Japanese Leather Sucks

[AZ94Q]

RSI,

I'm such a Q freak, I specifically bought this 94 I am driving now, to compare and contrat the two models.

Here is my opinion

The first gen is a no compromise vehicle. It is a two ton car, built to haul A$$. No wood, on purpose. Good bolstered seats, on purpose. Awesome gears, awesome pull, etc etc.. No grill, emphasis on aerodynamics.. everything the Q had or DIDN't have, was by design..

Unfortunately, the concept as a whole wasn't well accepted.

The 94+ is compromise.. It addressed all the issued that people didn't like about the car.. No wood, now it has fake wood. Seats to harsh? more supportive seats.. No grill? Add a grill, eat the aerodynamic loss. Add thicker glass, and more insulation..

I simply miss the pull after 5,000 rpm too much

The 94 is a better luxury car.. It's quieter, has a more supportive ride.. The stereo is much better, the head unit is much better looking. The HVAC controls are better looking. The middle compartment is an improvement. The keyless entry is a definete plus. The car still has plenty of pull, and is more "smooth".

I just miss the first gen, because it was a no compromise machine. It was built with performance in mind, and luxury a close second.

They are both awesome automobiles. I really wish the performance would have been more appreciated, then we could have had a hybrid between both, instead of one contrasting the other. I would have loved to see all the addons in 94, but none of the performance loss.

I like what you're doing with your ride RSI. You are bridgeing the gap, and combining the two, which is what Infiniti should have done. You should definetely go drive a well maintained 90-92 (experience the sodium filled valves)

[rsiwicki]

thanks for the compliment on what I am doing with my ride...I have my fingers crossed that it will work out. I still can't get over you all have this extra pull in the 90-93's over 6,000 rpms...I am going to have to research this to figure out what that one is. I know it is not the transmission gears as really only the first gear is where the big difference is (1.5 vs. 1.7)...the 2nd gear difference is not worth mentioning...less than 0.1 different. Maybe it is this plenum thing as I remember Q45tech saying that the design of it affects the air flow at various rps creating various peaks. After I get all my pieces put together...maybe my next project will be to find out if the intakes are really different and stick one of those things on my 95 to see what happens. Heck....why did I not just buy a 90-93 model back in 1998 when I bought my car. Would have made things a lot easier, but less fun as I am dying to know if the 92 transmission will really work with the 95 car.

I think that Infiniti was way ahead of its time in building a performance Sports sedan....the general public was not ready for such a concept...especially from a brand new car line that did not have a history of such cars. Only BMW & Mercedes (I think) had a few high performance sedans...but they were also very limited and you hardly ever saw one on the road back then. Nowadays....I see the highly tuned BMW & Mercedes all over the roads.

[AZhitman]

Ryan - You are correct. The armrest pad is NOT leather. I was mistaken.

I just removed mine, and it has been recovered in leather. I called a friend and had him pull his, and it is a leather substitute.

So aside from the door pull section (which makes sense as this is the tactile interface between car and driver), the rest of the door is not leather covered.

[AZ94Q]

The Q was ahead of it's time..

Chasis was 30% stiffer then anything at the time (mercedes had the stiffest chasis up to that point)

Bmw and mercedes only had V12 sedans, that could compete.. The modern V8 high performance RWD sedan, was originated by Infiniti..

If you look at old comparisons, they would always use E class and 5 series car to compare.. because the big german cars, wern't in the same league, in terms of performance.. So they used the smaller german cars.. totally unfair..

Not to mention Mercedes was working on an active suspension, but couldn't get it road worthy, like nissan did.. It took them years and years of further research to finally come out with a system nissan introduced in 1990

The 7 series didn't get into the Qs leage until the 4.4, with the 5 speed auto.. The 4.0 liter original was weak, and kind of unreliable..

I don't know what makes the 90-93 pull harder then the 94+.. If you go drive one, I think you will definetely feel it. i remember when I first drove a 94, I was disappointed. I used to prefer the 94 to the earlier models, but then I drove it, and somethign was missing..

It's like this.. In a 94, you get a nice smooth rush to the redline after 4,000 rpm.. you get a straight surge..

In my 91, the surge came at 4,000, but then a second massive surge kicked in at 5,000 and held all the way to the redline, even with me manu shifting at 7,000.. it was just so strong..

That was a stock 91 as well. I can only imagine what the JWT makes that additional 5k rpm surge feel like. I know the earlier models had more torque then published.. maybe it was that?

[AZhitman]

p.s. I'm not a fan of Meguiar's, but that's just me.

I was turned on to Leatherique by the guys who restore million-dollar cars for show purposes (Bentley and Jag clubs).

Learned about the Zaino stuff on my own, and I prefer it to Lexol, which is recommended by Schumaker European (local MB dealer) and our local Infiniti dealers.

[BadQ45t]

The arm rests on my 97' Q are perfect, however, the drivers side was bad when I bought it and the dealer replaced it. they are both fine.

Jesda, dude you're driving a @#$ buick, chill, American leather not better, but i feel your need to reduce Cognitive Dissonance.

[loystock]

Thanks , AZ.

I have tried Meguiar's and Zaino leather products before, but then went back to Lexol. I'm running low on my Lexol so this info just came in at the right time. I visited their web site. Leatherique has an impressive list of users, with majority of the luxury car marques in the US. The price looks reasonable so I'll try it.

Rod

[Highway Q45]

I would strongly disagree and say that the Japenese leather on my 91 Q is the most durable seating of any car I have owned. Yes it is firm and stretched tighter than most American cars but will outlast any domestic I've seen yet. I've used nothing but old school saddle soap for cleaning for over 20 years with Lexol for conditioning. My Miata had the coated leather also and it still looked like new after 9 years. The looser fits and gathers on some newer seats are there to prevent stretching on thinner lower grade leathers which causes premature failure.

I've never seen a mid-80's Porsche where there weren't leather tears, sun rot, or serious breakdown at the side bolsters and they are supposedly top $$$ leather. Any leather neglected early in life will fail; given proper cleaning, UV blockers(window tint), and conditioning, a good leather interior can last 30 years.

Steve

[psychic_mechanic]

I've just got the beginnings of a few cracks in the top of the door panel, which I would say is great for a car with 140k miles. (It's even tan)

Did they have an interior guy replacing just the top of the panel? Anyone remember how much this would cost?

-Vinny

[Jesda]

The Cayenne I drove was already showing wear on the side of the drivers seat, at 800 miles. Apparently a design flaw caused it to rub against something when adjusting the power seat. Quite silly.

I agree with the statement about loose fitting and bunching helping seats in American cars last longer. But didnt anyone at Infiniti consider that leather will shrink and dry out over time? And without extra room to shrink, it will simply rip? Leather is dead skin that keeps dying.

Looks damn good new though.

-Jesda

[Highway Q45]

Quote »I agree with the statement about loose fitting and bunching helping seats in American cars last longer. But didnt anyone at Infiniti consider that leather will shrink and dry out over time? And without extra room to shrink, it will simply rip? Leather is dead skin that keeps dying. [/quote]

Think about this; if leather doesn't get wet it doesn't shrink, it stretches. Do your leather shoes get smaller? Does that $2000 leather sofa look as tight as when you bought it? Tighter thick leather like on the early Q's will resist wrinkling better than thin loose leather that gives constantly under the slightest pressure...it's probably not as comfortable as a soft interior. If they hadn't gotten so soaked I bet OJ's gloves would have fit just fine. :rolleyes

[Jesda]

LOL nice comparison