a corporate take over and bring the g37 back to the drawing board

 

You have a point , I was thinking to exchange my m45 with the new g37 but now i consider the 335i more ..

 

If you like your 03 G that much, you will love the 08 G37. Remember, the car improved in every aspect. Go back and check all the road tests for the 03 G35. 14.6 1/4 mile times. Even with these 4WAS road tests, your looking at 0.6-0.8 sec improvement. Engine is now smooth (remember all the articles about how truck-like the 03's were?). Transmission is now smooth (how many battles did the 1st G lose because of it's shifter vibrations and poor clutch feel?). Huge interior improvements (take a close look at the interior materials of your 03 G - the cheap materials were mentioned in every road test). Less road noise (I needed ear plugs to drive my 04 on the highway and even at low speeds). More technology (the new NAV system is light years ahead of the old one, backup camera, bluetooth, music box, etc). Comfortable seats (how many times have you wanted to rip the seat controls out of your car?). Basically, this new G37 takes every aspect of teh old G and improves on it. Every short-coming has been addressed. All that and almost the same price. It sounds like you really like your G. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to not give the new G37 a try. All that it hasn't done is "beat the BMW" in every road test. If your car buying choices are made on that one criteria, that is sad.

 

When you say that they missed the target for a large number of current owners... do you mean owners on this forum?? or world-wide? and what do you mean by a large number because that "large number" can be considered small when compared to the entire market to Infiniti. Obviously Infiniti can't make a car that pleases everybody...

I'm not in the car business, but I expect that before a car manufacturer undertakes a new or revised model offering, they do an extensive amount of marketing. Based on the data gathered by marketing, the Engineering team designs a car that meets all of the marketing criteria for performance, luxury, gas mileage, and price.

I'm certain that we can all agree that the G37 is not an all out performance car. It is a good compromise between performance and luxury designed to attract the most buyers. I can sympathize with bluestreak since he undoubtedly was hoping that the G37 would take the next step up the performance ladder, and that it would at least equal the performance of the BMW 335. To make the G37 much faster would have probably required that it be much lighter which would undoubtedly affect its luxury or that the engine be much more powerful which would increase its price. In other words Infiniti decided that it would have to depart from its marketing criteria in order to make the G37 the equivalent of the 335 in performance, and that would hurt its sales. Only time will tell if Infiniti made the right decision.

 

If the 335 coupe is so fantastic, then why do they only sell 900 per month? Even the outgoing G35 coupe sells more than that now. When the G35 coupe first came out it sold over 2,000 and more per month. In fact, the G35 coupe was selling more coupes than BMW now sells 335 coupes AND sedans combines (2,500 per month) - we don't even need to look at the 4,000+ G35 sedans they are selling. All with hardly any Infinti dealerships relative to BMW.

Most people that buy cars do not live on these forums. Most BMW owners are buying 328 sedans, not 335 coupes. How could you think Infiniti NEEDED to beat the 335 in a straight line especially when they offer better technology, pricing, and reliability? Should we say that the 335 is a failure because it can't keep up with Infiniti with their 1990 Navigation system? What about the fact that they put an artificial "clutch delay valve" on the car? Like Motor Trend said - the performance differences are marginal. Infiniti produced a car that came relatively close at $10k less comparably equipped. Good job in my book.

 

If the 335 coupe is so fantastic, then why do they only sell 900 per month? Even the outgoing G35 coupe sells more than that now. When the G35 coupe first came out it sold over 2,000 and more per month.

There could be a lot of reasons. One could be that not that many people have $50K to spend on a car, and that's the out the door price for a decently equipped 335. I would imagine that a lot of people have to struggle to come up with even the upper $30Ks required to buy a decently equipped G. Nevertheless, how many people buy a car has never been a factor in whether or not I buy a car.

To me the logical process in selecting the appropriate car is to list all the factors that are inportant to you in a car, and then find which car best meets your needs and wants. For example if performance is the only factor that is important to you, I wouldn't buy the G37. On the other hand if luxury, decent peformance, great styling, decent gas mileage and value are high on your list, then how can you go wrong with the G37.

 

I'm positive it won't.

You might want to add 328's into that sales number; if Infiniti had a G30 the G35 sales numbers would drop similar to the 335i. I am not rationalizing, I agree the G35 had unbelievable sales numbers (I bought two for crying out loud ), but I am just explaining why the 335i sales are low relative to the g35/328. It's the same with the IS350/IS250; add a lower level car and that is what non-enthusiasts buy.

Edit: this thread is silly. The G37 will be a huge sales success. Remember, Infiniti and ALL car companies are about making money, not catering to the niche market, sad as that makes us all.

 

Let's face it- it's a DISASTER!!!

I would say that both you and Motor Trend are pretty good at deceiving captions

 

The truth is, the point of the G37 is not to BEAT 335i, but to undercut it in PRICE and to expose it to a wider market. Its all about the money $$, infiniti can care less if the G37 loses to 335i if the G37 sells like hotcakes.

 

And the outgoing Honda Civic will sell more than the new G37. All points are well taken. The 2003 G35 made such a stir because for 10K less it DID outperform my old 330ci. That is why I switched from the 330 to the G35. Infinity is NOT creating a similar stir with the G37. BMW took a huge leap forward with it's new engine and Infiniti did not, which is why I'm switching back to the 335i. And all the arguments about potential reliability issues with a new model Turbo are valid. But..."enthusiasts" are willing to take risks. If there is a 1% chance my 335i will have to sit in the garage for a month with a fuel pump failure, I'll take that chance for the absolute thrills I'll be having for the othe 35 months playing with this marvelous engine. You got it right...Infiniti will sell alot of G37s...unfortunately, not to the "enthusiasts" who frequent this board...nor, I bet, to previous G35 or 330 owners.

 

About the only thing the 335 is better at right now is straight line performance. Adding HP and twist with a chip fixes its other deficiencies how?
Adding a big honkin SC or TT's to a G37 will more than fix its low end TQ and weight issues so I fail to see how a 335, even a procede chipped 335 could stand up to a G37 pushing 400 ponies.

 

I was not clear. My point was that the OP was calling the car a disappointment. Alot of that has to do with the perception that performance is the end all to a car's success. I was pointing out that if that was the case, BMW would only sell 335 coupes. They don't - they sell a whole lot more 328s. Should we consider the 328 a disappointment because it's slower at the same price point as the G37? Many people buy cars for alot of different reasons. Infiniti knows this. They created a car that has very good performance, tech, reliability, and cost. That's why they will sell alot - just like BMW sells alot more 328s over 335s.

People that put the 335s performance above all and at any cost are a minority of the overall public as is evident is sales figures.

And for the comment about selling more Honda Civics - that supports my point as mentioned above. Sorry if my post wasn't clear.

 

OK, so maybe I was a little over the top on this. I just got motor trend and car and driver yesterday, and my reaction wasn't good. But still, Car and driver tested stick shift versions, and those numbers aren't even close. Motor trend tested automatics, where they're closer. Remember also, though, that Motor Trend named the G car of the year in '03, and have always had a soft spot for it. That was one of the main reasons I got mine (along with being in awe of it at the 2002 NY auto show). I haven't been disappointed a single day owning it.

As far as the luxury items and improvements like 4WAS, the '07 already has most of them (I've never been annoyed about the seat switches). '07 performance was already improved over the '03 , so I was expecting a real performance step forward with a new model, and that didn't materialize. I agree that the 08 looks great, the interior is now truly luxury class, and I expect they'll sell a ton of them (probably even to me in the future), but honestly I was expecting more given the impact the first generation G had on the marketplace.

It's really not about envy at BMW, but more like Ford vs. Chevy during the pony car wars prior to the mid-70's gas crunch (unlike many of you, I was around for that). You're either one or the other, and hate it if you feel the other guy has gotten the edge. For you New Yorkers, it's like Yankees vs. Mets. I've become an infiniti guy, and I've always been a Yankee fan, and clearly, right now, the edge belongs to BMW and the Mets.

 

See my post above. I was not clear. Most people buy 328s, not 335s. Look at the sales figures. So, Infiniti was smart in creating a car with better performance than the 328, even close to the 335, at the 328 price point.

 

I just think that we were all expecting Infiniti to outdo itself. It did in most all categories verses the previous generation. But it is relatively in the same class as it's predecessor in performance. We were expecting however better numbers with the 330 HP and attention grabbing bigger brakes. However verses the previous generation there is only marginal improvements in performance. Performancewise the 08 could be outclassed in performance by lesser vehicles by 1 or 2 years into it's generation life. That does affect long term value in a 35K plus sport coupe. For now the introductory version of the 08 G is still a contender. But I really wonder if other car makers will surpass it within a couple of years.