Hi folks. New G owner here. Blue Slate with Stone, premium and nav. 27K miles.

Short as I can make it story... I'm a car guy and had three cars I tracked extensively in the past: A Miata then a MINI Cooper S, both enhanced for the track and a 99 E36/7 M Coupe, Dinan S2. However, kid 1.0 came along and that constrained the amount of time and money spent at the track then kid 2.0, in 2008, and that was the nail in the coffin. Wife wanted a minivan and we bought a larger house, but with a garage that was too short to fit my pickup so I bought a Jeep Commander. Since then, until Saturday, I've been in the minivan and SUV "penalty box". I missed having a proper *car*.

So... the Jeep was going on eight years old, having been payment free for six. We wanted something with three rows and I needed something that could tow at least 5K or 6K. I thought about just keeping the Jeep and buying a fun car but that would have required building a large shed/small garage in which to keep my diesel tractor with the front loader. So... last Saturday, we picked up a CPO 2011 BMW X5 diesel with the third row, premium, cold, rear climate, tech, convenience, side view and sport activity, pretty loaded...

My wife said... The X5 has the third row (small but only very occasional use) and can pull the trailer, if you want to look at trading my van in on a fun sports sedan, you can. I'll gladly drive the X5. How selfless of her. She's always thinking of me first. I'd already been thinking about what I would buy for the last year if I wanted a semi-practical fun sedan. 335 or G37. It's harder to find well-equipped, CPO 335s in the same price range and BMWs option packaging, it's hit or miss. G37x S models with premium and nav are comparatively plentiful though and the simplified optioning makes finding them easy. I think they probably leased a bunch of these...

So... Long story short, I traded the van in on the G yesterday and couldn't be happier. It's hard to find any review that wasn't overwhelmingly positive about the car and it's met all those expectations, and more. I was comfortable with the CPO warranty and usually don't buy extended warranties. If I do, I only buy OEM. I wasn't going to do the wrap but the F&I person dropped from $1575 to $1200 to $975 very quickly. I figured she's into it for $750 or so... that markup isn't too bad. End of month or something I guess. So... still not sure if worth it but adds the year, deductible is $0, fills in the gaps of the CPO and is transferable. So... I took it.

I modded my fun cars for track duty but I'll probably keep this one pretty stock. Maybe an intake because, I hate to say it, it looks cool. Thinking about the OEM spoiler and lip. Maybe throw snows on the OEM wheels and pick something different up for three-season driving. We'll see. This one won't see the track so the big brakes, harness bars, etc. won't be necessary.

Nice to meet you...

 

Great intro, glad you're out of the van and can turn that frown upside down!
Welcome to the site!

 

Sorry it took a little while to check back in but... thanks for the welcome blnewt. I've been enjoying the new ride immensely. Between that and the new X5, I've spent a bunch of time in the garage setting the memory seats, programming favorites, pairing phones, etc. It's nice to have at least one car in the fleet again that doesn't require getting on the ladder to wash the roof.

My only gripe so far is the missing functionality to copy MP3s, WMAs, etc. to the hard drive in the head unit via the USB port. What a crock. I realize I'm not alone in this frustration as well. The old van did it, the X5 does it... what the heck, Infiniti? This is something that could be remedied via a firmware update, easily. I suspect, as I'd read about this a while ago, that the music industry didn't like this feature appearing in new cars and was looking at ways to reign it in. Perhaps Sony, being on of the more active proponents of this, pressured Nissan/Infiniti to hobble the head unit in this way.

Fortunately, with satellite radio and my phone, it's not a huge deal. We do have a bunch of CDs so I guess I'll just rip them over time. Apple products are banned from the household so just plugging in an iPod isn't an option. Although it's easy to just leave the 8GB USB stick plugged in, the cataloging, search, etc. features available there aren't that great. The head unit does a decent job of supporting my phone though so... I'll be OK.

 

Well... that didn't take long. Got rear-ended today at an intersection notorious for this... The ever present assortment of grills, bumpers and lights scattered about the pavement should serve as warning to keep an eye on what's in front of you. Sigh... Fortunately, the damage seems limited to the bumper cover and maybe some supports. Doesn't appear to be any sheet metal damage to quarters or deck lid. Exhaust doesn't appear bent... I guess it'll be a good time to get the wing. I could install it myself but maybe I can get the shop to cut me a good deal while the cars getting fixed.

 

Sorry to hear this, good luck getting through all the insurance stuff and getting it looking like new again.

 

Welcome!

Sorry to hear about the accident, what dumb luck!

As you said, this may be a good time to add the spoiler and maybe ask the shop to install the lip for you too...

I definitely recommend an intake

 

I ordered a spoiler so that's going on while it's in the shop. I could do it myself but he'll cut me a good price for a hassle-free install. I thought about the lip but... I'm also thinking about the Swift springs. I'm not too concerned about snow clearance but... a bit worried if I drop an inch in the front and do the lip... might be a little close. I'll get an intake here soon... we've got to build a retaining wall in the back yard so gotta watch the finances.

 

Can I ask where you purchased your vehicle from? MY dealer is offering me 84mo plan for $1690 and will not budge on the price claiming thats the lowest he can go which compared to your $975 is ridiculous.