drzoidberg

Hi folks,

Going to do something a little different with my ride report this time. In the past, it was inconvenient to host pictures separately on photobucket then link over to FT.

Instead, to support my rental-car-reviewing addiction, have moved reviews to wordpress to better integrate pictures + text. Will post the summarized text here, and link to direct car review (with many pictures!). Enjoy! pro/cons capsule summary below; actual review too long to post here. (**Received ok from moderator to do this.**)

http://carrentingreviews.wordpress.c...ig37_national/

Infiniti G37 Ride Report


PROS:

- Driving dynamics are awesome, engine is putting out 328 hp, 0-60 in 5.x seconds.
- Fantastic brakes.
- Great handling, steering feel.
- 7 speed transmission
- RWD
- Standard HIDs, extremely illuminating.
- I'm over 6', and with my seat back as far as it is, the rear seats still had sufficient leg room.
- Seats had sufficient lateral bolstering; for standard seats, they gripped my body very well.
- Rear view camera has steering prediction guidance arrows.
- Steering wheel has a comfortable flat-portioned lateral grip section.
- Authentic looking aluminum "Shodo" trim.

CONS:

- Some of the interior portions look a bit cheap, especially the hard dashboard material, and the steering wheel. Same goes for the door handles, which feel and look cheap- too much plastic. Dodge Charger has nicer padded stitched leather door-mounted arm rests.

- Fairly low-res multimedia screen, with slightly unintuitive rotating dial selector. Refreshes slowly.

- Audio system was unable to play half the MP3s on my USB stick, unacceptable! Didn't have any such problems with the USB-MP3 compatible Fords, Hyundais, and Dodges that I drove recently.

- Horrible fuel economy, but that goes with the awesome engine and my lead foot.

maestrowei

Lots of post-processing work went into those photos... I assume that the photog and you are not one and the same?

drzoidberg

Correct, we're friends.

It's the culmination of a year of FT-based ride reports.

newfbc

Very nice.. one thing though,
"The barcode pictured on the left suggests that it is the AWD version, as the “4RWD” code indicates, but is mislabeled."

I think the 4 = 4 door, RWD = Rear Wheel Drive.

Ron.

drzoidberg

You're right, thanks newfbc!

The Nissan Maxima is marketed as a 4DSC (4 door sports coupe), I wonder what the National barcode says? 4FWD?

dwbf11

I was going to say...I really hope you didn't pay a photographer to take pictures of what is, after all, a rental car!

qs933

The photos look great!

I'll have to admit -- I was a little embarrassed when I was showing a relative photos from a recent trip and at the beginning were a whole bunch of photos of my rental car (which I normally separate into a separate "event" in iPhoto).

drzoidberg

hahaha, only the select few understand the allure and addiction of reviewing rental cars on Flyertalk.

mnredfox

This was in the EA, not even ES? Wow...

noah

My wife has prohibited me from posting any pictures of rental cars (or planes) on Facebook. She has stopped giving me a hard time about *taking* the photos, but she won't let me share them with a general audience.

drzoidberg

That's criminal (you can tell her that dr.z appeals for leniency on your behalf) !

PKCorey

Nice review and pictures. I had to wonder for a second, if they were from another article.

The G series has aged pretty well over the years. I still dislike the new wheels though.

drzoidberg

Thanks! We've added 1920 x 1080 wallpapers too, as of yesterday.

The new wheels look a little too busy.

jjlovecub

Drove one this past weekend. I rented at SRQ and had reserved a Premimum...asked at the counter and they gave it to me no problem. It didn't have a few of the gadgets that most G37s have but it was still a great ride and a lot of fun to drive. My son insisted that I go buy one!

bocastephen

I picked up a G37 (not as much picked up as ambushed ) at FLL last night - I guess the lure of finding a prized luxury car got the better of me because I momentarily forgot how much I hated the Infiniti G series. Ugh.

The car rides OK, the interior is just OK, nothing special - everything is very tight and firm, as the car is almost new.

Even with my feather foot, the gas mileage is horrible! Either this car has a gas tank the size of a flea's bladder or the mileage number posted on the dash is a lie. I burned through a quarter tank driving from FLL to Boca, and the needle was already off F just from the car jockey driving the car from the clean/fuel area to the garage and idling while looking for a spot to put it.

I'm only keeping it through the 11th, but I'm tempted to return it tomorrow and get something else (at the cost of another 1/4 tank). No more fancy cars - just give me a Sonata with working XM and I'll be happy.