I've been thinking about replacing my Sentra eventually with an Infiniti G35 sedan. With two kids, four doors are nessecary. How rare are the sedans with the 6 speed? It ticks off all the boxes including RWD, stick shift, four doors, stylish, and I LOVE the way an uncorked VQ35 sounds.
Any particular models and such to look for? This isn't going to be soon, just give me time to save up and have some pointers for when I can start shopping.
Good cars. Very comfy and sporty. Definitely dd material.
They have a bunch of tranny problems with the manuals. They will grind going into 3rd and 5th then you'll rebuild it and it will still happen. I say get on thr internets. Find out what the flavor is of the month for their fluid and change it and change it often.
The radio will go I out, and you'll lose your hvac and radio. Rebuilds are like 200 on the bay or 400 at my local dealer.
They have soft bushings so they will go bad, not a big deal, maybe just plan a few hundred bucks for throwing some lower control arms at it.
Interiors seem to hold up well I know a few high mileage cars that are well maintained but not detailed religiously or babied and the interior s look great
What years are you looking at? 05-06 cars make something like 35 more hp than previous cars. 07-08 have the VQ35HR, earlier cars need a plenum replacement if you want to get a bunch more NA power.
I don't recall if the sedan has models that get things like Brembo brakes or the later bigger Nissan brakes, that might be something worth asking about on a G35 forum. 05 up all six speed cars should have LSD. I don't know about earlier.
Edit: I had a coupe, so some of my experiences may not apply to a sedan.
I remember being struck with just how crappy the plastic on the center console is, and keep in mind, I'm currently driving a Chevrolet. If you go for the stick, spend some time observing the clutch take up. Try driving around where there are many stop signs. I'm not sure if it was my example, the G35 in general, or a lack of talent, but 80% of my clutch engagement attempts came with more jerks than a Steve Martin impersonator contest. Downshifts were easier to get right than upshifts. This is not a problem I've had in other cars. Pedal placement is nice. The metal shifter will burn the hell out of you. The power door lock actuators are made out of the same stuff VW uses to make window regulators, and will break if you, well, they'll break, really. The head unit is approximately double-din, but to save you the embarrassment of having a tiny seam around the head unit facia, Infiniti have integrated it into the center console, requiring the purchase of a ginormous chunk of plastic that includes the climate controls, and a donation to the Metra, Inc. shareholders Christmas party of no less than $200. One reason you might want to replace the head unit is because the factory unit is dedicated to failing to play discs. The analog clock facia apparently breaks if you expose it to sunlight. The door detents help keep you in the car by throwing a car door at you if you try to get out. The foam and plastic mishmash that lets the glovebox pretend it's soft peel away from the underlying structure entirely on their own, jamming the door. The cupholders are bad. The remotes are made out of really cheap plastic, and break off the keyring. You'd think this isn't so bad because your power locks don't work anyhoe, but, at least on the coupe, at at least for a few years, the designers decided that a trunk release within reach of the trunk was abhorrent. Forunately, eBay has cheap remotes and remote shells that fix the problem. It's best to just consider fifth gear unsyncronized, because the syncros have already failed.
I liked driving it when it wasn't annoying the hell out of me. Every day, it was kind enough to let me nail the downshift into a certain corner on my to work, and I'd generally do this with the window down for the joy of it. It sounds great. Handling is great too. I am talking about the coupe, and the sedan has different problems.
Mike wrote: I am talking about the coupe, and the sedan has different problems.
Seeing as this thread is specifically about the sedan, just how much of what you described doesn't apply?
SlickDizzy wrote:Mike wrote: I am talking about the coupe, and the sedan has different problems.Seeing as this thread is specifically about the sedan, just how much of what you described doesn't apply?
You mean this isn't the minor rant thread?
You have a point, but I think quite a bit applies. I'll split the difference, and edit my post to say I'm using coupe experiences at the beginning rather than the end so people know what they're reading before they start.
Haha, I literally posted the same thread about a week ago.
I had an '04 sedan for a few years and really, really liked it. It was not without a couple of faults. I had to update the bushings to control a tire wear issue (fixed on the '05 plus models), and mine burned a bit of oil as well. That also is not common to all of them. Sometimes I wish I had kept it. I didn't have any of the experiences Mike had however. In summary, it was pretty quick, handled well, had a good bit of rear legroom when you had passengers, and the fit and finish were nice. MPG was around 20 to 22 in my normal commute, and other than the items above, I never did anything else to it. I liked it.
I worked on one the other day, was pretty surprised how rotten it was.
I had a 2004 G35x. The thing has a pre-muffler, resonator that was the size of a guitar case and rotted of in 30,000 miles. The auto was terrible. The seats were good, the heaters were nice but didn't turn off by themselves and were easy to accidentally hit on, which led me to come into work a few days in a row with a sweat stained shirt bitching about black leather seats in the summer before I noticed the heaters had been switched on.
The car was cheap, the rear seat room was good for a rear facing car seat and a big front facing car seat.
The awd was easy to disable (pull a fuse) and the car was fun as rwd with a decent motor.
Lots of 350Z take off parts fit it and are cheap. I didn't do any mods other then the 350z exhaust, but the forums were full of how to threads. Lot of kids mod them.
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