with white cars. I have owned two white cars and they were both bad lemons, now I am fearful to try it again. I am sure your G is beautiful and certainly hope it works out better than my last two whites did.
By the way, the spoiler does look good on this car!
There's no reason you can't get your dour colors, I just hoped for something with a bit more of an upscale look. Beige is upscale only if you're in the market for a Crown Vic or LeSabre. Now a blue-grey metallic...
On fresh alloy a guy has a pic of an electric blue G35 coupe at a car show. It's a bling bling color and it works on the car nicely. Hopefully Infiniti will at least let the coupe's buyers get creative.
Quite impressive acceleration for a 4-speed automatic. Should bode well for G35 automatic, which has a bit more power and 5-speed automatic. And very well for future G35 manual. But I don't know the difference in gearing and weight (their Altima weighed 3,273 pounds).
Paul
If Car and Driver gets 6.2 for the G35 Sedan, then the Coupe must be in the 5.7-5.9 range.
What do you guy's think?
-mike-
Now, for the professional opinion:
On Easter I was at some friends house for dinner. The host has owned an autobody shop for over thirty years. His quote "the best fit and finish I have seen in a car that didn't cost over 50 grand". Pretty nice compliment.
As for color, I have the emerald green and it is HIGHLY metalic and shows well. Why is everyone talking about BMW colors - 99% of the ones you see are either white or black.
PS to laysmackdown - you're entitled to your opinion but it is that fast and not only did Infiniti set a sales record in March, they expect to set another one in April. Wonder why that is? Maybe it's because they've had to up their annual sales forcast for the G35 twice and the car has only been on the market for less than a month. My opinion Lexus ES, Acura TL blah - boring, boring, boring.
PS On my dealer's storage lots, Infiniti has gone from about 5% of the storage area to about 15% and they are getting at least two shipments a week. My salesman says he is delivering an average of five cars a day. And that's just one salesman.
They are? That's news to me.
Sales increased 20% month over month from December 2000 to december 2001.
Infiniti outsells a number of brands including Audi, Jaguar, and Saab.
Infiniti sales have reached 60% of Lincoln sales and 50% of Cadillac sales.
World-beater numbers, no, but definately moving in the right direction which is more than can be said about a lot of companies.
Colors -- To me solid, deep real colors (non-metallic) are what I like. BMW's electric red and Honda/Accura red (don't know what it's called) both fill the bill. Would buy BRG or solid deep orange (VW & MGB in the 70's) in a heartbeat, but the selection that's offered these days by many manufacturers is really weak. Maybe Infiniti will figure it out in time for the coupe. Lincoln certainly hasn't, though I guess they finally got around to offering a (metallic, naturally) red this year.
I currently own a Mercedes convertible that I use on fine weather days primarily. The top is down 365 days a year. It stays garaged on dreary, rainy days. I was looking for something with some horsepower and nice enough creature features inside. I was not trying to confuse others on the highway with a Germanesque-type of body styling. I was looking for something additional with more trunk space and more rear leg space. It is a pleasant contrast for me... and still has a highly enjoyable horsepower.
I don't feel the target market is the SAME. If I want a BMV with bells and whistles, I could not possibly have purchased it for anything similar in price.
I'm in the market for a car as well, but something in the 20s or low 30s canadian. possibly an rsx type S. i really want a nissan but they don't have a coupe for that price range in canada now. altima V6 looking good but its too big for me and i need a sporty coupe for now.
this is our 4th nissan/infiniti, but i guess i'll be having an affair with acura for the next few years.
congrads on your purchase. i think that i'll be purchasing a set of snow tires for my dad's G35 in the winter. just to be on the safe side.
PS yes HP does effect 0-60, look at the S2000, Sube WRX... Torque is nice but it is relative to gearing, taller gears, more effective torque, hense HP wins.
I will only say this once more: The G35 is in no way the performance equivilent of a new M3, I doubt it will even be within a second of the 0-60 time (4.8s). No one has said anything to convince me otherwise.
http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=25;t=000384
Speculative, I'm still at a loss as to why you're so convinced that a manual G35 coupe (at least a hundred or two hundred pounds lighter than that sedan) with at least 275 HP and 260 lb-ft torque can't hit 60 in the mid to high 5s. If an auto-equipped Sedan ran to 60 in only 6.2 seconds in C&D's tests, why wouldn't a lighter, more powerful manual with wider tires hit 60 faster?
I disagree completely. The biggest giveaway for that article was that it was published on April 1 - that should tell you something about the writer.
Yes, Infiniti is hurting right now, but they are on the way up. In contrast, Daimler is hurting but they are on the way down - near term, atleast. And Ford - a winner?! Give me a break - they were flushed with cash in the 90s and they fumbled that opportunity.
No way Porsche is gonna disappear - they have the fattest margins of any other brand in the industry. More importantly, in the lean times Porsche relies on its engineering services to survive.
Last time I checked, the Q45 had less units sold than the, on its deathbed, Cadillac Eldorado. Some great sales phenomenom they have going on at Infiniti!
Fortunately, the three times its 'jumped' off the bike, the 'anchor' cable worked, and it didn't get away....
;-)
One neat thing about an 'independent' GPS...you can hook it into your PC and download/upload information, and it's realtively cheap...you just have to make sure it has a good line of sight to the sky while moving.
M45Guy
The one I own cost $200 and would be cheap at twice the price. It's worked very well in every car I've rented in North America and Europe, sitting on top of the steering column -- it's able to "see" just fine from under the hood that covers the speedometer. It's not in color and doesn't have built-in maps (does know all the cities & towns), but Garmin does have models with those capabilities.
M45Guy
The article on midsize sedans does rate the interior fit and finish of the Altima a D+. I have read several reports on the bad interior on the Altima and people who have seen it like Speedracer have even told me. The Altima has a great exterior and engine to bad Nissan let fan down with the interior. Hope they correct this or they will lose lots of customers.
The article by Automotive Design & Production is located at:
http://www.autofieldguide.com/columns/gary/0402oncar.html
MotorWeek #2133
With Host John Davis
PBS Broadcast Window Begins April 19, 2002
Roadtest of the Infiniti G35
Roadtest of the Toyota Corolla
Goss' Garage: Rack 'em up
High Road: Camaro
Long Term Roadtest Update: Subaru WRX
http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/upcomingshows.shtml
There are probably an infinite (no pun intended) number of reasons why the car comes in the colours it does, and it may be as simple as "Well sir, to cut costs in any way we can, we've identified that white and black are the least expensive colours" to which the design and market leads say "what?! we have to get a bit better than that! at least initially!" "Well sir, we still have some left over red, blue and silver from the Q45 run last year, and if we do some creative mixing, we might be able to get an interesting shade of green too" "Ok, you guys go with that..."
*smile*
Who knows what kind of talks go on in the design and marketing meetings... All I know is that I've been in production meetings of this type (software) and you never hear "Hey guys, what can we do to really piss off a segment of our users?"
I like the colours the car comes in, I think it looks great in all of them... THat must mean that I fall into their demographic whatever that is (or at least share the artists tastes) and if someone says "Christ! the colours are drab and ugly!" that must mean that they fall outside of the target that the colours were meant to appeal to. In the end, the car seems to be selling fairly well, at least initially, and so I would say that either they counted their beans correctly, or they selected colours that weren't so horrendous to people that it would prevent them from buying the car in wholesale numbers, even if they didn't like the colours.
I know the Bimmers and Mercedes' have some interesting and attractive colour choices, but my Brother (a BMW fanatic) tells me that you have to pay extra for the really nice colour combos.
This leads to another interesting explanation; What if you were in the G35 design meeting and they had this list of all the WHIZ-BANG features for a car written on a board, hundreds of items that would represent anyone's "dream car"
Then the project lead said "ok, we're going to build a car, it has to go from 0-60 in about 6 seconds, do about .85 on the skidpad, have interior noise level less than 70db at 70mph, it must have these interior dimensions... AND it has to MSRP for significantly less than 30k...
after everyone gasps, they all start to talk about things they can cut... Supercharger, AWD, Twin Turbo, Night vision device, built in hot-tub on and on and on...
Everywhere they can save money they cut things without putting a dent in the performance and comfort numbers...
Someone says "Lets make the car in crazy cool metallic colours so that people will KNOW its a G35!"
Then someone from paint says "Hang on... each car will cost 135 dollars more with those paint choices..."
"ok, we scratch the metallic 'cool' colors so then we can keep the 4 wheel multilink suspension...Next!"
I've been in design meetings, it goes very much like that and I would be very surprised if it wasn;t the same in car design meetings...
Identify what the customer wants most, what you can give them for what you know they want to pay... its a tight rope, and things fall off all the time.
The good news is also in these meetings comes the future enhancement ideas...
"once the car really takes off in sales, we can offer the G35-S type with 50 more horsepower and lots of cool color choices!"
Wow, long post
Faenor
I was just a bit thrown off balance because for the price the car is, I think they did a bang up job! Color is an important consideration of course, but 0-60 in less than 6 seconds with .84 skidpad and the cars lines so elegant?! No matter what anyone might say, pro or con, Infiniti did a grand job this go around...
I like my car
Faenor
In fact, I think I will go drive it right now and speed past some people with fancy colored cars!
I never said that the Infiniti should look like anything or look similar to anything, only that maybe the visual choices they made were based on some sample or cross section survey, this melded with a financial track of what was cost effective etc etc...
I have a white one, and to be honest, I think I would be happy with any of the colours and I've seen them all, and I think that the rear end looks good as well as the front and sides...
A rolling statement is a fine thing, but maybe they (Infiniti) got strapped with rolling statement vs cost vs reliability vs survey results... Something like that...
I have to be honest and say that I don't notice many people looking at my G35 at all (maybe I don't see them) though its lines very much appeal to me.
But when something rolls up behind me and sticks on my bumper, and I put my foot in it and rocket away, after I slow down, then they roll alongside and look for quite a while
You have a Mercedes convertible that you leave in teh garage and only drive on good weather days?
Faenor
Seriously, is there a car, other than BMW, that looks sharp in those colors? Maybe those colors are meant for BWMs. We need more colors, but ours.
Think of it! no worrying about waxing, and washing would just involve hosing it down...
Maybe Infiniti would even whack something off the price for the unfinished treatment, though I still think they would call it something marketable like Sunset Primer, or Gray Fury, or maybe even Warship Matte...
Door dings might even enhance the beauty of the car in this color!
Faenor
Faenor
Seriously, is there a car, other than BMW, that looks sharp in those colors? Maybe those colors are meant for BWMs. We need more colors, but ours.
MotorWeek #2133
With Host John Davis
PBS Broadcast Window Begins April 19, 2002
Roadtest of the Infiniti G35
Roadtest of the Toyota Corolla
Goss' Garage: Rack 'em up
High Road: Camaro
Long Term Roadtest Update: Subaru WRX
The complain is valid.
May be Infiniti could have initially offer more color choices as extra option like BMW, and make people pay for ..hmmm. special color? :O
I totally agree with Faenor's assessment, in reference to choices of color pick for the initial release of the G35. Infiniti wants to cater to the biggest audience and while keeping production cost down initially. That means sticking with conservative colors which doesn't "offend" the majority of the demographic whom are interested in this car.
If the only car left in the dealer's inventory, that has the right option I want, but was purple, forest green, banana yellow or lady pink color; I guarantee you that I will not buy it!! No way, no how!
plain and simple.
However, if the only car left in stock with the options I want,was a conservative color like Black, silver, dessert platinium, or twilight blue <---(some of G35's available color choices) I would buy it.
I'm sure as the G35 become more successful, you will see more choices, and <gasp> no extra charge like BMW would charge you for that special color your want
Tony,
I use a fuzz buster/jammer in the other lighter module.
I want to implement Blue Tooth for my cellular, use the second module for telephone and the thong cubby hole for the receiver.
As a road warrior, I would use the module in the armrest for the laptop with a Blue Tooth PC Card. Plus they have compatible wireless headsets!
Blue Wave technology is available as a less expensive alternative for wireless headsets and the headsets are slick.