See, (warning: another opinion is coming lol) I don't think it is even fair to say that they made the Q50 and less enjoyable to drive for the enthusiast. Change the tires, like most of you would anyway, and you have the same drivers car the G was. Nevermind a lot of you guys even go as far as making suspension changes and consider the car in stock form too soft anyway. The exhaust is too quiet... you're probably going to change it anyway. But of course if you think the car is ugly too, then I can see passing it up. But you pretty much have the same basics for a mod ready RWD 4-door Sports Sedan in the Q50 as you did in any G of the past. Yes the 3.7 and tranny are still the same, but its almost guaranteed that some kind of DI powertrain is coming.

I still just chalk all this outrage to change and the natural resistance to it. Give it some time, think it through, drive the car, see it on the road, etc. Infiniti truly broadened the appeal of this car with out sacrificing too much.

 

You've given your posts a lot of thought and your points are well taken. I've changed out most of the easier stuff on my G (suspension, intake/exhaust, wheels/tires, some trim/painting, etc.) because I wanted a more unique look and for some improvement in function. I imagine I'd do the same w/ a Q, but for me the G has the simpler classy look & the Q a more flashy style. But unlike the G, the Q has too many conflicting lines, or sections that seem out of place, that as a whole don't work for me. I felt very much the same about the new M, I thought it would grow on me but hasn't, there's just some styles that really hold up well over time and the G nailed it IMO.

 

At risk of stating the obvious, Newt's automotive values and mine continue to share the same space, or at best it's pretty darn close. The only discernible difference is that he's much more friendly than I am.

Get out of my head, dammit.

 

I have no interest in the Q50 ... but unfortunately I think Nisslover is correct. Those of us that want a hard-core 4-door sports car are a definite minority of the sedan-buying demographic. This is further evidenced by what BMW did with the latest 3-series sedan. They took some of the edge off the car and shifted it slightly more toward the luxury end of the spectrum.

The coupe demographic is a bit different ... it will be interesting to see what Infiniti does with the Q60.

Greg

 

I took my 2010 G37S 6MT in for routine maintenance earlier this week and got to see the car in person. The exterior is okay if a little over-styled in my opinion, but that's happening with many cars these days. The interior is definitely refined relative to the G37 in terms of materials and layout. The doors closed with a solid thunk that reminded me of the Lexus GS430 that I had two cars back.

My G37 has pretty low mileage (~25K miles) because, outside of my commute, we've driven my wife's car everywhere to accommodate our three year old twins. The sales department called while my car was in for servicing saying they wanted low mileage used cars on the lot and offered to get me into a Q50 with a lower payment (but of course resetting my payoff schedule). A part of me was tempted by the shiny new thing, but without a manual transmission it's a non-starter. I loved my GS430, but toward the end of ownership I was missing a manual transmission badly, so I got B6 S4 6MT to replace it. When it was time to part with the S4 I had to stay with a manual transmission, and I'm pretty confident I would regret going to an automatic once the new toy thrill wears off.

I'm still hoping that they release a 6MT Sport version of the Q50, but at their current pricing, it's pretty close to B8 S4 range. The reason I got the G37 over the S4 was the major bang-for-the-buck proposition, especially with the kids about to be born, and that's been a great decision. At least for now, the price delta isn't nearly as wide. Maybe it will be if/when they release a Q50S 6MT...

 

Couldn't agree more, once you have a TC with no torque coverter, it's an amazing thing.

That's what sold me with the evo, transmission was incredible.
3 drive modes normal sport & super sport.
Add active yaw control with s-hawd, Tarmac / gravel / snow.
Plus launch control, I was impressed with the fact it was a getrag trans.

 

I think this is the same problem that happened when the first Acura TL came out and people thought it was hideous so people flocked the older version of the TL. Infiniti is playing it safe that's why they want low mileage G's