ISMaximus

You owned an Infiniti and can't even spell it correctly?

EBMCS03

But their "top" of the line model exclding the ///M series they give you more options as standard... Look at the 545 or now 550. Leather is standard, No cost option on 3 transmissions. 6 spd, SMG or Auto, Premium Package is standard, free floor mats . Heck the 330i even comes standard with Harmon Kardon sound system. For whatever its worth its still their "top sound system" I'm not going to compare it to ML at the moment. I'm just trying to say if you do ge their top of the line regular production car you get a few things standard.

cliverman

330i to G35 Coupe to C32 to IS350. All in 3 yrs. Wife hates me!
I loved the actual drive of the 330i - but it was slow
The G35 was the coolest of my recent cars. I spent loads of money on mods and it never really made my happy. It was still too slow to look that good. Gone in six months.
The C32 was extremely fast - runs circles around 330/G35/IS350 but it looked like a grandpa car. The mods on Mercedes are way too expensive for what you get. So it's gone. Welcome IS350!
Great looking car, inside and out, somewhat fast. Needs more mods! Sub 90db exhaust with proven dyno improvement, intake with the same, etc.... I'm guessing in the next year or so this car will have more vendors making stuff just like they did for the IS300.

2 Cents

tragic22

Ultimately this is what it is... Of course everybody is going to feel their car is better but I'm confident that if you did a poll of people who own neither an Infiniti or Lexus that 9 out of 10 people would say they view Lexus above Infiniti. I'm sure more people would be impressed by somebody who says "I drive a Lexus" than somebody who says "I drive an Infiniti".

However when it comes to the G35 with the IS350 its unfair to compare the two. Reason being the current G35 has been out how many years??? while the IS350 isn't even a year old. If you want to make a fair comparison you should do :
G35 vs. IS300- which to me the G35 wins by far. I hated the IS300s. To me they looked like a boxy corolla with an "L" on it.

The other matchup is:
IS350 vs. 2007 G35 Press here for the site with 07 G35 info.
- Obviously we only know so much about the 07 G35 but from what I've seen and read G35 can't touch the IS. The IS looks oh so much sexier and the G35's features don't come close to the IS's. I've never seen a car have so much features for such a low price tag, do I really got to list them......
Ok I will
Push button start, keyless entry, ipod hookup, heated /ventilated seats, 306 hp, 13 speakers-standard, voice activated navigation w/ backup camera, bluetooth, sunroof, and its a safer car with better gas mileage... I'm going to stop, my fingers are hurting.

I like the G35 but its

Lexus = Mercedes = BMW...

















.....Infiniti.

cliverman

07 G35, very nice. Looks more like the coupe. Gotta get one for the wife. Yeah..that's a good excuse.

300 hp!! Nice improvement.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

I very much disagree with this statement. While I'm certainly partial to Lexus, Infiniti are certainly comparable both as a company and product-to-product. There is always a market leader and underdogs... that doesn't stop people from comparing them. Coke to Pepsi to RC Cola. Nike to Addidas to Puma.

Until last year Lexus are rebaged Toyota Aristo, Celsior, etc etc. and you definitely know that, right? That doesn't make them any less a fine product... I don't get upset when people call my Lexus a 'gussied up Toyota'. It is one and if they don't like it they can suck it.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

with 80% of the engine with new parts, and almost 1000 rpm higher redline (previously was mid 6000s I believe, in the 07 pic its past 7000) its going to be more im guessing 320-330 hp, I believe the current VQ is already near 300 hp like 298 or something

also BMW/MB are leathered up, engined up, tech up, versions of the stripped down basicmobiles they have in europe. BMW and MB are no different from Toyota to Lexus or Nissan to Infiniti or Honda to Acura

Sunman222

First of all, i'm going to assume you are just making generalizations about Lexus's "standing every else in the world". I'll also make the assumption that you haven't lived "everywhere else in the world". So unless you have facts or statistics, let's not just try to past opinions as facts.

Lexus vehicles cost far more in China then in the US based on a number of factors, but the point is this, it's still a luxury brand in China on par with BMW-MB just like is it in the US.

You didn't necessarily state that Infiniti was "tier 1", but based on all your arguments, you were insinuating it. This is a Lexus board, you're going to have to make better arguments besides opinions and sweeping generalizations. The fact that you actually defend yourself simply furthers my point.

You also made a comparison of the LS, Q, and Legend. I drove a 93 LS400 and it was just leaps and bounds ahead of the Legend (no experience with the Q). I still prefer the 93 LS400 to the 2000 CLK 320 Cabriolet I currently drive based on ride quality, and it's on par with my father's 2000 S500.

You compare Infiniti and Lexus and incorrectly state that Lexus has been around longer, then attempt to save face and use the excuse that Infiniti was going into backruptcy. Yet when you make the new IS to 3-series comparison, you forget to mention the fact that BMW has been in that market longer than Lexus has. This doesn't bother me since I'm impartial and don't currently own any of the vehicles in this discussion.

I too eagerly await information regarding the 07 BMW coupe, the 07/08 IS (couple/convertible/awd/manual/500/etc.), as well as the new G35.

Sunman222

Besides just everyone trying to one up eachother by increasing horsepower, do you think Infiniti is trying to bridge the gap between the G35 and the soon to be released GTR? The G35 is essentially a skyline that never got a high end performance "GTR" version because they stopped GTR production in 2002.

diablo1

Wait so now you're using the fact that Infiniti/Nissan almost went bankrupt as a way to defend the company?? They almost went bankrupt because they were building cars that no one wanted to buy, even at a heavy discount to the other luxury marques. They definitely are having a renaissance of sorts under Ghosn but so what? Company A is a more stable, better managed company with better products. Company B has been around the same amount of time, almost went bankrupt, and is now staging a comeback but is still rated below Company A for products in nearly every categoy. Hey, I'll still go with Company A right now.

Try comparing the ACTUAL prices people are paying. We'll see if Infiniti is able to produce such high demand when the new G35 comes out, and thus able to charge near-sticker prices with no incentives. For now, the G35 is the value buy in this category.

Some salesmen are good, some are bad. Some are idiots and some are smart. But this salesman was right about one thing - the G35 looks like a frog!

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

breathing new life into the VQ engine, it needed it

Hypnotik

Im pretty much done addressing you. But if you want to compare what people are actually paying, just look at your own IS forum with a thread you started. The IS is fairly new and you can already get 4k off the sticker. Not that it matters since ALL car manufacturers do it....especially the germans which is why they sell so much. I dont have the time to look for every bit of information that you seem to need. Im sure these topics have been discussed various times all over this forum so do a search. Okay....so the g35 is a frog......that still sells more than the IS Oh and if you need proof, go to the "car talk" forum and look under May sales 2006

Hypnotik

The whole tier 1 stuff came from a survey done in the united states. I assume that it is only in the US since sales are not great in europe, japan, etc. There have been a few threads every now and then about how lexus is doing in other countries and it isnt doing as well as expected. Lexus in japan hopes that the release of the new LS might change that. Again, i dont have the time to look it up for you so you can either take my word for it or search it on these forums and im sure you will see what i am talking about. There is no arguing that lexus is in line with MB and BMW in the US. Not even audi is held up as high here. In europe however, audi is way up there.

I bought my SC because its a lexus and i bought my M45 because its an infiniti. They are both great cars. They both get equal gawks from people looking at them

Hypnotik

From what ive read so far about the 07 g35, it has all the things the new IS has. I dont know about gas mileage, but i bet the IS250 would still get better mileage.

Just thought Id share
Quoting from pages 53 and 57 of the June 2006 issue of BMW Car Club of America's Roundel magazine:

[From the 2006 NY Auto Show] "Most significant new car if you are shopping for a 3 Series: 2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan. . . . If any other car on the planet comes close to a 330i with the sport package, it is the similarly equipped G35. It may not be a BMW, but it is the closest thing yet any rival has made. And they are making it better."

". . . Infiniti debuted the 2007 G35, a car that in its first iteration finally put Infiniti on the map as a competitor to Lexus, Acura, and European luxury cars. The new car, ver similar in style to the old one so as not to alienate any customers, will arrive with a new version of Nissan's ubiquitous 3.5 liter VQ V6 engine, with horsepower 'in excess' of 300."

IS3FIDDY

Now that's a great point on the '07 G35 comparison...

I just recently got my IS350 and I chose it over the 330i and the G35 because (1) it looked sexier to me, (2) had a few more bells and whistles that I liked in the interior (such as ML, Lexus Nav, etc.) and (3) won the current HP/0-60 race...

I've liked the G35 ever since it came out, but maybe it's becase everyone and their brother has one and/or the look of it has just gotten old to me that I decided against it in favor of the IS.

Getting back to the main point...I've been reading this and that about the '07 model being "300 HP", but why does everyone assume Infiniti will only just hit the critical "3xx" number? I mean, doesn't the current G35 have 298 HP??? Why in the world would Infiniti--and anyone else for that matter--consider a +2 bump in HP enough of an increase to introduce in their newly designed model to compete with the likes of Lexus and BMW? That's nothing!

This is a HP war, and I'm sure the '07 G35 will leap frog the IS350 in HP numbers and will probably be in the 310-315 HP range. This will be enough to make a lot of the "flakier" Lexus owners on this site quickly lose interest in the IS again, I'm sure...