2007 Infiniti G35 Sport: Get the Automatic

I'm assuming the picture of the tire shredding is coming from the long termer with 6 speed... sweet pic!

I'm confused what you meant here Scott..
 
"This past weekend I spent a day driving another G35 S with an auto box and was reminded just how fantastic the Infiniti is with two pedals. Then just yesterday I drove our long-termer and was reminded just how fantastic the Infiniti is with just two pedals. "
 
You put the manual has 2 pedals. If there is a clutch, aren't there 3 pedals?..

Tongue in cheek...

I like the idea of the paddles staying put rather than moving with the steering wheel. When the paddles in my car are moving all over the place, it makes it difficult to shift on curves and such. That little annoyance keeps me from using the paddles as much, and I really want to use them. I just get annoyed with them, shrug, and throw it back in drive.
 
But I've never driven a car where the paddles stay put, so maybe I'd hate that too for other reasons. Can anyone else weigh in on this? Do the Formula One cars have paddles that stay put or do they move with the steering wheel?

carfreak8394, since you're young, I'll try to explain it to you. :o)
 
Like ewilfong said, it's basically tongue-in-cheek.
 
When Scott drove the stickshift-equipped G35 S Sedan yesterday, he was reminded of how much better the the automatic-equipped G35 is (in his opinion...I have no opinion as I haven't ever driven a G35).

carfreak8394,
 
Dont you get it? When he drove the manual Long term Infiniti (which has 3 pedals) he was reminded of how fantastic the G is with two pedals, meaning he was reminded of the automatic car he drove before.

crowdb-
F1 cars have a whole grouping of buttons on the front of the steering wheel that moves with it. They can shift or make other adjustments to the car with their thumbs.

Sorry everyone, I guess I am nieve. I have never even driven a car, but this blog/website interests me, so if I get confused sometimes, sorry.
:[.

Donna, you can hustle an F1 car around a low speed corner with less than 45 degrees of steering wheel movement. A street car will take significantly more than that. That's going to considerably affect button/lever/paddle placement. I doubt an F1 car ever spends any time with its steering wheel logo upside down.

Wait wait! We're getting off topic here. An automatic, better than a standard, on an enthusiast web blog! It's the end of the world right? I can start looting right? I'm getting my crowbar....

It's such a shame for what would otherwise be an extraordinary car. A proper sports car should have a well-worked clutch.

No worries, carfreak8394! :o) I don't think everyone here knows (or remembers) you're only 13.

carfreak8394, it's cool to see younger kids liking cars, so I'm pretty impressed with you being only 13. Most kids my age dont even know what car their parents drive!
 
That said, I'm 18, and a carfreak for life!

Thanks. I have been interested in cars for a long time, and I think it would be awesome to do what you guys do when I grow up. :].

I found the G35 S with an auto to be miserable. The tranny is extremely slow to respond. Like Infiniti's lousy automatic, it robs the car of any fun.

Dear Mr. Blueguy,
 
If you drive a Bentley or a Ferrari or high end Mercedes (auto) then I accept your "put down" comment since those vehicles are sophisticated, are priced well above the G35 S auto and you are not comparing apples to apples.
 
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with the transmission of this car in auto or paddle shift mode and I agree with the Scott's post: It is responsive, not miserable, and depends on throttle settings revealing a degree of sophistication in the computing/engineering. Having owned one for 4 months, I am continually amazed at what Infiniti deliver at this price point. I even achieved 27 mpg on a long run back from Tahoe, CA.
 
To Infiniti and beyond .....

Wow...those pics of the interior make the G35 build quality look to be on a whole new level. Look at the fine lines of the aluminum butting up against the texturized rubber next to the auto shifter. I just want to rub my hands over it right now :)
 
I drive 32 miles to work one way, lot of highway. I was literally (as I just got to work) thinking about a used G35 in a couple of years. G35's equipped to 34k new are extremely well equipped, I imagine a 2 year old 26-27k G35 with a CPO warranty will be extremely attractive.
 
The only things holding me back are the poor gas mileage and the lack of a folding rear seat. Those are hard things to swallow in a potential family-sedan that would get 25k miles a year on it.
 
Joe

Thanks for answering the F1 questions. But I do wonder about the true usefulness of paddles, what with the steering wheel in a regular car requiring so much more movement to make turns. I guess they really are just a gimmick in production cars.

Buzz,
 
Compared to other automatics it may be fine. Compared to the speed of double-downshifts in a manual, no, the Infiniti setup, just like the Lexus IS's, is too slow. It will not respond at the blink of an eye to a double-tap. Drive a DSG-equipped car and tell me that Infiniti automatic can even come close to that kind of near-instant downshifting. It can't. We're talking a difference that's verifiable by simply counting how long it takes to go from 6th to 4th at 70 mph. Eons.

Crowb, in my experience it is better to shift when you're not turning anyway. Approach a turn, brake, heel-toe downshift, turn, apex, straighten out, accelerate, upshift.

Blueguy,
 
Ah yes, the inevitable fight over response time...
 
I'm in the middle of a five-car sport sedan comparison test which includes the two-pedal car Scott discussed in his blog and an auto-equipped 335i. And when comparing the two in direct, back-to-back drives, the Infiniti's automatic is quicker responding than the Beemer's slushbox. Box match revs very well, but when it comes to quick, aggressive downshifts, immediate response and overall hard-driving performance, the Infiniti can't be beat by another automatic in the segment.
 
Regarding the comparison to DSG: Scott's point was that the Infiniti automatic offers most of the benefits of DSG without its awkward behavior (obtuse low-speed control and uneven slow shifts) -- not that it offers a performance benefit measured in miliseconds, even though it's likely close enough that the difference doesn't matter.
 
Josh Jacquot
Senior road test editor

Joash, Gotcha. I'm a manual driver, so the DSG is the closest I've come to a car that can drop 2-3 gears quickly without the benefit of a third pedal.

There are cars that only come with two pedals? What are these electric self-shifting transmission devices you all speak of? Is it a robotic arm that moves the gear lever for you?

I drove a brand new (200 mi on the odo) one of these for about 750 miles, and I hate the automatic -- it's absolutely the least predictable automatic transmission I've ever driven. Downshifts will be summoned by entirely different amounts of throttle application (and it's often twitchy so that even the slightest throttle application will provoke a downshift, even though this car is at no loss for torque), shifts are sometimes butter smooth and sometimes not, with no rhyme or reason as to when; despite the electronic throttle with rev-matching capability torque isn't manged very well between gears during normal city driving so acceleration rates aren't the same before and after upshifts; resuming the cruise control at highway speeds ALWAYS provokes a downshift (the only predictable thing about it), even if the car was already traveling the same speed as the cruise was set to... I could go on and on. A short drive in this car doesn't necessarily reveal these flaws, but they're exceedingly obnoxious after driving it for a while.
  
The 5-speed auto is so bad I just assumed the it was a stopgap until they can drop in a RWD version of the CVT in the '07 Maxima -- THAT is a good transmission (and before I drove the '07 Maxima I absolutely loathed CVTs). Sounds like there's no good transmission for this car.

Dear Mr Blueguy,
 
Thank you for your comments and I see where you are coming from. Okay, what DSG-equipped car do you recommend? The VW golf GTI/Audi A3 has the DSG and has been given good reviews. I would like to be enlightened here and will do a test drive. Please give me a couple of suggestions.
 
My other car is a Mazda RX-8 6-spd and my previous cars have all been manuals including the sublime Mazda Miata (the best shifting manual car I have ever owned). The G35 S (aka Nissan Skyline) is so effortless to drive that leaving it in auto mode (vs paddle shift) probably cannot be improved upon in terms of fast shifting (agreeing with the comments of Josh Jacquot). But I bought this car to keep my options open and like the paddle shifters.
 
You might argue that the auto is a less involving experience but in our CA Bay area traffic congestion the auto makes a lot of sense for a large fraction of time behind the wheel unless you like rowing the gearbox.
 
Also if you compare the acceleration times of the G35 manual vs the auto there is virtually no difference.
 
I would mention that the shift times in paddle mode are dependent on throttle openings and I am still learning. This car will shift very aggressively with heavy throttle settings if you want to use the full power. Also the initial throttle response is a little non-linear in power delivery. But the car is faster to 60 mph than the 1970s Italian exotic the Lamborghini Countach.
 
PS: Esoterica, do you have a lead foot or restless leg syndrome? Just wondering from your post.
 
Get the Buzz on the new 2009 Nissan Skyline GT-R .....

Buzzliteyear,
 So, a) you admit that you're not only *not* comparing the car to any of its contemporaries when you laud its transmission, but that your automatic transmission points of reference are also limited since all your prior cars have been manuals; b) you admit that in four months you have yet to "learn" how long the transmission takes to shift during different driving scenarios (the very definition of "unpredictable"); and c) you admit the throttle response is non-linear (which again makes things unpredictable), and yet somehow not only is the drivetrain still flawless in your mind, but when I make salient, specific points regarding how irritating the transmission became to me over 700+ miles of driving (of which, coincidentally, my biggest complaint is unpredictability), instead of refuting any of my complaints you instead become defensive and imply my driving style is at fault?
  
Really?
  
Allow me to add that I *have* extensively driven contemporaneous automatic transmission models from BMW, Cadillac, Volvo, Acura, and Mercedes (so that makes one of the two of us), and *none* of them suffered from the issues that I described of the G35's transmission.
 
Infiniti has gotten a lot of things right with the new G35. That doesn't mean it's without significant flaws (in addition to the annoying automatic transmission I would also suggest the engine note evokes the sound of overly ripe avocados in a garbage disposal and the Bose audio system is only just better than terrible) compared to its peers.
 
Edit: and despite what you seem to be trying to imply, my complaints regarding the transmission are in regards to everyday driving -- for performance driving it's better, but that's not how anyone drives a car 95+% of the time. And as I also mentioned, the problems I have with the transmission aren't necessarily apparent on a test drive or other similarly short relationship with the car. For example, after driving most cars for a while, one develops muscle memory as to how far one has to stab the throttle to get "x" number of downshifts and (and "y" amount of acceleration) from any given speed. Not possible with the G35 AT.

My dad test drove one of these today and wow, it was amazing. It was 2007 Journey Sedan Automatic, with Navigation and Premium Packages, and it was awesome. It drove amazingly well and the automatic was very smooth. I sat in the back seat and it was a treat to ride in it.

Am I the only one wondering if the top photo would be possible with the 5AT? :o)