LudwigB

It's interesting that they still thought that the
"335i felt more taut, with a much higher handling limit than the IS350 and G37, though it was down on horsepower to the Infiniti. The BMW probably would have given faster lap times around a serious road course."
On the other hand, Automobile said the G37 "body motions were better controlled than the sport-pack BMW 335i that Infiniti brought along for comparison".
Anyway, things can be so subjective.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...THISWEEKSISSUE

"Back in 1970, when tobacco companies could still advertise on national TV, one cigarette brand billed itself as being “just a silly millimeter longer.” That was for a 100-millimeter smoke, hardly a gasp’s worth. It was akin to a Ford V8 being 351 cubic inches and a Chevy only 350. Sometimes, though, a millimeter is all you need. Infiniti added 4.6 of them to the stroke of the G35’s 3.5-liter V6 and made it into a G37. That and a host of upgrades throughout make for a nicer performance coupe.

We drove a prototype mule of the new Infiniti G37 around the road course at Nissan’s Arizona proving ground and found it to be lively and fun, giving way just enough when pushed to keep us interested, while maintaining that balance and comfort necessary to keep the car great to live with as a daily driver.

This new G37, revealed at the New York show, arrives a little more than four years after the original G35 coupe came on the market, offering a slightly more luxurious, more comfortable slant on the mighty Z. The new car sits on a modified version of Nissan’s sporty FM platform, which also sits beneath the Z, the M and even the FX. The FM platform is perhaps Nissan’s greatest contribution to automotive exuberance since the original 240Z, or maybe even since the 510. FM, as you no doubt know by now, means “front midship,” which is where the engine sits, forward of the cockpit, rearward of the front axle, driving the rear wheels from a longitudinal position.

The particular FM platform employed under the G37 offers a lowered center of gravity and a wider track and is 36 percent stiffer than the car it replaces. The new front subframe first seen on the 2007 G35 sedan is in place here, too, providing better engine isolation and stouter underpinnings at the front end. The springs, shocks and bushings are all stiffened up, too. And there are big, meaty brakes on the new car, 14.0-inch rotors in front, 13.8 inches in back.

But the new engine is the most significant change. Besides those extra 4.6 millimeters (less than a quarter of an inch) of stroke for each of the six con rods in the smooth V6, there are two all-new cylinder heads above them, packed with technology. Inside the heads is Nissan’s new VVEL system (continuously variable valve event and lift). VVEL alters timing and lift on the intake side of the head. Infiniti presenters went to great lengths to insist that VVEL wasn’t just a copy of BMW’s Valvetronic design, pointing out that theirs operates 32 percent quicker, for example. In any case, it’s good. At the low end, to get more torque, VVEL closes the intake valve sooner to lower the amount of back pressure. At higher engine speeds, the system extends valve lift and duration to increase horsepower. It’s everything to everybody. It not only improves engine output but also lowers exhaust emissions and improves gas mileage.

The result is peak horsepower of 330 and peak torque of 270 lb-ft. The old G35 engine made 275 hp when attached to an automatic and 306 hp when bolted to a manual transmission. The old torque was 268 lb-ft on both versions. So the G37 offers more power and more torque across a wider swath of tach, with the same 7500-rpm redline.

All that power and chassis improvement is packaged in an all-new body. It’s not a remarkably different body, but it’s unmistakably new, with rounder corners and swoopier lines.

Inside is all-new, too, though it might be more difficult to distinguish, despite the Japanese “Washi-paper inspired” aluminum trim.

To show us how well all of these improvements worked together, we were let loose on the “Marketability Course” at Nissan’s desert proving ground. Marketability means a road course with bumps, potholes, tar strips, manhole covers and whoop-de-dos. These courses are tremendous fun in almost any car, since the best driving line is never through anything flat.

Hurling the G37 at speed through corners is surprising fun, especially if you haven’t been in a G35 coupe recently. You recall how well sorted the car is, or was, and, by extension, how much fun the 350Z is.

We drove a sport model, which meant it had a viscous limited-slip differential and 19-inch wheels wrapped in 225/45 front tires and 245/40 rears. While it was a fun drive even with the traction control on, we could slide the car around with it switched off. The Bridgestone Potenzas on our test mule felt a little underinflated, but the engineers assured us they had all the air they’d need in them. Maybe we were just having too much fun sliding the 3668-pound coupe around.

Our test car didn’t have the new active steering, featuring an electric motor on the shaft, which varies the ratio between 13:1 and 16:1, depending on about a zillion inputs, nor did it have the active rear steering, introduced last year on Infinitis, which moves the back wheels as much as one degree automatically based on a different reading of the same inputs.

Infiniti also provided some competitor cars to drive: a Lexus IS 350 and a BMW 335i, both with sport automatics, as our test car had. We had to take Infiniti’s word for it that these competitor cars were top-notch, untampered-with examples of the brands, with good brake pads, fully inflated tires and premium gasoline.

Of the three, the Lexus felt a little more sterile, the BMW more insistent on being precise at all times and the Infiniti like that fun girlfriend you had in college. The Infiniti, since you could power-oversteer it at will, necessitating turning into the skid, was a more involving experience. It was more fun than the IS 350, which still has that stability control system that switches back on after 30 mph and is almost as damnable as the one-to-four shift lever in a Corvette. Lexus shot itself in the foot with that. The BMW 335i felt more taut, with a much higher handling limit than the other two cars, though it was down on horsepower to the Infiniti.

The BMW probably would have given faster lap times around a serious road course, but around the wacky, apocalyptic Marketability Course, the Infiniti seemed like the most fun when you really pushed it. There was plenty of power, it was a basically stable setup, and the transmission even blipped the throttle on downshifts. (The transmission had three modes: D, DS and manual. DS is the sportiest, approximating nine-tenths driving, they said. It chooses from four different maps within the DS setting.)

It’s still too early to declare a champion, though. And besides, G37s don’t even get into showrooms until the end of August."

CHI-TOWN G37

I get Autweek and actually thought that was a very good article. As far as the BMW feeling more taut these guys are big German car fans and until the real numbers are out they need to dance around something to keep the BMW "faithful" subscribed to thier magazine. They know this new G is a serious BMW contender and soon enough we will have some real performance numbers.

SPEEED

I'm sure it does.

Potty_Pants

not me man... i rather have a sloppy 50 yr old


ppp

frshgcoupe

Good take on the g37, looks like this car will be a champion.

Sukairain

iTrader: (3)

The article can be pretty much summed up in the Edmunds short video of the G37 coupe. It looked 'alittle crazy' around those corners. You can even see it on the driver's face as the car oversteers through apex after apex on that track.

LudwigB

Yeah, I guess. The G chassis is a little more on the "wild" side compared to the BMW 3's. It's like German soccer vs. Brazilian soccer. German and Brazillian both had a lot of wins but German soccer is a little bit mechanical and precise where as Brazillian a little more fun to watch.

smm

Is there a difference in HP on the new engine (automatic vs. manual)?

Nismo G

iTrader: (11)

I dont believe so, i think its going to be setup just like the 03-04 models where the manuals will have the same as the auto...from my understanding though.

-sean

picus112

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the article. I'm interested to read their full write-up; Autoweek is one of the only car mags I still really enjoy.

jnmunsey

Test driving an automativ islike, um, well, test driving an automatic.

Anyway, I'd like to see some comparisons between the active steering, both with and without front and font/back versions(or whatever they offer).

kako

I guess I'm one of the only few here to understand what you mean with the Brazilian vs German football. When the CL games were up I expected to see atleast a thread about it in the Off topic or Off topic/Sports section. Now that I see atleast one fan, I'll make one myself

LudwigB

No problem.

runningonmt

Good question. I've been wondering -- no, make that hoping -- this might be part of the reason Infiniti has been equivocating about the exact output of the new engine. Of course, it's possible the horsepower of the engine will be the same with either transmission and the reason they are "estimating" the horsepower at 330 is because they haven't yet performed the official run for record under SAE J1349. We'll know when we know. Until then, in the absence of official or insider information, one person's wild guess is as good as another.

airhoppz

That's a great analogy, and for the record, I prefer to watch Ronaldhino and the Brazilians...and I also prefer Brazilian women