INTRO

Last fall I test drove a 2006 G35x and was somewhat disappointed in the ride to say the least. It was very stiff and noisy and the interior wasn't terrific. I had read an article on the changes for the 2007 sedan and decided to wait even if it meant spending a bit more cash.

When I finally got around to test driving the vehicle, it was amazing how much smoother it rode. The suspension didn't feel as stiff when riding over bumps. The road noise was much lower. The interior was much more pleasant and the tech improvements were a major plus. That said, I wanted the vehicle with the Premium, navigation, and tech packages as well as the wood interior (the new OEM wood is a matte finish versus the prior glossy finish and looks extremely nice and refined). In the end, I had to give up the wood finish to get even one of the two colors I preferred as finding a fully equipped G35X in Garnet (Red) or Lakeshore (light blue) was almost impossible. The dealer had struck a deal with me and told me to pick a color. Since I didn't want black interior, it took a while for him to source an acceptable vehicle. Also, the deal was very good and I didn't want to have to go through the process again especially knowing noone else in the area had a vehicle setup I wanted.

In the end, I wound up with the Lakeshore with Wheat (beige) interior and the washi (textured aluminum) accents. Since the wood was mainly a preference, I am extremely happy with the combination and it looks sharp.

Now that I have driven the car on a daily basis for a couple of weeks, on to the specifics. I am not going to lay out technical specs, but try to speak in more practical terms.

RIDE

The vehicle rides extremely well. It is relatively quiet and smooth riding. However, you still can 'feel' the rode though it is more subtle than the prior model. Acceleration is incredibly quick and smooth. The claim it goes 0-60 in under 6 seconds, definitely seems accurate though I have not clocked it. The automatic transmission is smooth as silk in my limited use so far. And that includes daily points where I need to make lane changes at congestion points on the road. It has been impressive so far. I don't even want to venture what the top end is on an open highway, but at freeway speed there has been nothing to indicate any stability issues at higher speeds. Just be careful on the accelerator. Punch it and you surely will be going faster than you expected. I have affectionately called the vehicle a 'rocket'. I have gotten used to a very light touch/shift of pressure for a really smooth ride. The cruise control is terrific and with the intelligent feature it will adjust your following distance if you want to use it. I have not yet used this feature as during a commute it is not practical, but on a weekend trip I plan to try it soon.

The ignition is pushbutton while depressing the brake pedal. You just have to have the intelligent key on you or in the slot on the lower left side of the dash (more for if the battery has an issue).

FUEL ECONOMY

You lose one MPG for the all wheel drive. To date I have been averaging about 20MPG but then a good chunk of the driving has been in traffic or local road conditions. Unless I were continuously on the highway on a single trip, I would not expect to approach the 25MPG rating. One nice thing is the large (20 Gallon) tank which is just perfect for me to be able to hit the station once a week without running it to the low fuel warning. The negative, because of the performance engine, is fuel cost as it REQUIRES premium fuel. I was told at least 91 octane rated fuel is the manufacturers specification. I have been running it on 93 as that is what my station carries.

INTERIOR

The leather seats are extremely comfortable and should only get more so as the material wears in. The adjustable seat controls are easy to use and you can program in your preferred settings to match your intelligent key. So, when you are in the drivers seat it will automatically go to your settings on starting. This includes where the steering column is located as well as the seat if you want. Also, my seat was preprogrammed to go back and steering column to raise to make for an easy entry/exit from the vehicle. Each intelligent key (2) can have its own settings.

The rear seats are comfortable and realistically seat 2 unless someone wants the small middle space. There is plenty of legroom for kids and sufficient legroom for most adults. The rear floormat is a single piece that also covers the drivetrain hump.

The dash is beautifully arranged in my opinion. Wish pushbutton controls to change the digital displays. You can display temperature, MPG, MPH (of engine operation), time, miles to empty etc. There are dual trip odometers. Even the gear (D,R, etc) is noted. The speed, rpm, temp and gas gauges are dials with needles which I prefer. The dials are all lighted too. In the center of the dash where the odometer is, is where you can also see any computer warnings (though that should be well down the road given the expected reliability)

The steering column has the normal controls (steering, lights, wipers etc). However, there is much more here. The phone and voice systems are accessible. The sound system source is changeable. The cruise control and acceleration are there. All on the FRONT of the steering wheel and conveniently located on the left and right sides. The column is also adjustable up and down for comfort (and prefered settings can be stored).

The glove compartment even has a valet switch you can set to elminate the ability of a valet to get into the trunk.

The navigation system is integrated with the entire sound system at the top of the dash to the right of the driver. XM radio is integrated into the system with the capability of NAVTraffic. This enables you to access service in certain areas (I am in one) where you can be automatically rerouted around known traffic incidents. This was one of the new features I was looking forward to in the 2007. It also shows traffic flow info on the nav screen as you are driving. The nav screen is also a touch screen as well as having hard and voice controls. The screen has the radio presets also. You can show the nav map, radio info, climate settings or a combination of sound source with one of the other available info pieces on a split screen (top/bottom). Also, the screen is where you use the rear camera. When you pop into reverse, the camera overrides everything else on the screen. In addition to showing the rear view, when you turn the wheel is highlights where the vehicle will go if you keep the wheel in that position. The camera has been an even nicer feature than I expected when parking in the commuter lot. As for the controls everything is fairly simple to use. However, I tend to use the voice control most of the time. The only glitches with it have been when there is any significant background noise. If anyone else in the car is talking, you have to resort to manual. Furthermore, the system can synch to a bluetooth device for easy access. There are microphones to be able to use your cell phone through the sound system. So far it has worked like a charm. You do need to reprogram your phonebook if you want to use the system to autodial from a voicetag. It was pretty simple and can be done from the incoming call log too. You can also voice dial by saying 'call' then the number after hitting the voice key on the steering wheel. It is a lot of capability tied into this unit. The touch screen also works for the phone. The new nav itself is also much nicer than the old one. The birdview is extremely nice to be able to see street names as they approach if you want. You can even have the system display things like gas stations on the map when you need to find one (or if you just want to know all the time). It also even shows sharp turns very accurately. The software seems to have undergone a major upgrade from other nav systems I have used recently. This is a lot of capability in a small unit and is very impressive.

Below the screen are the climate controls, signature infiniti analog clock, a cd player, compact flash slot and a compartment with a cigarette lighter and a place to set a cell phone inside. The CD player can rip a CD down to an internal hard drive so you can store music in your car. 9.5 GB is a nice size drive. The CF slot enables you to put music on the card and play it in the car. It can handle MP3s and is smaller than MP3 players. It works great! High capacity cards are pretty cheap these days. My digital camera uses them, so I already had multiple ones around. The CD changer on this model is in the trunk and has a 6 disc magazine. You cannot rip them down to the hard drive. Only the single disc can do that.

I have the BOSE studio speaker setup and it sounds great. No complaints.

In case I didn't note, in addition to the phone, sound system, and nav, the voice control also can control your climate settings. It really is a pretty sweet feature and enables the driver to focus on the road.

In the middle the armrest contains a storage compartment. Within is also another charging socket (cigarette lighter type). There is also a tray which is perfect to hold a cellphone and similar sized stuff. The gear shift is just in front of the front seat heater buttons which are in front of the storage compartment.

Overhead in the center are a glasses compartment, sunroof controls, overhead lights and on the rearview mirror is the homelink system which can accomodate up to 3 door codes. The one thing I didn't like about the rearview mirror is I have to hang the commuter tags on the wire for the system instead of on the mount bracket as there is insufficient room there.

All the window controls are one touch. The brake is foot touch : one touch activates, the next deactivates.

Practical Note: when filling up with gas you have to unlock the doors or the gas compartment will not open

TRUNK

The trunk is surprisingly large and has more than enough room for a grocery run. You do lose a little 'ease of entry' where the cd changer is located given the way my vehicle is equipped. Vehicles without nav supposedly have the changer in the dash. I have the cargo net which is slighly helpful, but I could have skipped if it weren't in the vehicle as it came at delivery.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

I am extremely happy with the G35X. It has delivered everything I expected and more. The styling is terrific and the features are top notch. So far, there have been no issues and I expect reliability to be high. All in all Infiniti delivers the goods at a very good price point. A similarly equipped BMW is approximately 10K more from what I saw. For value and features nothing I looked at could touch this vehicle.