I currently have a 2000 BMW 540i 6 speed. Amazing handling and performance, though reliability has been poor. I test drove the M35 AWD and was seriously impressed. Overall the car just seems perfect. My only concern before pulling the trigger is identifying what kind of problems people might be having with it. I found this thread a concern:

zerothread/161594

I've read every review I could find on the car and found nothing but glowing reports, even from Consumer Reports which ranked it extremely highly and predict reliability should be excellent.

Are there other issues I should be aware of before taking the plunge on this car? My current choice is a Diamond Graphite / Graphite Leather/Rosewood M35X with Journey, Technology and Sirius. I would like to also hook my iPod Nano into it; wasn't sure if I could do that stock or needed an adaptor of some type.

Thanks in advance for any feedback; this seems to be the most active of the M35 boards out there.

--David

Your choice is the most popular in the midwest. If you want to be a little different choose a different color combo. Package is perfect, sirus is twice what xm is.

As for the noise on the M45. If you have 335 hp, it doesn't like to go slow. Any car with this amount of horse power and people who abuse it will have problems.

As for having one lemon lawed. You can cry wolf on the west coast and it will happen no questions asked. I just recently purchased a lemon law G35 6MT coupe at auction. It was lemon lawed for not going into park.

Welcome to NICO, David!

dralison wrote:I currently have a 2000 BMW 540i 6 speed. Amazing handling and performance, though reliability has been poor. I test drove the M35 AWD and was seriously impressed. Overall the car just seems perfect. My only concern before pulling the trigger is identifying what kind of problems people might be having with it. I found this thread a concern:

zerothread/161594

I've read every review I could find on the car and found nothing but glowing reports, even from Consumer Reports which ranked it extremely highly and predict reliability should be excellent.

I am glad you have searched and read the forum posts!

Yes, the car is awesome. The rattling is indeed one of the problems that some folks are having with it. It would be worth investigating the specific car you get for this, because it does not appear to be endemic to the model per se (as far as I can tell from the people posting here).

I do not know the answer to your iPod question, so I hope others chime in!

dralison wrote:Thanks in advance for any feedback; this seems to be the most active of the M35 boards out there.

Good! Please contribute to our group, regardless of whether you become an M owner, and we will continue being the most active place for M information!

Z

I have not observed any of the rattling reported (had my M45 Sport for about 4 months and 3000 miles now). So hopefully it's a "red herring". The M45 Sport has a pretty stiff suspension setup as well so rattles should surface early. As for chassis rigidity, there are other posts demonstrating that this assertion is a load of #x%$.

Otoh, I would have thought the M35 power would be a bit disappointing coming from a 540i. If not, go for it. If you try the 45, chances are you'll get hooked into the extra $$ .

Bugaboo wrote:Your choice is the most popular in the midwest. If you want to be a little different choose a different color combo. Package is perfect, sirus is twice what xm is.

Living in the Washington DC metro area I rarely if ever see Infinitis; when I do they are usually G35s. My BMW is Oxford green (very dark) and is miserable to keep clean so I'm looking for a lighter color. The Serengeti sand was my first choice but it just seems a little plain. The Diamond Graphite looks like the classiest looking color to me that stays relatively clean.

Thanks man...

jshattner wrote:Otoh, I would have thought the M35 power would be a bit disappointing coming from a 540i. If not, go for it. If you try the 45, chances are you'll get hooked into the extra $$ .

I already drive far too fast in the BMW so I figured the M35 might slow me down a bit. There is a part of me that does want to just jump to the M45 and just forget what the wife will say about the extra cost. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for the feedback...

...my M has been flawless. I cannot make it make "the rear end rattle"...I've tried. The body is as tight as a tank over all road surfaces. I am a long time Saab owner/fan, and I cannot find any fault with this Infiniti. My ONLY complaint is with the lack of "call-waitng" in the blue tooth package...hopefully there will soon be a solution from Infiniti, or thye aftermarket.I have the bourbon interior, and love it...very sporty with the tan and black. I recieve compliments on this car every day.The local dealer could take service depatment lessons from the saab dealer...but then they probably haven't had as much practice!!I have long held the Saab 9000T as the ultimate all around sedan (I've had 6)..the M may surpass it..if it only had a hatch! I love the interior room and tall seat height..better than anything currently available. The handling is superb, but the interior becomes more valuable to a high mileage driver, as time goes on...gas mileage is only fair...but I don't have to spin up the turbo!I never had a BMW, but this M is no compromise. BTW, NOTHING that GM/Saab offers even comes close...

I just traded my 2002 540i6 for an M35x w/journey and tech packages. After two weeks of driving the M, I would say that it is a VERY nice car, but it is not a BMW. The M handles very well and I would say that the interior along with all of the techie toys is a step up from the BMW. Also I'm sure that reliability is likely to be better with the M.

If I hadn't previously owned the V-8 powered bimmer, I would have said that the M power is great. However, the BMW engine is just sooo much smoother and has a pleasant growl under acceleration. The M is more of a very (too) loud roar. The BMW also has an edge in handling, but not by much.

So far, gas mileage of the M35x is terrible! I'm average about 16mpg in mixed suburban driving. The 540 averaged 19-20 in the same environment!

Basically, the M is a great value for the money (close to $10K less than a similarly equipped 5). I chose the M35 over the M45 because of a great lease rate ($595+tax, $1600 total drive-away, 15000 miles/yr, 2-yrs) for M35x. In many ways this is a great car, but IMHO it still doesn't quite match up to a BMW in pure driving experience.

your car probably wont get optimal mielage until it gets really broken in (more than 3k miels)..

Obviously you didnt drive the M45 because you would have bought it instead of the M35.

Great feedback - thanks JDMass.

I test drove an M45 Sport yesterday, then immediately test drove an M35X. While the M45 has excellent acceleration I feel my 540/6 Sport has a slight edge. I think BMW is what it is because of the engines and handling. The handling on the M45 was excellent - on par with my bimmer from my perspective. The interior is where the two are miles apart; the Infiniti is hands down better than the BMW. My bimmer is fully loaded w/ Nav, CD changer, etc. Granted it's a 6 year old car now but when I was shopping new BMWs I noticed that the interiors seemed plain and non-ergonomic. When I slide into the cockpit of the M35/45 I am just seriously impressed.

I don't think the loss of acceleration will be a big issue for me and the M35X seemed to pull pretty strong so I will likely go that route.

One outstanding concern is gas mileage. My 540 currently gets 18.6 mixed, 28mpg highway. I have seen the EPA numbers for the M35 - what are you current owners seeing?

Thanks for all the feedback!

I dont thinkyou will seet 28MPG highway..... From most owners experiences here the M35 and m45 are pretty close, getting 22-25MPG highway.....

Im sure the 6 speed bimmer has a slight edge, i would expect it to seeing how its got one more gear...

I knew it would get less hwy mileage - just a little concerned with some reports I am seeing from people averaging 15-16mpg in mixed driving initially. Hopefully that's a break in issue.

It is for the most part.....

Still, the difference between 16 and 18MPG is hardly noticeable!!! its mainly mental.. Hell I dont tell THAT much difference between 18 and 21MPG, which is ranges ive seen in highway mileage on my Q..

Dont be so concerned with gas mileage.. Just fill it up!

I'm not sure what the conversations are to MPG, but I'm getting about 14-16 liters per 100km of fuel used; the stupid part is the history graph only displays upto 15L/100km

Granted I drive drive it fairly hard, and I only have 12300km on my car;tk

I get 17-18 MPG with mixed driving...Highway/City. Its just plain aweful for a V6. I got better gas milage in my 508 HP Z06 Vette. I love my car but the gas sucks. Infiniti needs to do a better job in this area.

Same here tkeskic. The history chart is just dumb in l/100k. That equates to about 15mpg (US) btw, which is pretty poor compared to my '03 E500. On pure hiway trips, the M45 does much better, however. I've been at about 9.2l/100k in extended highway driving. So far I have about 7,000km (4500mi) on the car, so I'm not too optimistic it'll improve much from here...

Yeah, the fuel consulption is a little silly - only because its advertised that it much better than this - if they put 15l/100k on the sticker I likly would have purched it anyways (if all other were as honest) - but to be this far off on the spec is silly;

The average fuel ratings appear to be about 60% accurate on most cars in north america, and I think that if you drove like an old lady you could get close the the as adervertised rates;

its a dam good thing that the car is fun, and sexy or this would be a major piss off;tk