I get the impression that M owners have a love - hate relationship with their car. Messages on other forums such as MB, BMW, Lexus, Lincoln etc seem to be more positive. Most of the M messages talk about problems with the M. Then other postes jump on the bandwagon with the same or similar problems. Last night I saw a guy with a new M35 at the restaurant I went to. He told me the M is the worst car he ever owned. That there were problems and the dealer couldn't fix them. My neighbor recently bought an M45 and loves it. I ordered an M45 based on his recomendation. It makes me nervous when I read all the problems M owners have and my car delivery is still several weeks away.

Spisam....

I have an 06 M45 sport with 26K miles and really love the thing more and more each day.Of course everyone will have different opinions even if the car is a million buck. You should read up on some of the reviews on crash test and also some from members here. It's a powerful machine, very reliable, great handling, beautiful styling, not bad on gas for V8, I can go on and on.Well, just because it's a Jap car... people think its suppose to be indistructable.

As you say everyone has an opinion.

If your experience has been with German cars, BMW and Audi in particular, then you might have mixed feelings about the M. My opinion, which will can cause controversy, is that Japan STILL has not done German sporting cars right.

If your experience has mostly been in Japanese cars, then you should be well satisfied.

If you have done mostly USA, the M should make you jump and down with joy!

I have done a lot of German, fewer Japanese, and NO USA. I bought the M looking for top features and dependibility. I knew it would not give me the driving experience of my BMW 3 series and my Audi S4s. I have been well satisfied with my loaded M35X (I wish they had a dealer on the east side of the twin cities though!).

I might go for a BMW next, since I have never owned a German.Untill I can afford the B and the W, I will enjoy the M.

Just so you are aware, the BMW 3 series, which is the size of the Infiniti G series, is less than the price of the M series. The BMW 5 series, the same size as the M, is more than the M.

Spisam:

A couple of reflections on your comments:

Boards tend to reflect negatively on the cars because they are usually a resource for people who have problems. I would also think that this Board is very unrepresented with respect to M owners. They are all over the road in Metro NYC.

BMW and Mercedes owners are very ego driven buyers and they would never admit their car had problems. Most B or M buyers don't even test drive Lexus', Inifinitis or even Audis before buying their car.

I test drove everything and made the choice of the M35x slightly ahead of the A6 with no regrets and no problems over 27K miles. The other great aspect of this car is that any shop can do routine service on these cars thus I avoid those rip-off 15K service fees.

Until I can afford an Audi A8, this ride (and future models) will be my car of choice for years to come.

I just finished the first year and 25k with my M35. It replaced my all time favorite Saab, a '91 9000 turbo. I simply no longer could afford the time to keep the old boy on the road. I drove everything remotely in competition, and nothing came close at the cost of this M.The first year has been absolutely trouble free. I have changed oil...all Mobile 1..at 4-5k, and my nav was replaced when the phone list dropped.I have just replaced the tires, as I slit one on a rock wall in my driveway. The brakes were checked, and still looked like new.

I find the car to be competent, fun and very comfortable. I really can't ask much else. It doesn't have that "racecar" feel of my old Saab, but it does handle brillantly. It garners compliments more frequently than I'm used to...but then there are few Saab aficionados. The interior absolutely knocks people out the first time they are in my car....its is larger than they expect and beautiful. This is trully a form follows function design. A trait that I'm afraid GM discontinued at Saab.

If I were replacing it today with an '07, I would pick another M...probably the 45. Good luck with yours.....I believe that you've chosen wisely.

You raise an interesting point about M owners.

Over the last the 10+ years I have owned an Infiniti J30t, BMW 540 and a 4.2L V8 Audi A6 so my perspective on my M is based in part on my driving expierence with those cars. Before going too much further I still feel that after after considering price, performance, service and comfort that the J30t may be the best car I have ever owned....but that is another story.

After driving my M35 Sport for about 14 months my conclusion is that I am just not sure that I would buy this car if I were able to do all it over again.

The M35 is a good car but given the class that it is in I'd expect fewer squeaks and rattles in the passenger compartment, a quieter ride and a bit more power. There are also a number small annoyances that may be indicative of a car in it's first year of production that detract from the overall expeirence.

The bottom line is that the M is a good car (maybe not a great one) and from a performance point of view you will probably be happer with the M45.
Modified by paulc at 2:28 PM 2/8/2007

Paul:

You're comparing the M35 to cars that price almost $10K+ higher because of their larger engines. Drive the A6 3.2 or the lower end 5 series BMW and compare the power.

My buddy commutes in an A6 4.2 and will buy the M35x next when his Audi comes off lease - a much better bang for the buck.

Thanks - that's a fair comment, although I did say that my perception of the M35 was formed by driving these other cars... and didn't mean to infer that one was "better" than another (other than maybe the J30t - I really did like that car). They each have their own unique strengths and weakness.

Personally I think that the M35 is a better looking car than the A6 and as you point out the M is a better value. Also, I found Audi's service to be pretty poor and not even close to what is provided by Infiniti in the San Fran bay area. As for handling, the A6 with quattro, sport suspenion and reasonably aggressive tires was a clear winner over the M35 in my opinion. Not sure how it would compare to the M35x...havent driven one of those.

The bottom line is that all of these cars compete in the 4 door sport-touring market so it ought to be fair game to compare the pluses and minuses of each.

This is my first truly "expensive" car and while I love my M, I certainly have noticed multiple things about it that utterly distract from the ownership experience. I started a thread about it a few weeks ago. I am very surprised at the number of engineeing "flaws" so to speak and other items that are going to need attention by the dealership when I can make it to one (4 hour drive). I've owned plenty of new cars over the years and this one seems to have more issues than any of them. Very disappointing. These aside however, the M is a very competent car. It's a joy to drive long distances, the NAV has completely saved my sanity in both Seattle and Portland on many occasions, and the acceleration and handling is wonderful. Unfortunately, at least where I live, the M's "ego feeding factor" is nil. My car gets about as many looks as an Accord. This surprised me, because regardless of what name is on the back of the car, it's a beautiful automobile.

Tony