2007 Infiniti G35 Journey Long-Term Review!

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform) 10/14/2019 at 17:00 • Filed to: oppo review, infiniti, infiniti g35, trumpets

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It’s been about a year and... *counts on fingers* 9 months since I bought my G35. Frankly I never thought I’d own an Infiniti, let alone a G35. I was dead set on a GS400/430 or an Acura of some kind. Finding myself in the car that enthusiasts love to hate was a surprise. One test drive later and I was at a desk signing the papers. Over the course of these 21 months with my little box of trumpets, I’ve loved it and hated it. Thought about selling it but came back around again. Here’s my 21-month review of the 2007 Infiniti G35 Journey Sedan (V36).

Some of the tech specs first. The car is powered by an all-new (at the time) VQ35HR 3.5 60° V6 engine putting out 306 horsepower at 6,800 RPM and 268 ft-lbs of torque at 4,800 RPM. One major difference between this and the VQ35DE it replaced is the use of a dual intake system. Instead of a single throttle body, the HR sports two 60mm throttle bodies mounted atop each bank. The VQ35HR also fixes a PCV issue found on the earlier DE engine, which was notorious for pulling oil past the PCV valve and back into the combustion chambers. The HR which stands for ‘high revolution’ or ‘high response’ has an increased redline at 7,500 RPM. The 2007 G35 saw the debut of the VQ35HR and was used up until the death of the Q50 hybrid in 2018.

One trumpety boye

What does that all mean on the road? This car is quick. It rushes to 60 mph in roughly 5.3 seconds and blitzes the 1/4 mile in 13.9 seconds. Not quite the 10 second car that Brian built for Dom, but it’s something. Steering is very responsive, but with a curb weight of just over 3600 lbs, it tends to throw itself around tight corners. I’ve upgraded mine with adjustable rear sway bar links to remove pre-load in the sway bar which certainly helps. The sound? *applies oven mits* I like it. Before you hurt me, let me just get this out of the way. Most modified VQ engines sound like trash. Hell I’m not a huge fan of the stock VQ35DE sound. This one actually sounds nice. Most of it is just your typical V6 drone but still has a hint of that signature VQ induction and exhaust noise in the lower RPMs, just a little more toned down. The 5-speed automatic transmission shifts quickly, and leaves little power loss between gears. You do get the option of shifting via the tiptronic “slap stick” mode but it’s so slow that you might as well stick to auto mode. In general it drives nicely. The throttle is super sensitive and the car is eager to go faster. The suspension does a good job of absorbing the bumps but it is still a sports car trying to be a ‘sensible’ sedan so you tend to feel the road more often than not.

Gratuitous RC cars + rain gear + filming gear in trunk picture is gratuitous

The front is nice and spacious but the rear seats are there just for fun. My 6'0" frame struggles to fit back there. Good thing I’m not a back seat driver but I do feel for my rear passengers. The trunk? Heh. It would be a little more spacious if the 6-disc CD changer wasn’t lazily added in at the top. That thing has never seen a single one of my CDs, mainly because I don’t have CDs anymore. Good thing they give you aux, but wait it’s A FUCKING RCA INPUT?! You’re telling me I need to get an RCA to auxiliary adapter in order to listen to my banging hot tunes from my cellular telephone? At least it has hands free calling, but the bluetooth signature is so old that the call quality is shit. Speaking of the center console setup, it’s nice. You get a large touch screen up top, but it isn’t the dominant method of interacting with the infotainment system. You’re given a plethora of knobs and buttons to navigate the system with. On rare occasion the system will glitch and begin cycling through all inputs at random. I don’t know why this happens but apparently there are issues with this version of the OS. Speaking of inputs, you get the option of CD, aux, AM/FM, music stored onto the car itself, and of course, CF card!

In the first year of ownership, I have done the following:

NGK Laser Iridium DILKAR7B11 spark plugs + PCV valve - ~$110

Wagner OEx ceramic-kevlar brake pads - ~$80

Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ tires - ~$700

Whiteline adjustable sway bar endlinks + sway bar bushings - ~$100

Mobil-1 Synthetic 5W-30 motor oil change - $free

Castrol 80W-90 differential fluid change - ~$40

Gates serpentine belt - ~$40

Engine/cabin air filters - ~$50

In the first year I’ve spend well over $1,000 in preventative maintenance. I briefly went over the spark plug job in an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but it is not an easy job. You have to remove the filter boxes, remove the intake ducts, and unbolt the throttle bodies because these are all in the way of those pesky plugs. The tentacle porn of vacuum lines were just adding insult to injury, but i could just push those aside. Let it be known that I would rather change the plugs in my old Honda Accord, with a transverse-mounted V6 where the back 3 plugs are buried under the dashboard. While removing the internal hex bolts holding throttle body #2 to the plenum, one of them started to strip. Fortunately I had a torx bit to grab onto it and was able to get a replacement bolt from my local Infiniti dealership.

Can you see the coils yet? Me neither.

While a lot of the chassis follows the same tried and true format for a front engine-RWD car, the engine is packed tighter than a sardine in a can. Need to change a faulty knock sensor? Good luck removing half of the engine first! Need to change the serpentine belt? Hope you don’t get your arm stuck trying to loop the belt around the crank pulley! Oh yeah these engines go through drive belts quicker than average, so you’ll be doing that far more often.

Now you’re probably wondering “how bad is the fuel economy?” and my answer is “yes.” I started out averaging roughly 16 MPG in the city which wasn’t bad considering how much traffic there is here in the Puget Sound area. However that number began to drop. 15... 14... 13... 12... Once it was hovering around 11 MPGa I decided something was wrong. I ran 1/3 of a can of Seafoam through the tank. Nothing... I ran a bottle of Red Line through the tank. Success! I gained back one MPG. Getting an oil change gave me another MPG. But I was still stupid low. DOing a soft ECU reset didn’t really do much, so I did a little more digging around online. Turns out its pretty common for the fuel level sensors to get dirty and give out a false fuel reading. The ECU simply thought I was going through more gas than I actually was. No problem. Removing the rear cushion exposes two port holes, one on each side, with the fuel pump and a secondary fuel sending unit on the opposite side of the tank. Both with level sensors. A blast of CRC QD electrics cleaner fixed the issue and I was back to getting 16 MPG city. On the highway I see 25-30 MPG which is still somewhat worse than my Accord, but I am blaming that on the overdrive gear. “Fuck you, overdrive gear!” and such.

Is it time for a summary? Sure. I love this car. It’s fast, comfortable, fun to drive, and sounds very nice. I’m sure the engine could be easier to work on, and the parts could be just a little bit cheaper maybe? Fuel economy leaves a little to be desired despite all I’ve done to make it better. But you don’t buy a G35 or even a G37 for fuel efficiency. That’s for your Honda Fits and Toyota Yarises (Yari? Yaripodes?). 21 months and roughly 5,000 miles later, I have no regrets. If you’re looking for a fun Japanese luxo-sports sedan that won’t break the bank, look no further.

CB > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 17:52

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My takeaway from all this is why in the hell is there a CF card slot? Other than that, excellent review!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 18:06

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For what you get engine-wise, these are totally fine to work on compared to competitors. I’ve had the engines out and done heads on these, a s well as a bunch of valve covers. Really not bad. And hey, you could have a Subaru with half the power and get the same mileage! I actually really like G35/7's. They're great. It's just the stereotype that isn't.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > CB 10/14/2019 at 18:57

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I would assume it works like modern cars can use USB sticks. Load it up with files and you can play them back. That or they put the maps on it.

CB > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 10/14/2019 at 18:58

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I understand that, but SD cards were available at this time. I thought CF was on the way out by then.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/14/2019 at 18:59

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I have a love/hate relationship with the VQ. On one hand they make good power/torque, are quite reliable when beat on, and often come in good chassis for drifting but on the other hand they sound terrible if you run anything other than a stock exhaust.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > CB 10/14/2019 at 19:00

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Weren’t CF cards still cheaper and higher capacity than SD cards in 2007?

CB > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 10/14/2019 at 19:02

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Probably.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 10/14/2019 at 19:37

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V6's in general sound  terrible. 

RacinBob > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 19:37

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What kind of RPM does your engine turn at 70 MPH? A friends M-37 turned 3000 RPM at 70 which resulted in noisy operation and not great MPG. 

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/14/2019 at 19:39

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True, the VQ is extra bad though. 

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > RacinBob 10/14/2019 at 20:16

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My G37 turns 2700 rpm at 78 mph, which translates to about 24-25  mpg

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 20:18

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I agree with pretty much all of this. It hustles really well, but it also doesn’t completely hide the fact that it’s no lightweight. I’m also glad I’m not the only one who likes the sound. It’s no V8, but it still sounds pretty good.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 20:26

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One of us! One of us! one of us!

2013 G37x. Love the performance , handling and reliability but hate the fuel economy

BryanD7 > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 10/14/2019 at 20:35

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Sound terrible?! They sound even more amazing with the right exhaust. 

Nibby > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 20:49

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damn dude your phone has a 3.5mm jack? NICE

Nom De Plume > CB 10/14/2019 at 20:51

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They thoughtfully used CF because even now it has qualities surpassing SD, or much worse  USB flash drives, that made it the de rigu eur storage choice in the best digital cameras.  A look at the current top DSRL from Canon shows it is still exactly that.  For music playback in a vehicle it is an extremely intelligent choice.

TheHondaBro > RacinBob 10/14/2019 at 20:57

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About 2500 RPM IIRC, but I’d rather not publicly  admit I exceed the speed limit regularly enough to know for sure!

TheHondaBro > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 10/14/2019 at 21:03

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Niceeee. Personally I like the V36 sedan better than the coupe. Yay us!

MedNV > TheHondaBro 10/14/2019 at 22:23

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Yeah. Still love my ‘07 6mt. But after two failed Clutch Slave Cylinders, clutch master cylinder,  clutch and DMF. I think I’m ready for something different. Possibly when I’m an old man, I’ll buy another 6mt.

Chariotoflove > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 00:17

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Two things about the interior. What I didn’t like when I test drove one was that all that aluminum trim is just paint. An Infiniti deserves better. One thing I did like that’s an under appreciated trick is that the gauge cluster moves up and down with the wheel adjustment. That doesn’t seem like a big deal until you find the optimal adjustment in a car without it and see that part of the wheel crosses in front of your dials.

Good car.  Good write up.  Glad you’re enjoying it.  Now, all you need are some Skyline GTR decals. ;)

TheHondaBro > Chariotoflove 10/15/2019 at 00:32

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Yes! Totally forgot to mention that the whole wheel and gauge cluster moves! You can also set it to move up and out of the way when you open the door.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 10/15/2019 at 01:31

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Honestly I disagree. I think they just seem that way because of their typical owners and they garbage exhausts they run. Stock is decent for a V6, and a nice Stillen kit is fine. 

Chariotoflove > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 10:38

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In the coupe, which I test drove, the seat also auto slides forward when you pull the seat  back up for access to the back. Nissan put lots of nice touches in that car.

MM54 > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 10:44

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A coworker has one of these, I’ve only been in it a couple times but as a passenger the #1 thing I took away was the seat being harder than a park bench. I couldn’t believe how uncomfortable it was. Otherwise it seems like a good car, but the stereotype is bad.

Hall Stevenson > RacinBob 10/15/2019 at 13:41

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I can’t say the specific RPM but I will confidently say, “too high”. I guess a 6th-gear would help for strictly highway driving and in turn, better highway MPG. Oddly, the later models with the 7-speed don’t get any better highway mileage.

Hall Stevenson > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 13:46

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I bought my ‘08 G35X from my sister who bought it brand new. I replaced the serpentine belt at 120k miles and it was the original belt, from the factory. My sister had all service records and it was never replaced.

If you want audio streaming options, the best integrated one is if you have the iPod cable in the armrest console. If you do, look up Coolstream CarPro. It’s a Bluetooth receiver that your phone connects to and in turn ties into the head unit’s iPod input. If you have an iPhone, it will display track info on the head unit and the steering wheel controls work. If you have an Android, you don’t get track info but the steering wheel controls do work. If you do NOT have the iPod cable option, you can use one of many BT receiver options that have a 3.5mm audio output and then an adapter cable with red/white RCA male connectors. The sound quality is GREAT but no track info and no steering wheel controls (volume up/down does work).

Hall Stevenson > Chariotoflove 10/15/2019 at 14:11

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“that aluminum trim is just paint”

Mine has the “African rosewood” trim and it’s just a thin laminate that’s glued in place.

Chariotoflove > Hall Stevenson 10/15/2019 at 14:26

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I haven’t seen that trim. Does it look good?

TheHondaBro > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/15/2019 at 15:18

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Stillen makes a nice cat back with a deep throaty rumble under normal acceleration. A lot of people either straight pipe it or they overpay for an ARK GRiP exhaust. 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 15:39

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Never seen the ARK exhaust myself. Mostly straight pipe without cats, mufflers, resonators; or that but with generic parts store mufflers (fart cans!).

Hall Stevenson > Chariotoflove 10/15/2019 at 16:18

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Other than the piece on the passenger door that’s loose (and I’ve tried to re-glue it twice with the last repair lasting a few months before coming loose again), I think it looks fine. I guess it’s supposed to give it a more luxurious look (??). Given the choice of two identical cars, one with and one without, I’d probably pass on the wood trim myself.

Chariotoflove > Hall Stevenson 10/15/2019 at 16:22

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I have the shiny lacquered wood trim on my K900. I’m personally glad for the recent  shift to more natural-surfaced wood trim. I think the shiny stuff looks too much like it might as well be imitation wood plastic trim.

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/15/2019 at 17:20

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Ewe. Ark is horrible. Stillen is worse. Better off going to a custom exhaust shop and having something built. We dropped Stillen due to quality control issues on their end. Working on contracting with AMS now. Not looking good though.

p.s. I work at an Infiniti dealer and we do fun stuff with them. Lots of fun stuff, turbos, superchargers, nitrous, engine builds, a few manual swaps, etc . Still trying to convince the manag er to let us build an Eau Rouge. We have the Q50 with a bad VR , and the GTR that the used car manager borked.  How awesome would that be ;)

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 17:21

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Don’t get overzealous with movements. I’ve replaced dash harnesses due to fatigue and broken wires. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 17:26

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Spellcheck on your title, homie. =)

TheHondaBro > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/15/2019 at 18:11

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Don't know what you're talking about ;) 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > GoodIdeaAtTheTime 10/15/2019 at 18:26

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I worked at an Infiniti dealer years ago. Installed a lot of Stillen stuff, but never had issues back then.

Hey Julie > TheHondaBro 10/15/2019 at 19:26

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I bet your steering rack leaks 

Hey Julie > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/15/2019 at 19:26

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I love valve covers on these, and steering racks 

TheHondaBro > Hey Julie 10/15/2019 at 21:12

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They told me its ‘seeping’ but my fluid level hasn’t moved a drop sooooo

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/16/2019 at 08:54

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Early on they were fine. Last 5 years or so, though, convincing me to look elsewhere. 

Hey Julie > TheHondaBro 10/16/2019 at 18:06

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They all leak, every single one in my experience. Usually it’s  minor enough that it’s not worth the considerable expense of replacing the rack just make sure that pump doesn’t run dry