When you have a vehicle as good as the G35 it can get somewhat precarious when "redesign time" rolls around. Honestly, if you can simply make everything a little bit better, without messing anything up, you're golden.
The all-new G37 is golden (in a gray-ish, metallic sort of way). I just spoke with Simon Sproule, who works for Infiniti in Japan and drives a G35 as his personal car...
When I asked him how the new car compares with the old one his answer was what I hoped for...
"It's just a better car in every way. Stiffer chassis. Better combination of ride and handling. Better steering. More power. More refinement. Better fuel efficiency. Bigger wheels. Upgraded audio system."
Wow - these product guys have their answers well prepared. I like the exterior design, though I'm sure not everyone will. The new paddle shifters and harddrive audio system are intelligent upgrades, too.
I need to drive this one ASAP.
"It's just a better car in every way. Stiffer chassis. Better combination of ride and handling. Better steering. More power. More refinement. Better fuel efficiency. Bigger wheels. Upgraded audio system."
Wow - these product guys have their answers well prepared. I like the exterior design, though I'm sure not everyone will. The new paddle shifters and harddrive audio system are intelligent upgrades, too.
I need to drive this one ASAP.
By nygamble
on April 5, 2007
09:11 AM
i need to drive that one ASAP TOO!...i do believe that everything has upgraded like what Simon has claimed, but the rear end doesn't look sporty like the g35. The rear looks horrible, in my opinion. It's very boxy, almost reminds me of a monte carlo. It's like they gave up on the styling at the end...
By chavis10
on April 5, 2007
11:01 AM
I think they messed up the styling. The old car in my opinion, had no bad angles and was perfectly styled. This car seems OVER styled just for the sake of doing so. While the new G sedan looks much better than it's daddy, they missed the mark with this coupe. It's bittersweet because the interior is MUCH better. Being so, I wish I could have the old skin with the new structure and interior features.
Side note: how is Infiniti getting so much power from the VQ without direct injection? Yes, I know they rev pretty high but this still seems skeptical to me. Well, at least they've introduced a new valvetrain which seem pretty neat and we know Infiniti loves super long acronyms (can you say ATTESA E-TS three times fast?).
By redliner
on April 5, 2007
12:09 PM
I think that i would rather have a new Lexus IS 350.
I was looking around and found some VERY GOOD news
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2176
...VDIM can be disabled!
KARL- I think you guys need to retest the IS but With VDIM off. As i remember, it was one of your biggest complaints about it.
By editor_karl
on April 5, 2007
11:35 PM
Like most modern Toyota/Lexus products, the IS has a far better chassis, suspension and wheel/tire package than the electronics will allow. It would be interesting to try out a fully-liberated IS 350.
By iskch
on April 6, 2007
08:37 AM
Love the G35 over the Z-350. Maybe I'm getting too old for the Z or too confy. I need to test drive it. Lexus IS350 are cool too.
By carlisimo
on April 6, 2007
09:11 AM
Karl, I had read suggestions that the IS had such overbearing electronic systems to hide poor chassis dynamics. Was that wrong?
By roar02ram
on April 6, 2007
09:18 AM
chavis10-
Ditto.
By editor_karl
on April 6, 2007
10:13 AM
It's possible the IS's electronics are used to hide bad chassis dynamics, but we're talking Toyota here and I find it hard to believe they'd go after the 3 Series, go through all the design and engineering work, and then decide "We screwed up, let's just keep people from knowing about it with some restrictive electronics." But you never know. The company HATES bad press even more than most, so if the car had something like a nasty tendency to spin or wobble when pushed they'd certainly not want to let customers discover it. I remeber when I first drove the G35 sedan and I was surprised how snappy the car would get when pushed -- if you turned off the stability control. It actually kind of scared me, but it was so good with the stability control on I let that trait slide a bit (though I did write about it at the time). The coupe didn't have that issue, BTW.
Anyway, at least I could turn off stability on the G35. If the IS has the same trait that would explain why conservative Toyota won't let you disable it. Definitely something we need to find out...