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
In her car, the screen "scrolls" when the information is too long for the display. In my car, it just displays as much of the info as it can and cuts off the rest. I don't have the nav system, but I think the nav-equipped cars use the nav screen to display sat radio info, which might allow more info to be displayed at a time.
Also, in my mom's car, "XM" has a dedicated button, so I can quickly change from the "XM1" presets to the "XM 2" presets and back to "XM1." In the G, if I'm on "XM2," I need to go through "AM," "FM1" and "FM2" before I get to "XM1" again.
They're just little things, but they can be slightly annoying sometimes. That said, I enjoy having the sat radio.
That might be because the sat radio is dealer installed; I don't know. I guess the way to prove this would be to check out a car on the lot with a factory sat installation to see if the radio button cycles through FM 1 & 2 and then Sat 1 & 2. Also to check if the sat information displays on the nav screen.
Roll
Check out the accesories section of the Infiniti website at
http://www.infiniti.com/g_coupe/dealer_accessories.html#
Click on "download accessories e-brochure." Scroll down to the sat radio portion (page 4 of the pdf). There you will see a nav screen displaying sat radio information.
Roll
Man, there are so many decisions to make when buying a new car!
Okay, I've got the color nailed down, I don't want the splash guards, and I've decided about the satellite radio.
Now I'm wondering if I should buy the car (standard suspension, 17" wheels) the dealer is offering, or try to find the same combination of colors and options, but with a sport-tuned suspension.
Does the car have sporty enough handling without the sport suspension?
For those of you who don't have the sport suspension, do you wish you had gotten it? For those of you who do have it, is it rough riding, and do you wish you had the standard suspension?
Thanks for bearing with me. I just don't want to have any regrets with the car.
I don't have the sport tuned suspension. I run 17s in the winter with winter tires and 18s in the summer. With the 18s the car is plenty firm and I don't get wishy washy cornering. Even without the sporttuned suspension I still spill my coffee once in a while.
I've got to start getting a Grande in a Venti cup.
Now that's just my opinion, others will no doubt feel differently.
I do usually track my cars but I have not had the Coupe out on the track so I can't say for sure just how it handles without the sport suspension.
Roll
I've got the 17s and the standard suspension, and I have no complaints. I think my car has a very good compromise between ride and handling.
For me, 17" tires are expensive enough. 19" tires have got to be REALLY expensive. And you're more likely to blow out a 19" tire if you hit a pothole than a 17".
In my last car (an '03 Acura CL-S with 17s) I hit a pothole and had a blowout, and it made for a very expensive afternoon.
If it's a decision you're really worried about regretting, you may want to take a back-to-back test drive.
On the highway, I wouldn't give it up for anything. To be honest, I regretted the decision for the first week, then got used to it and I am now glad I bought it. Most important is that it comes with the limited slip differential,
RG
Winter tires have come a long way since the days of large cleats on the rear wheels only. If you are driving in cold weather, (regardless of the amount of snow you get), I recommend a set of 4 winter tires. Winter tires these days are made with a compound that stays flexible and “grippy” in the cold weather. Your summer tires won’t. I also recommend you stay away from the low profile, wide tires for winter. What works well on warm dry pavement, does not work on slippery cold streets. (that’s why they use tall skinny tractor tires for the mud around the farm). Oh, and in my opinion, “all season” tires are one of those marketing gimmicks that don’t perform really well in either season.
As usual, others may think differently. J
Roll
I live in San Francisco, so no worry about snow. I am concerned, however, about the poor quality of some of the streets around here.
I think I'll go for balance, and get the standard suspension and 17" wheels. I can always change to 18" later on if I want a little more handling.
Well, I'm off to the dealership this weekend. Hope they still have the car I want for invoice. It's gonna feel weird cutting a check for 34K. Have never come close to buying anything this expensive.
Shouldn't I test the car first? Or should I not worry about it, since it's brand new, and I've already driven the dealer demo?
The dealership seems to be saying two things. One minute they say I can get my money back if I'm not satisfied, and next they say they will fix any scratches, problems, etc., and give me a free loaner car. If I can get my money back if I'm not satisfied, what's the point of the purchase agreement? Just transfer the car (for $200, of course), and if I like it, I buy it!
Of course, I could do some legwork, and find out just which Northern California dealership has the car, and then buy it there, but this salesman has been very nice to me, even taking me for a half-hour test drive, and not putting any pressure on me. (Maybe he can't bend this transfer rule, or maybe his bosses are behind the firm stance). I'd like him to get the credit for the sale. Also, I'm not sure the mystery dealership would sell it for invoice.
What do you guys think?
That's pretty much what I'm thinking.
When I bought my car in 2005, Infiniti was posting all dealer inventory online, so I found the car I wanted and then went to the dealer that had it (which happened to be about 90 miles away). Since Infiniti doesn't post inventory on the web anymore (probably because dealers complained about losing sales within their territories), you may have to go the transfer route. I'd be reluctant to sign anything until seeing the car up close, and preferably, having driven it, at least around the block.
RG
My Ivory had 12 miles on the odo right off the truck, but the dark glass folks were across town so by the time I actually got the car it had 36 miles on the odo.
Roll
I had nightmares of "interested buyers" test driving the car before I got it just to see "what it would do". Yikes.
I typically follow the break-in recommendation even though I understand the benefits of following a break-in protocol is debatable these days.
I think the best way to effect the transfer is if both the dealership and I have something to lose, i.e., I could lose $200, and they could be stuck with an end of the model year car. I'm not going to sign anything before I see the car.
I'll have to make sure and talk price before the transfer, however. If I wait, then the dealership knows I already have $200 invested, and will be less willing to deal. (The salesman, whom I trust, has told me I could get it for invoice. It's his bosses that concern me).
I think the first thing I'll do is find out which dealership has the car. Knowledge is power.
Any suggestions? What would you all choose to do.
I COMPLETELY understand how frustrating and annoying something like that can be, but I truly suspect you will regret it.
Body shops are messy places. The paint may end up not being a perfect match or you could end up with orange peel, or you could end up with overspray who-knows-where. And your car will suffer an instant resale value hit just from the simple fact that it's been repainted, no matter how good a job they do.
I'm talking from experience here. I had a minor parking lot fender bender "fixed" at my dealer's body shop. What was supposed to take 4 days turned into 6 weeks in the shop, and I'm still not happy. Frankly, I'm so disgusted I've tried trading in the car twice, but ended up keeping it rather than taking a $6k hit.
Trust me, living with this is the better of two lousy options.
As crappy as today's water-based, green-friendly paint is, it's less bad if it's put on at the factory.
You will not get a bumper replacement that was painted the same way. Either way, a body shop will get the job. They try, but. . .
Don't touch it. You'll . . . well, make it worse.
Leave it alone.....you're asking for problems and you're going to get nothing but frustration and heartache. Just learn to live with it. I absolutely guarantee you, no one will know its there but you.
Roll
I went to the dealership today, and it went better than I expected. They agreed to transfer the car I want without a deposit, and without me signing anything. This is great. Now I can totally check out the car, drive it around the block, whatever, and then (hopefully) buy the car.
I even talked price with them today. We agreed on dealer invoice price, plus $200 for transferring the car from another dealership. I verified the invoice price with Consumer Reports.
I'm getting the Athens Blue, automatic, black interior, premium package, 17" wheels, and no splash guards. Total price, not counting taxes and registration, is $34,045. Not bad, huh?
I'm stoked. It will take a couple of days for them to get the car. I plan on taking Wednesday off from work, getting the car, putting on some inaugural wax, and then driving it around to show my friends.
Thanks for all the guidance.
Roll
With the new paints is waxing okay right away or does the paint need more time to dry?
I have no idea.
Roll
The 06 Ivory was reasonably clean on Sunday and so I decided to touch up the black spot on the front bumper directly under the grille and right in the center of the bumper. When the Ivory paint chips off the bumper it leaves a black spot.
I had ordered the Ivory paint from the dealer previously. The paint was delayed they said, as the supplier changed over to a new applicator system. So what I eventually got was two fancy looking paint bottles; one for the base coat and one for the top coat. After nearly 15 minutes of examining the bottles I finally figured out which was which. Look at the tiny font on the bottle for the product code. One says xxxx-bc and the other xxxx-tc. It would probably have been difficult to just write on the bottle Base Coat or Top Coat, which I completely understand.
Do remove the orange retainers in the bottles as instructed, (this is for those who know about touch up paint and don’t read instructions). The paint comes with duel applicators. On top is a tiny roller ball and if you screw the black cap off, the obligatory brush. The brush is ¼ inch wide and does not work well upside down. Surprise there, huh? I think the brush is for anyone wanting to paint the entire door, or maybe the deck lid after making repairs at home. The roller ball is a new idea, for me anyway. An executive must have been impressed with a new roller ball pen from Office Max and decided it was a good idea to adapt it to paint work. I was doubtful the roller ball was going to work well, however ..I must say that in real world application the roller ball worked worse than even I expected. For all the technological innovation over the last 20 years it seems the best applicator is still a toothpick and for us old guys, the use of a magnifier.
What you really want to know, I think, is how the Ivory paint is holding up as compared to the fragile Laser Red we all know so well. For point of reference the Ivory has been on the road for 3 months now and has a mix of highway and local travel for a total of 4850 miles. On close examination (on my back with my magnifiers on) I found numerous black dots on the front bumper. They seemed to be clustered at the bottom on the sides of the front bumper. Can’t say why. I used the roller ball and managed to fill the spots and a little of the countryside around each spot. The base coat is quite “white” and stood out but the top coat has an Ivory color and once applied the spots blended in very well. Next time I will be using a toothpick, (see above analysis).
The good news is that I don’t have a single spot on top. The hood, fenders, top, doors are all chip free. By this mileage my Laser Red was starting to look like it had been used in the filming of Bonnie and Clyde, (end scene). I never did get down on my back and check the bumper of the Red, ( I had plenty of spots to look at on top) so I can’t say if the Red had more or less spots on the bumper. I filled in about 15 very small spots on the Ivory bumper plus one medium spot in the center under the grille that originally caught my attention.
Hope you enjoyed the story, and if you’re my age, you might want to take two Aleve tablets immediately after finishing the touch up. No sense in suffering body aches that usually accompany a difficult repaint as described herein.
Roll
Roll
The interior and exterior styling based on the concept car should be very impressive,
This may be my next car
Cheers
Hey, do you, or does anybody else on this board, know how hard (or easy) it is to have a navigation system installed if it didn't come that way from the factory?
I'm starting to wish that the car I have coming had navigation. I found out from my co-worker today that navigation is more than just maps and directions to addresses. The system also contains all kinds of business names. So, if I'm in unfamiliar territory, and want to find the nearest Chevron, or Fresh Choice, or Holiday Inn, the navvy system will find it, and lead me to it. This is great. Seems like I'm always wondering, "Where is the nearest ______?"
Roll
I came to the conclusion that locally my NAV is nearly useless to me. That is to say, I make real use of it less than four times a year. And I found that I only really made solid use of it when I took the car out of town. However, since most of my travel is by air and then into a rental, a unit I can take with me makes a good deal more sense. My next car will be taken without NAV, most likely.
A unit I can take with me that docks to an integral cradle in my primary car makes the most sense of all! I sure hope auto industry folks actually read these forum posts from time to time. Hello? Anybody out there? Bueller?
;-]
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm afraid it's too late to try for a swap. I've already made a verbal commitment to the dealer to buy the car they are getting transferred (barring no flaws, of course). Even if they were willing to try swapping at this point, it seems like the combination I want (Athens Blue, black interior, AT, no splash guards, no sport suspension) is getting hard to find, as the 2006 gene pool is shrinking, at least here in Northern California.
wale:
Thanks for the info on the portable units. That eases my mind. Now I know that if I really want it, I can add it later. Plus, you make a really good point about using it in rental cars. I, too, usually fly when I go out of town.
Do the portable units you speak of have info on stores, restaurants, hotels, etc., like factory installs?
That's just the Garmin site; others are out there. They have a number of POI (Point Of Interest) options, including restaurant reviews and the like.
I can't pretend to be well up enough on specs to advise you, as I'm not in the market right now, but certainly I see less reason for me to own an inegrated system in my next car based on use. Were I, say, a realtor as I was in a previous incarnation many, many moons ago, I would no doubt have much more use for my built-in.
Docking portable. Too good an idea for general consumption, I'm afraid!
I am sold on GPS Navigation systems as I do travel often. This portable unit is perfect, small and very powerful. Can't say enough about it.
One complaint about the car companies is that they always show pictures of their cars with navi in marketing material, but the interior without navi is often much less desirable (the Acura TL comes to mind).
I have also tried GPS software for my iPAQ. Took it to Ireland last year. It worked fine but the maps of Ireland are limited to major and secondary roads. We were always on side roads it seemed and so "off the Map" for the iPAQ.
I rank GPS this way (my opinion only of course)
Manufacturer installed: larger easier to read screen, lot of features, (my favorite).
Large portable: (like the Street Pilot). updates regularly available, also has many features, more difficult to fiddle with as you drive, can be a nuisance sitting up on the dashboard. Theft enticement to passersby.
Small portable: (like the GPS software for a PDA), compact, easy to carry around, small screen can be annoying, lots of busy work to pull up exactly what you want to see at the magnification level you want.
If it's a budget issue I suggest a Garmin (highly rated) with as large a screen as you can stand to carry around or the largest screen you can get if you're going to leave it in the car. If you walk-about in strange cities all the time, a PDA might be a good choice.
If the budget isn't really an issue, all three are nice to have.
By the way, there is another reason to have GPS other than using it to get from point to point. It's a fun toy. :surprise:
Roll's point on theft is valid - it needs a convenient stowing locale when not in use, which, of course, makes it a tad less convenient.
Jtla's point on aesthetics is, unfortunately, dramtically valid! It ties also across some brands to packaging as well, as in "you can't get'A' without taking 'B'".
I sent the docking portable idea to Audi, since the S4 Avant tickled my fancy at the time. They sent me back a very nice form letter. I feel so, umm, connected!
I thought of clear plastic/vinyl seat covers but it would make my car look like my grandma's living room (LOL)!
Only drawback for me is that the conditioner has a sort of sweet tinge to its fragrance, as opposed the lanolin aroma of the Lexol. Processed animal fat and leather just seem like more legitimate inferences than botannicals and leather, IMO. So when I run out of the Meguiar's, I'll go get more Lexol.
Both product lines are quite good, and should keep your seats in great shape without having to resort to hiding or covering the cowhide.
Oh well, it's all good because I've since decided that I want navigation on the car, and the car that was to be transferred didn't have it. So now I'm back to searching. Might have to wait for the 2007s because the 2006 pool is shrinking.
Question for you guys. Does the fact that seat controls take up a part of the seat cushion make the seat uncomfortable? I didn't notice it until I read about it on here. Does you find it irritating on long drives? Part of me thinks that if it were a big problem, Infiniti would have changed it by now. After all, they're entering their fifth year of production on this model.
I'm usually OK for around an hour, then it begins to become annoying. At two hours, it is really bad.
They have moved them in the 07 sedan and hopefully in the 08 Coupe as well.
I notice the incursion of my seat space when I first get in, within a minute or two the brain tunes it out. I've had not long distance problems like raizelgs but 3 hours is the longest trip I've taken in the car. I have a 30 minute commute weekdays and only find the controls annoying for the first minute or so.
I finally stopped the belt from slipping out of the seat guide by closing the slot at the top with clear plastic tape. I hated hunting for the belt everyother time I got into the car. This was not a problem, by the way, on the 04-05s since they had a different guide mounted on the pillar as I recall.
Roll
Hmmm. Your responses leave me wondering what I should do. I'm 6'2", 190. I guess it boils down to how big one's butt is. Of course I can't take the car on a 3 hour test drive, so maybe a lengthy sit at the dealership is my best bet. They'll probably think I'm crazy if I sit there for 3 hours, though. Perhaps I should bring a book.
I've spent a lot of time on this car search, as it's my first brand new car. There aren't a lot of cars that fit my parameters--coupe, seats four, sorta fast, rear wheel drive, pistons (sorry RX8), under 35K for a base model. The only three I found were the G35, GTO, and Mustang. The Mustang wasn't comfortable, and didn't have many amenities. The GTO is lacking in visual appeal, and gets 11 MPG in the city according to Consumer Reports.
That leaves me with the G35. I guess I could wait for the 2008 model, but those won't come out until next summer, and I don't know if my 1983 Celica will last that long, even if I could put up with it, which is getting harder to do the more I think about the G35.
I can't speak for others but the Coupe is a great car and what you read on this board from me is nitpicking not deal breaking.
The problem is that you get accustomed to the good things and take them for granted; then after a bit start to focus in on the little stuff. If it's not perfect; sooner or later it shows up in a post.
My dealer let me take a car over a weekend, will yours do the same? Also, these seats have side bolsters that tend to make the feel snug. The controls are just part of the picture. IMO
Roll
I'm 5'9". The best thing I could do was lower the seat all the way down. It changes the angle of my hip/thigh and eases on the pressure. But now I feel like I'm driving in a pit. Oh well...
I am on 2 other G35 forums and haven't heard any or read any complaints about them on there.
I am 510 and about 160 lbs. Even tho my frame is small, I feel that the seats are fine_
the two things i do hope they remedy in the new coupe are the seat controls...and give this sucker about another half inch of headroom!