I have the feeling a convertible is in the future.

[boystar22]

Just got home from the Atlanta Auto Show and Infinity had a G37 Coupe Convertible on display and it was very very hot. Being that we share so many cues from the G's I would be willing to bet there is a convertible in the future.

I also sat in a 370z, and while it was quite nice as well, it really wasn't much different from a 350z. It wasn't near as nice as I had hoped for in person, but still very cool.

And I know everyone is tired of hearing about the Genesis Coupe, but the seats blow ours out of the water. I still hate that I ended up with cloth in the coupe, but I test drove a 3.5 with leather, and it was not nearly as nice as the Genesis' seats. The interior was quite nice, I wasn't wowed with the dash layout though.

OH! Almost forgot, they had a GT-R on the spinner too. =) It had the steering wheel on the right side too so I assume it was a direct for show import.

I actually when to the show with my dad, whom fell madly in-love with the Audi Q5 (which was sitting next to a $134k Audi R8 mmmmm that was hot.

Surprisingly I was also impressed with the 1-Series BMW's, granted they are way over priced for what your getting.

I could really kick myself for not taking the Digital SLR with me today, I didn't bother taking any camera phone pics since they always come out blurry anyway. I did get a preview brochure for the Drop-Top G though! If anyone wants me to scan it I can.

Modified by boystar22 at 10:21 PM 3/14/2009
Modified by boystar22 at 2:21 PM 3/15/2009

[Heels1010]

i don't think we will se a convertible anytime soon. infinity/nissan has finally come around to making a convertible G37 and I honestly think we have a better chance of seeing an SE-R version which I would rather have

[boystar22]

I've owned a convertible before, and I can safely say never again will I own a canvas top. The G has a hardtop thankfully, but still I'm perfectly happy with a roof. I do miss having a sunroof, but after hearing about everyones rattles I don't think I'm missing much. Plus I've noticed how much cooler the interior stays when you don't have one.

[LongBeachCoupe]

NICO got a chance to drive around the new g37 conv. actually.. there was an article on the nico frontpage about it... its down now for maintenence, ill post a link here when its back up....

I wouldnt plan on a conv anytime soon but hey "you never know" (ny lottery slogan)

[Hussain]

I do miss having a sunroof, but after hearing about everyones rattles I don't think I'm missing much.

wtf? where did you read that at? i have rattles with mine but thought i just got stuff a little lose from all my playing with exhaust sounds... could you please try and post a link if you could find it, i'd be interested to see what ppl did to solve the rattle....

the 370z is waaaay better then the 350z from the inside, it looks amazing.... and i actually looked up the specs on the 135i before it it does low 13's stock in the 1/4 mile with tons of potential... with just a little bit of money invested into it, you could have it in the 11's

[boystar22]

I don't recall the specific post(s) but from what I remember some of the headliner fasteners around the sunroof aren't actually pressed into the sheet-metal and that's what's causing some of the rattling.

The 1-Series were much nicer than I expected. The seats supported me fairly well, but they are highly bolstered and vary narrow, so larger people (like my father) found it fairly uncomfortable. Its nice for what it is, but when its practically the same price as a 3-Series, BMW completely missed the target mark.

By far at the BMW area my favorite was the X6, it's just plain hawt from every angle, I really love the slick-back roofline for an SUV. But at $65,000, it's also well out of most peoples target price range; especially since its basically an X5 in a more oddly shapen variety. Although I wouldn't expect 400hp out of a 4.4L Twin-turbo V8 to come cheaply... Good god I just looked up the specs, and its rated 0-60 in 5.3 for a +2 ton SUV. I would so flip that.

[Hussain]

lol ya the x6 is pretty nice, i saw someone driving one in my neighborhood the other day. if you really want one you could always do what my friends do, buy a used one in a couple years. my dad bought a 2003 E500 benz in 2007 for about $30,000. the thing cost $70,000 new! its the current body style so it still looks brand new. but it depreciated almost $10,000 a year from 2003 to 2007 lol

[3ugene]

Convertible? NOT going to happen. The G convert was made to target the hideous Lexus SC. Our Altima's are up against Accord and Mazda6 which both dont have converts.

[boystar22]

Yea I bought my Audi A4 in 2006 just after the body style switched, I got a 2002 which was off-lease and I did (and still do) prefer that body style over the newer one. They've just again switched over and the new one is an improvement, but I'm still not head over heels for it. Now the S/A5 is another story, that looks mighty fine.

It was a nice way to spend the day, gets you all worked up. Then you leave and trudge the mile walk back to the parking deck to your car and feel disappointed. I love my coupe, but dammit my tax refund is buying some leather! After sliding my butt in and out of all colors and types of subtle leather the cloth just isn't cutting it now.

[boystar22]

Convertible? NOT going to happen. The G convert was made to target the hideous Lexus SC. Our Altima's are up against Accord and Mazda6 which both dont have converts.

This is very true, and fortunately the only real competing Japanese convertible to us (the Solara) is dying this year, or so it's been said. Although while this isn't a direct competitor (since its american), the G6 vert' is out there. Granted I can't say GM will be around past this year to continue building it. It is at least similarly styled. I sat in one of those too, and the interior was quite nice, I can't get past the front end though.

I just hope that 'IF' (and its probably a big IF) Nissan produces a drop top that they make it a hard top. That way it will at least keep with the lines on the body.

Speaking of hard tops I give major props to Volvo with their C70 hard top. When you open the trunk with the top down, the hard top acually raises backwards inside the trunk to let you access the cargo area underneath the roof, the BMW's didn't even do that.

[Hussain]

Now the S/A5 is another story, that looks mighty fine.

that thing is just amazing, words dont even express how amazing it is.... theres a guy on my street that i always see driving his black A5. i love my altima coupe but every time i see him pass by, i look at my car and think "i wish you were an A5 like that one" lol and someone at my school has the S5.... supposedly Audi is working on an RS5. its supposed to have the RS4 motor but with a twin turbo system

[boystar22]

that thing is just amazing, words dont even express how amazing it is.... theres a guy on my street that i always see driving his black A5. i love my altima coupe but every time i see him pass by, i look at my car and think "i wish you were an A5 like that one" lol and someone at my school has the S5.... supposedly Audi is working on an RS5. its supposed to have the RS4 motor but with a twin turbo system

I completely agree! I've learned my lesson though, VW/Audi are lease vehicles. Because they just aren't worth owning outside of warranty. No matter how much preventative maintenance you do they still aren't reliable daily cars. Having to drive with an extra ignition coil in your trunk at all times is not cool; and when one blows, its easy enough to swap on the side of the road (once you figure out which one blew), but when one goes, the others will follow across the next few days. When you're 30 miles from home, and have to replace one on the side of the interstate at 8pm and then 4 miles down the road closer to home you blow another. Driving it in retard mode running on 3 cylinders with no turbo spool is painful. Whether your limping it to some reasonably safe place to leave it over night till you can get to a dealer (who are sparse btw) in the morning (praying it doesn't happen on a saturday and you have to wait till monday) or attempting to drive 30 miles back home on 3 cylinders dragging the fourth along for the ride (which vw/audi says won't damage the engine)!!! just isn't fun. The coils are about $45 each and from what I've experienced all A4's from 2002-2008 had a habitual ritual of blowing them at any given time; and Audi revised the part 5 times and still hasn't been able to fix the problems. They haven't really changed the engine either for the new body, so I'm sure they're still running with the same part.

Wow sorry for the vent, got a bit out of hand. I still miss that car though! AWD is just something thats HARD to give up.

[Hussain]

i love German cars but after seeing the maintenance cost for my dads benz, i decided to go with Japanese. my dad was going to buy me a car cash BUT he said hes not buying me another car and that when i finish up school i can buy me something else (i want to be a doctor and im just barely starting out now). in the end, i'm happy with my altima coupe, i just wish the a** hole dealership didn't lie to me..... i come to them and tell them i want a silver 3.5se stick shift altima coupe. they say they only have 1 3.5se and its dark slate CVT and they wont get anymore 3.5se for months.... 2 weeks later i pass by and they have a silver 3.5se stick shift with the premium package! i was so mad.... but its ok, ill get leather for my car and CVT sort of grew on me lol

[boystar22]

I'm planning on using my tax refund for leather. I want to go two-tone with black bolsters and door panels, but do the center of the seats and arm rests and console in either a burnt cinnamon color (baseball glove), or a mustard brown (mostly brown but with some yellow in it). I just think a punch of nice muted color will look good with the black.

And I agree with the german maintenance, In the two years I owned that car i had to replace 6 ignition coils, timing belt, water pump, the entire steering rack, snub-mount, motor mounts, and flush the transmission. (all of which is not uncommon btw) Audi of America paid for an entire new motor and turbo at 60k because the original had seized due to oil sludge clogging the oil pump. Thankfully for me since it was an off-lease it had all of its maintenance built into the lease from the original owner so it had all its records, and everything was performed properly. (Stupid Audi for thinking a turbo-charged engine could go 10k miles between oil changes).

I still love the car, but once the transmission started slipping again after the flush it was time to go. That was one repair I just refused to have to pay for. Plus it needed 4 new tires again. That last weekend was hell too. I blew a tire while out of town in the middle of nowhere Alabama for work. And had to drive the entire ride home (about 4 hours) with the full-sized unidirectional (very stupid) spare mounted for the wrong side of the car with the AWD. That was the noisiest trip I think I've ever had to endure, the handling was horrible too. I traded it in to the Nissan dealer with the backwards spare still on it, and the tire with the gash in the trunk.

I'm horrible, but the love was over that week.

[Hussain]

i thought about going 2 tone but im still not sure about it. part of me wants to go with black and red 2 tone but then it might be too flashy and its best to go with something simple and classy. so im still sort of undecided but im sort of thinking that instead of going 2 tone i might just go with all black leather but have the stitching all silver to match with the trim... paint the plastic around the speedo and push button start silver, the part near the power windows and door locks, and the part around the stereo all silver. so then the interior will be all black but with a nice amount of silver so it wont be too plain.

[mcheddadi]

wtf? where did you read that at? i have rattles with mine but thought i just got stuff a little lose from all my playing with exhaust sounds... could you please try and post a link if you could find it, i'd be interested to see what ppl did to solve the rattle....

I had probs with the sunroof rattlng, and their was a service bulletin for it. they made better clips and I got it fixed as soon as I heard it last year. thank god for the fix because the rattling was horrible.

By far at the BMW area my favorite was the X6, it's just plain hawt from every angle, I really love the slick-back roofline for an SUV. But at $65,000, it's also well out of most peoples target price range; especially since its basically an X5 in a more oddly shapen variety. Although I wouldn't expect 400hp out of a 4.4L Twin-turbo V8 to come cheaply... Good god I just looked up the specs, and its rated 0-60 in 5.3 for a +2 ton SUV. I would so flip that.

that with the new 335i is one of the prettiest bmws ever. I love the X6. looks godlike