2005 G35x - My 2 years later review

[james t kirk]

I'm new here, but I thought I would post about my impressions of my 2005 G35x and how it's making out 2 years and 60,000 km later.

I purchased the car brand new from the dealer in April 2005. I opted for the car because it was what I WANTED, as opposed to the Altima, which is what would have been more logical perhaps.

Never the less, I had been lusting after at G35 for a few years and I finally decided why not.

2 years down the road, here are my observations:

Good

1. Syling. I love the look of the car.

2. Engine - perfect. Just performs beautifully.

3. Handling - perfect for me again. You always feel secure in the car.

4. All wheel drive - love it in the snow, it's a tank, not a car

5. Jazz, just the right amount of options and toys for me.

6. Bang for the buck. For the price, you get a hell of a lot of car. More than Lexus, more than BMW, more than Audi. The value is there.

Overall, the car has met or exceeded my expectations in the performance department. It's a blast to drive. 2 years later, I still get a thrill out of driving it. I feel very secure on the road.

Indifference

1. The Gage cluster - I'm not that keen on the orange, or the fact that there is no oil pressure gage.

2. The plastic lower grill on the front end of the car keeps coming unsnapped as do the plastic moldings under the doors. This grill is surprisingly chincy.

3. The speedo should be push button metric / imperial. Double numbers are silly in this day and age.

4. The compass would be better in the mirror.

5. I hate the location of the snow button.

6. Most importantly, the tranmission needs a sixth gear. The car simply revs too high at 120 km/hr. (Around 3,000 rpm) The close gear ratios offer superior performance, however, the car simply runs out of gears. A sixth gear could reduce the RPMs at higher speeds to a more tractable 2400 RPM say.

Bad

1. Rattles and Squeaks

When I was looking into the car, I had read reviews on Yahoo and many people were complaining that the car is a rattle trap. At the time I thought that they were exaggerating.

They are not.

The car is a rattle trap.

That is the single most disappointing feature to the car. Squeaks in the front consol, the door panels, the seats, the dash, and creaks in the front end.

Infiniti only offers 12 months warrantee on squeaks and rattles. I complained to the dealer about this being BS and they said, and I quote, "if it is broken, it's covered under the warrantee, however, if it has come loose, you have to pay for it"

"Come loose???"

Nothing should be coming loose on a 50,000 dollar car, that's nuts.

2. Reoccuring failures - my compression rods were replaced under warrantee at around 30,000 km. Now at 60,000 km, they are creaking again.

3. Air bag warning light that keeps going off. I've had it into the dealer 5 times now for a flashing air bag light. The first two times, they just reset the codes. When it kept happening, they started changing parts.

Knock on wood, they may have it now.

Summary

Love the car, but it is not perfect. A long way from perfect. Infiniti has the styling down pat, the performance down pat, but they really need to work on reliability and serviceability.

Would I buy another one? Maybe

Would I recommend the car? Definitely.

[zozoka1212]

Good details. I let you know in a year and half how the redisigned G35x is.

zozoka