Anyone use a G sedan as a family car?

[Sweet Lew]

Greetings all!

I just finished my car search for a family sedan to replace our 2003 Corolla. We have a 3 year old and one on the way and needed\wanted something a little safer, sportier, with AWD, and with ABS. After driving numerous sedans and small suvs, I really liked the G sedan the most.

My question is to the forum, are there any families with young kids that use the G as a family car? We have a Volvo XC70 as our family truckster for long trips, but wanted something for local trips and nights out without kids and something fun for me to drive.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Lew

[joe603]

Welcome to NICO!

I have a 2009 G37S Sedan...and a 3-year old. The backseat is larger than most other sports sedans. We looked at the 335i, A4 and CTS and the G was the best value and on par with the largest backseat (CTS). The 335i was about 12k more for the same car/options.

Everyday life is good with the G. The back doors open 90 degrees so getting the kid in and out is easier. We have a large, front-facing child seat that fits well...though I'd recommend seat protectors.

A child seat takes up half the backseat...so another 2 kids would be tight.

Hope this helps!

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks for the reply Joe.

It definitely helps! So it sounds like the rear is good for two child seats which works. A friend just got back to me who owns a G35S sedan and has 2 kids. He put both the large front facing seat and an infant carrier in the back seats with no issues.

[joe603]

Yup, 2 will fit fine. Depending on how tall you are, the one behind the driver may be tighter than the passenger.

[Sweet Lew]

Very true. I am 5'9" and when I set the seat to my liking and then sat in the rear seat I still had some room, but what i didn't like is that I couldn't get my feet under the seat which kind of sucks. However, my wife is 5' on a good day so no issues there!

[pae9132]

I have a 2003 sedan. It's not all wheel drive but it's a very good family car. One thing that hasn't been mentioned here yet is that besides the great back seat room it still has a huge trunk for the car that it is. Very good for grocery trips with a little fun along the way! The sedan also has a fold down arm rest in the middle of the 2 backseats which also comes with a first-aid kit inside of it.

[Q451990]

We use our '05 with one 2 year old. Other than the occasional kicking of the back of the passenger seat, it's not a problem. My son has actually gotten pretty good at climbing up into the car seat on his own, which probably wouldn't be possible with a taller car.

I sit with the driver's seat all the way back, so it would be a problem having two seats back there... especially if they were both rear facing, but forward facing would be fine for most people. At this point if we could stop the kicking, I could technically put my son behind me if we had a 2.0 come along that needed a rear facing seat.

Heath

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks for the reply!

Just had the wife test drive a 2008 G35x and she also loved it. Just trying to sell our Corolla before we start the process. You make a good point about the rear facing infant carrier. Was hoping to get that behind me. I've got short legs so I'm hoping it fits. Might have to bring it to the dealer for a test fit.

Also, do people like the 7speed trans in the 2009+ Gs? Would it be worth looking at a 2009 over a 2008? Power isn't a major factor to me since torque is the same in both the 35 and 37. The only other noticeable difference was the seat heaters on the 2009 have more variable settings where the 35 has Lo and HI

[Sweet Lew]

UPDATE:

So for giggles, I took our Corolla to the dealer to see what they would give me on trade in. Surprised, they offered what I wanted! I have my eye on a 2008 G35x with under 30k miles with Premium pkg. However, I do want an extended warranty of some sort. He said he could "CPO" it for an extra $1000 or do the Infiniti extended warranty for more money. Anyone use their extended plans or have a CPO? What would you do?

Thanks,

Lew

[mcbaes72]

UPDATE:

So for giggles, I took our Corolla to the dealer to see what they would give me on trade in. Surprised, they offered what I wanted! I have my eye on a 2008 G35x with under 30k miles with Premium pkg. However, I do want an extended warranty of some sort. He said he could "CPO" it for an extra $1000 or do the Infiniti extended warranty for more money. Anyone use their extended plans or have a CPO? What would you do?

Thanks,

Lew

Depends on how long/how many miles the CPO will cover and if it's from in-service date or date of sale. I'd recommend going with Infiniti Extended Warranty, that's what I did when I bought mine a few months ago. Called Courtney at AZ Ininiti (480-941-0055) and she offered me 6 yrs/82K mi. warranty for $1670 (cash price about $160 lower), but since I'm financing it, only had to pay 10% down and $88.41 for 17 months. Daniella in NJ Infiniti (732-567-5547) offered a similar price, but wanted 25% down. Either one, you can't go wrong and both are waaay cheaper than the local dealership offered me. Glad they're willing to give you what you wanted on the trade-in, makes the transaction easier if you were to pull the trigger on the G35x.

I use mine as a family sedan with wife and 4-yr old son mostly on the weekends, sometimes another passenger which would be four total. We have another roomy vehicle (V6 4Motion Passat Wagon), but I like driving my car since it's a little smaller and definitely more sportier even bone stock (before mods I'm planning). I like having the back up camera and music box features plus bluetooth for phone calls. Even though we already have a permanent AWD vehicle, I opted for an X sedan, no snow in my area but it rains a lot. I think it'd be a good family sedan, sporty enough even without the sport package (wheel gap sucks though), but practical enough for a daily driver or for family outings.

Keep us posted.

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks for the reply. Those prices on the Extended Warranty are amazing. The local dealer wanted something in the ballpark of $3500 for the same warranty!!

[Sweet Lew]

Hey All!

Corolla is sold and it is time to pick out a G. I found a 2008 G35xS with Premium pkg, just over 28k miles. The dealer has it priced at $23,900.That price seems very low for this car. KBB has it for over $26k. I'm looking at it today and if it checks out then it's mine. From the basic Auto Check, it looks like it was a leased car in NJ so a one owner car. Wondering if it's got cosmetic issues..I guess I'll see for myself later today.

Update.. It looks like they also have a 2009 G37x with Premium and 32k miles for $25k. Any reason to go with this car over the 35 if I can get them down to $23,900?

[scottsg35xs]

I have a 2008 G35xS with 47,000 on it. Personally I would buy the "S" over the G37 any day based on looks alone. I got my "S" with 45,000 on it for $22,000.00 which i thought was a good price. $24K for that mileage is also a good price so I wouldn't wait to long to think about that! I practically had to jump through hoops to get to this car first when it was on the lot. Someone else bought it right before me and luckily their finacing fell through Then he came back with more cash in hand but I was already signing away! I came out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee and honeslty for an SUV the backseat is either the same if not a little bigger in the Infiniti. I don't have to move up as far when my 7 year old sits behind me and my 4 year old is no issue at all. They have no problem climbing in either unlike the Jeep which had awful rear door openings. The heated seats are fine with hi and lo if you ask me? I will say they take a lot longer to heat up though over the Jeep but it is a more even heat in the seat itself. Go for the S!!!!!

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks Scott!

The xS has been on their lot for a couple of weeks now, so it makes me wonder if there is something up with it. I'll post back this afternoon.

Cheers!

Lew

[SVTCOBRA]

Lew,
make sure you are comfortable in the S's sport seats.
We loved the S except for the seats so we opted for a NON-S.

Note that the G35 Sedan can run on regular with no problems.
But, the G37 Sedan requires PREM.....reason I mention that is a while back when we had a gas shortage due to the hurricane in the gulf, either you could not get PREM and MID GRADE or it was very scarce. My Coupe REQUIRES premium, so it stayed parked for a while.

[Sweet Lew]

AH!

Thanks for that. The standard G seats were great, I have gained weight so maybe the S seats will be too snug. :P

[SVTCOBRA]

The bolsters on the base of the seat were not comfortable on my legs....you just need to take one on an extended drive.... Also, getting in and out of it, I would rub it so I'm sure after a while there would be some wear.

Oh, and I'm 6 foot 215....work out alot, but eat more....
Wife didn't like the seat either. She's 5 2.

[Sweet Lew]

Back from the dealer. Drove the S. You were right about the bolsters, but then I used the switches to adjust them and I was fine. That is the coolest option! Put a deposit down. Should pick it up early next week.

[SVTCOBRA]

Cool!!!
I liked the way the S drove better than the non-S, we just couldn't get past the seats.
We love our X! Great in the snow!!!
What color combo??
Pics when you get her.

[Sweet Lew]

Blue Slate on Graphite. Will post pics after I have it properly detailed. ;-)

[audtatious]

Congrats!

We use our '07 G35s as our family car all the time and I take it on business trips when I have to take customers out to lunch. 4 adults have never been a problem. Hell, once I took 3 customers to lunch in my coupe....because they wanted to take a ride in it to lunch. That was a tight fit but worked

[Sweet Lew]

Picking up the car tomorrow!!

[LuckyLuke]

I use the G37 coupe as a family car... hard to get the car seat in and out.. and stroller barely fit the trunk...

[Sweet Lew]

Yeah, well, that's why I went with a sedan. This won't be my main kid hauler. That's what the Volvo is for. We knew the trunk won't be good for much.

[SVTCOBRA]

Picking up the car tomorrow!!

PICS!!! Blue Slate has become one of my favorite colors.

[joe603]

Nice to see the progression of this thread! Congrats on the purchase!

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks All!

Our Corolla just drove away! Kind of sad to see it go. We had it for 9 years and was virtually bombproof.

Anyhoo, so I found a few things on the car I wanted fixed; cracked drivers side mirror, no floor mats and an issue with the passenger front seat. Got new mats and they replaced the side view mirror. However, the seat they won't fix. The little thigh cushion that extends looks to be messed up maybe. When it's closed, there is a good size gap between the cushion and the seat bolster. The drivers side does not have that. The salesman says they would need to replace the entire seat cushion. Why couldn't they just replace the thigh cushion? Pic for reference:



See how this one fist snug between the bolsters? The passenger one has a nice gap on the right side.

[Sweet Lew]

Update!!!

Picked up the car Friday and they fixed the seat! Guess they just needed to look at it before they should of said NO. OOOH...I hope this dealer's service dept is not going to try to weasel out of warranty work. They also told me the In Service date was 10/08 (the car was built in 02/08) so I guess I've got that going for me. After another walk around and checking inside, I give this car about an 8/10 inside and out. They did a decent job on touching up the rock chips on the hood, but I think I'll do a re-spray next year. Car definitely needs a complete detail. Just need to get a new gas cap (plastic string is broken that attaches the cap to the fuel door) and have the dash that covers the gauges looked at. It's pulled up at the corners. Otherwise the car is what I wanted.

One thing I've noticed already. I wish there was more torque up high. A 1:1 HP\TQ ratio would of been stellar in this car, but I'm ASSuming due to the AWD system, they needed to limit it.

Couple of N00B questions:

Anyone's dash rub against the windshield? It's sort of annoying but livable.

Do people usually go with dino oil every 3750 miles or run synth?

The car has 28,200 miles on it. How bad will I get bent over when I do the 30k miles service? Looks like a biggie.

Thanks All!

Lew

[joe603]

Good to see some of the issues are being worked. Let me try and answer some of your questions.

Haven't noticed the dash rubbing against the windshield...does it make noise?

I run synthetic...try to change it after 5k miles or 4-6 months

I'm not sure what's involved in the 30k service, but most of it I'm sure you could do yourself.

[Sweet Lew]

Joe,

Thanks for the reply. In regards to the dash, you can hear it rubbing against the glass over bumps. I can push down on that area of the dash (where the defroster vents are) and make it happen. Should the dash be that flimsy?

I'll also make the change to synthetic when I do the 30k service.