2003 Infiniti G35 Sport Specs, Price, Review & Road Test

It's easy to overlook the significance, superiority, and value of an outstanding car after spending a year behind the wheel. All the good things tend to be taken for granted, and the little annoyances are magnified--especially in a car with many talents and few warts. So it was with our 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe, the co-winner of Motor Trend's 2003 Car of the Year, along with its four-door sibling, of course.

Let's retrace our steps. In mid-2002, we had our first look at the darling of the New York auto show, and one editor said, "The G35--Coupe and Sedan--appears to be poised for stardom." A few months later, we had the opportunity to track test the G35 Coupe, and another editor opined, "Squint, and you'd swear this V-6 was a V-12." He concluded, "If you can find a more stylish, better-performing, four-place coupe at this price, buy it."

The numbers? A base-model six-speed manual came in at $32,595. The first test of this car produced a 5.8-second 0-to-60-mph time and a 66.1-mph slalom speed. Suddenly, Infiniti was threatening high-rent European territory. Next time around, we tested a pair of G35s (Coupe and Sedan) for the Car of the Year contest and improved the slalom speed to 67.1 mph. After winning the Golden Calipers, Infiniti loaned us a 6MT Coupe fitted with the $2250 Premium package (Bose audio, moonroof, auto headlamps, dual-zone climate, auto-dimming mirrors) and the $550 Aero package for a total of $35,395. Taking meticulous care to break the car in properly rewarded us with the fastest G35 Coupe we've tested: 5.7 seconds to 60, eclipsing the century mark for the first time with its 14.2-second, 100.5-mph quarter mile. Icing on the cake was its class-topping 67.6-mph slalom. We got a good one, a really good one.

Thus began our year-long term with the Coupe (and a Sedan that we covered in our July 2004 issue). Logbook entries began predictably, if self-congratulatory: "I still love it--maybe even more than before. She's a looker, for sure. I appreciate that Infiniti went a long way to distinguish this car from the sedan, though they're clearly related. Clean flanks, nice face, and a good job with the tricky headlight treatment and fast rear deckline. Nice wheels, love the Brembo calipers (60-to-0 mph in just 109 feet), and the exhaust pipes look properly purposeful. However, the (optional) rear wing looks like somebody left an ironing board on the trunk."