I now have 500 Km ( we are on km in Taiwan) on the car and finally got the chance to do some serious driving since my test drive. We are stuck in traffic most of the time here so tonight when the weather is perfect decide to take her out to the mountains. Most of our high ways/express ways here are filled with radar cameras so the street racing scene is very different here, we usually go up to mountains late at night, very similar to the “tougue” style that you see in best motoring vids.

I wrote wat I felt about the car in my last post so I will keep this one just on suspension and the 4was. Like I said in my last post, we only get one trim here in Taiwan, 4WAS, Sport, spoiler, and 5AT only. No other packages are available. I have the IP btw, love the color.

I had the VDC on for the first 30 mins, at fast cornering speeds, the car initially feels its under steering especially when you turn past the apex without giving too much gas. However, the more I drive the car, it feels somewhat different then under steer, its more like the turn is done in two phases, especially on faster corners (I had a Honda prelude for my last car so had plenty of under steering experience). Once you past the apex, you feel the steer is sharpened and all of a sudden, you don’t seem to need to turn the wheel as much. I now can understand why some magazine people say they dislike the 4WAS because it is quite strange and very different from most FR cars. Especially from the G35.

I also felt that the VDC is not very consistent. There are times when I am barely breaking traction and the light will come on and the electronics will slow things down but there were times when I am definitely on the limit but the ECU will do nothing about it. This is quite strange to me, but then the mountain does have many parts where the turn is followed by change in elevation so maybe that threw the car off a bit.

I had the VDC off the second half and did the same course again. The 4WAS effect I mentioned earlier is less apparent when VDC is off. You can also get the car to oversteer pretty easily by using the gas pedal when VDC is off, if you give the gas a bit later it actually feels just like a regular FR car. I will say the G35 feel easier to tossable. The stock LSD is quite nice and can be better appreciated when VDC is off. Even with the sport suspension, I kind of wished it was a little stiffer. The car gets abit more body roll when you are on a tight series of left and right corners. This can also be due to the weight i think. I don’t have actual numbers but I actually feel the 4WAS gives the car a higher limit and can be faster in a road course. Unfortunately, I do not have a non-4was version to compare here. Hope some mags will get a pro driver to do it and will see for sure.

I will also say that the brakes are little short of my expectations, especially in tight corners, hope it offered a little more breaking power. The feel is great otherwise. Also, I now really wish the car was 150-200kg lighter. Man if we can shave that off then this car will be in a completely different level.

 

Nice write-up. Feel any effect at low cornering speeds or is it only at high where it kicks in?

 

not really at low speeds, at least i couldnt feel it enough to say much about. anyone have any different thoughts?