WTB: Grown-up Car

[Goodspeed]

Word. I see a silver, lowered/tinted G37 IPL (Infiniti's in-house "tuner") in my gym's parking lot regularly and its really sexy. Probably worth a closer look. And I dunno, I hear "douche" associated with the 335 probably 10x more than I do with the G

[SlimKlim]

Aside from the stereotype new Infiniti's are really nice. They've definitely stepped up their interior game since the frickin awful 1st gen G35. We had a '10 M45(?) when I was working at the shop. Before I drove it I thought I'd hate it, 3 minutes into the drive I was blown away.

[WRXtranceformed]

Did I recommend that you test drive my car yet? You can find clean, CPO examples with low mileage in your price range. They depreciated pretty hard after they were sold new. Same engine as the V6 camaro and takes to mods in the same way (mine is noticeably more fun to drive with a Trifecta tune, ported throttle body and some other goodies), super smooth driving, decent drivetrain, 50/50 weight distribution, all the tech you could want, banging sound system, heated/cooled seats, navi....I could go on and on. Oh and it looks pretty awesome!

[JPolen01]

I thought we cleared up the douche thing in this thread a while ago. Why does a stereotype matter?

[Levey]

I wonder if maintenance on an Infiniti would be absurd vs. a Nissan. You would think it would be the same, but I don't think that's the case with the luxury brands of these automakers.

[JPolen01]

I wonder if maintenance on an Infiniti would be absurd vs. a Nissan. You would think it would be the same, but I don't think that's the case with the luxury brands of these automakers.

I don't think it's too bad. My uncle has a 2006 (I think) g37XS sedan and I have only seen it not in his driveway a handful of times in 5 or 6 years. He has never complained about any pricey repairs or catastrophic failures either.

[WRXtranceformed]

Parts on the Acura were about the same as an Accord...because they were Accord parts. Maintenance parts on the Caddy are about the same as a Camaro because they are the same. MB, Audi and BMW are where the maintenance costs can get out of control unless you have a maintenance plan with them.

[Levey]

Good stuff. I do like the CTS, but love the CTS-V..

[WRXtranceformed]

How could you not, the CTS-V is badass! AWFUL daily driver though if you care anything at all about your fuel costs. I was looking at the window sticker and the guy at the Cadillac dealership told me that even though the sticker said like 12/18 he said realistically most of their buyers had reported back between 8-10mpg. And you are definitely running that thing on premium. If you have a gas card or allowance though I say go for it! Maintenance will be higher on that one for sure though...bigger brakes, bigger / different engine, etc.

[Levey]

That makes sense, I don't think I could drive a CTS-V conservatively. No gas card here, besides my Amazon credit card.

[SlimKlim]

I thought we cleared up the douche thing in this thread a while ago. Why does a stereotype matter?

I mean pretty much all the cars I'm seriously considering are stereotyped as sorority girl cars. I was behind one at a stoplight the other day with a GMU and AKA sticker on it. :lol:

[Jake]

I wonder if maintenance on an Infiniti would be absurd vs. a Nissan. You would think it would be the same, but I don't think that's the case with the luxury brands of these automakers.

My dad has owned a 2002 I35 since new. It's just a Maxima with lipstick, and operating costs have been just that. Dead reliable (he has 145k on it now) and what he has had fixed/replaced due to age has all been reasonable. It's a Maxima with more wood trim, heated stuff, and fancy wheels.

The G35 is just a 350Z with two more seats.

[Levey]

I wonder if maintenance on an Infiniti would be absurd vs. a Nissan. You would think it would be the same, but I don't think that's the case with the luxury brands of these automakers.

My dad has owned a 2002 I35 since new. It's just a Maxima with lipstick, and operating costs have been just that. Dead reliable (he has 145k on it now) and what he has had fixed/replaced due to age has all been reasonable. It's a Maxima with more wood trim, heated stuff, and fancy wheels.

The G35 is just a 350Z with two more seats.

Good to know. Also, I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me earlier, but I did own an RX8. I couldn't count how many times that car was called "cute", not to mention the number of them I see driven by middle aged women. I guess stereotypes of vehicle owners shouldn't matter so much if I spent 3 years in a cute car.

[drinkapus]

A friend of mine has an 06 G35 Coupe automatic that he's had since 2010 and he's slightly annoyed with the car now. He only gets about 16 mpg in mostly city driving and the interior and trunk are both rather tiny, now a problem now that he has a dog and girlfriend. He also is not really a car guy and lives in West Virginia and curses buying something rwd with 245 wide rears with how much it snows there. That said it's been reliable; the only repair so far was getting the front brake discs replaced (expensive, but his own fault for forgetting to replace the pads). It looks nice and sounds good too, but overall its not that practical a car.

Unfortunately its hard to find prestige-branded cars that are fuel efficient but not gutless, and they all wanna be fed with premium so that doesn't help either. Have you considered an Acura TSX v6? They're not bad on gas and make 280 hp. You can get a certified 2010 with not a lot of miles for well under $30k.

[Dave]

A friend of mine has an 06 G35 Coupe automatic that he's had since 2010 and he's slightly annoyed with the car now. He only gets about 16 mpg in mostly city driving and the interior and trunk are both rather tiny, now a problem now that he has a dog and girlfriend. He also is not really a car guy and lives in West Virginia and curses buying something rwd with 245 wide rears with how much it snows there. That said it's been reliable; the only repair so far was getting the front brake discs replaced (expensive, but his own fault for forgetting to replace the pads). It looks nice and sounds good too, but overall its not that practical a car.

Unfortunately its hard to find prestige-branded cars that are fuel efficient but not gutless, and they all wanna be fed with premium so that doesn't help either. Have you considered an Acura TSX v6? They're not bad on gas and make 280 hp. You can get a certified 2010 with not a lot of miles for well under $30k.

At first I was like WTF, b/c I've never gotten close to that low in my WRX... But then I looked and the EPA estimate for city is 17, sooooo :dunno:

[JPolen01]

The VQ is a thirsty engine.

[Jake]

The VQ is a thirsty engine.

Around town it is. My dad's VQ35 will do 28ish highway. He only sees 19-21 city though.


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[D_Eclipse9916]

The VQ is a thirsty engine.

Around town it is. My dad's VQ35 will do 28ish highway. He only sees 19-21 city though.


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He must have super VQ. All my buddies get between 15-18 around town.

[Jake]

The VQ is a thirsty engine.

Around town it is. My dad's VQ35 will do 28ish highway. He only sees 19-21 city though.


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He must have super VQ. All my buddies get between 15-18 around town.

He also doesn't have much of a heavy foot, and it's got a slushy 4-speed automatic. I don't think it's ever seen north of 3k rpm unless I drive it.

[Levey]

So from all my other recent (or not so recent) real-world entrants and car buyers, any advice on sacking up and taking on a car loan for the first time?