We must realize that 306 horsepower is pretty cool, but we don't have many opportunities to fully exploit them. Traffic, police, spouse and/or children on board, fuel economy; a powerful car is nice, but when you can't ever put the pedal to the metal, it's not very useful. The gas pedal is a bit irritating, though: feather it, and this Infiniti moves slowly ahead; press down slightly more, and the car lunges ahead. It's a little bothersome for your passengers.
The handling is well-suited to the performance. However, I felt a little more body roll than in the previous G35x. As for the steering, it provides an excellent feel of the road, and its variable power assist is pleasing; it barely intervenes at highway speeds, but lightens up the steering in parking maneuvers.
Modernized cockpit
The dashboard, with its brushed aluminum finish, looks very much like the old one, but has a more modern appearance. That's one of the things I criticized in the 2006 G35x. The instrument pod still swivels with the tilt steering, and the display is much nicer, which changed from orange to white and blue.
Infiniti stuffed a lot of gadgets in the new G. The navigation system is one of the best I've tried so far: it's one of the rare systems that chose the right highway I take to get to work, and when I divert from the guided route, it quickly recalculates and moves on instead of going ballistic and ordering me to pull a U-turn. In addition, the controls are easy to use, and the touch-screen is clear and colorful.
The audio system deserves mention. Fitted with a hard drive (optional with the navigation), it can store up to 9.3 megabytes of music; insert a music CD, and with the touch of a button, one can record a full album on the hard drive within a few minutes. CompactFlash cards can also be inserted for transferring music, the CD player reads MP3 files, and a 6-CD changer is bolted in the trunk. In short, a very versatile setup, and the sound output is excellent.
 |
| The G is a competent road car that displays a tad more body roll than the previous car. |
The handling is well-suited to the performance. However, I felt a little more body roll than in the previous G35x. As for the steering, it provides an excellent feel of the road, and its variable power assist is pleasing; it barely intervenes at highway speeds, but lightens up the steering in parking maneuvers.
Modernized cockpit
The dashboard, with its brushed aluminum finish, looks very much like the old one, but has a more modern appearance. That's one of the things I criticized in the 2006 G35x. The instrument pod still swivels with the tilt steering, and the display is much nicer, which changed from orange to white and blue.
Infiniti stuffed a lot of gadgets in the new G. The navigation system is one of the best I've tried so far: it's one of the rare systems that chose the right highway I take to get to work, and when I divert from the guided route, it quickly recalculates and moves on instead of going ballistic and ordering me to pull a U-turn. In addition, the controls are easy to use, and the touch-screen is clear and colorful.
The audio system deserves mention. Fitted with a hard drive (optional with the navigation), it can store up to 9.3 megabytes of music; insert a music CD, and with the touch of a button, one can record a full album on the hard drive within a few minutes. CompactFlash cards can also be inserted for transferring music, the CD player reads MP3 files, and a 6-CD changer is bolted in the trunk. In short, a very versatile setup, and the sound output is excellent.
 |
| CompactFlash cards can be used to transfer up to 9.3 megabytes of music on the hard drive. |