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.
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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 cockpitThe 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.
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CompactFlash cards can be used to transfer up to 9.3 megabytes of music on the hard drive. |