My Q review

[MinisterofDOOM]

Well, I've finally joined the ranks of G50 owners (see thread about my car here).

I know you all know your cars well, but I thought I'd post up my review/impressions so far for the heck of it.

First off, even though this car is modded with aftermarket suspension, the overall impression from driving is "SMOOTH." Everything is smooth. The engine is smooth, the shifts are silky, steering is smooth but communicative. Even the altered ride is smooth, if more "solid".

The seating position is near perfect. I'd like the seat to go maybe an inch lower, but aside from that everything is right where I want it. The dead pedal is in the absolutely PERFECT spot, the shifter falls right under my hand, the arm rest is exactly the right height. The seats could be a bit better, though. I found my Maxima's seats to be more comfortable. The Q seats are still good, but I've sat in better.

The mirrors leave me wanting. The center rear view mirror needs to be wider and taller, and the outside mirrors taper off too much at the outer edges. If it wasn't for the auto-dimming feature and weird mount for the center mirror, I'd swap it out for an autozone grandpa superwide.

The Q's 300+ hp is a huge upgrade from the Max's 160, and it's very very nice. The car ALWAYS has power when I need it, no matter what gear I'm in (and extra power on downshift). It makes driving so effortless. I find that where I would drive the Maxima with 3/4 to full throttle, the Q barely needs any.

The Bose system, while not perfect, sounds MUCH better than the base Clarion system in my Maxima, although that could be partly due to the poor installation of the aftermarket HU in the Max (causing hissing and RF interference noises).

I'm still getting used to the center-located window controls. I think I prefer the Max's setup that put all the window controls at the driver's left fingertips instead of one window at the left thumb and the rest at the right hand. It'd certainly be easier to roll up both front windows and close the sunroof at once if I could run all the windows simultaneously with one hand.

The center sun visor is something ALL cars should have. And the lock-up main sun visors are a great foresight. I've had two visors fail in the Maxima due to the springs wearing out and simply not being able to support the weight any longer. With the Q's setup, the springs aren't constantly being stressed the way the Max's are.

Power headrests ROCK. I've never seen another car with them. They're easier to use, can be adjusted while driving, and offer infinite positions.

Contrary to what Wes believes, I like the 4.08 rear end. It doesn't raise cruising RPMs by that much, but it keeps the car right in peak power, which means 4th gear passing power, which I consider to be a huge boon. I think that one factor does a lot to combat any loss in fuel efficiency.

I love the plentiful storage spots. Both arm rests, both front doors, the rear parcel box...tons of space for stuff.

I miss my Maxima's on-door keyless entry. I even prefer it to the keyfob, although I do love the keyfob.

And then of course there's the cars looks, which rank very high on my chart. The Q takes second place in the runnings for most beautiful sedan after only the E38 BMW 7 series.

The engine, especially with the custom exhaust, sounds absolutely fantastic. Maxnix jokes about us Q owners who want our cars to sound like Mustangs. Sorry, no Mustang ever sounded this good.

Anyway, long read, but those are my thoughts after a little over a week of driving my Q.

[elwesso]

I think you should drive a Q with a high stall converter... Its like everything good about a 4.08 with no bad part!!

[maxnix]

Another 13 year old car review! Excellent.

Only thing I can say is rearview mirror is high enough to ge top and bottom of backlight for me and wide enough to show the right side of my head and inside of passenger side C pillar. So maybe you sit very close to the wheel?

[Haitian_King]

Glad to hear it.

Q enthusiasm is wonderful. I drove past a green 90-93 Q yesterday and waved. The driver made a U-turn and began to speed up to pull along side. We exchanged knowing smiles and then I gunned it. It made my heart glad.

[Rex]

Glad to hear the car is treating you well. The sounds and city driving responsiveness really make the teens-MPG worthwhile, IMHO.

I think you should drive a Q with a high stall converter... Its like everything good about a 4.08 with no bad part!!

You should have let him

[elwesso]

i didnt have my Q with me, otherwise I would have.