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Every so often at the Drift
Session, we get our hands on a vehicle for testing purposes.
Luckily, we've had the chance to sample many of Japan's "supercars"
over the past few years, like the Toyota Supra, Acura NSX, and
300ZX, but this month a brand new Infinity G35 Coupe was dropped off
at the track for some testing...
For those of you that don't
know about the G35, it's Infinity's comeback car in the US market.
These things are selling like hotcakes all across America, and even
in Hawaii where they only seem to bring in G35's in 2 different
shades of silver / gray. In Japan, where the "Infinity"
brand name does not exist the G35 is marketed as the newest model in
the Nissan Skyline family, boasting both coupe and sedan models.
At the heart of the G35 is a front-midship
mounted 3.5 liter naturally aspirated V6, producing 280 horsepower
and 270 foot pounds of torque. The front-midship engine placement
gives the G35 an amazing 53 / 47 weight distribution, allowing for
increased handling and aggressive driving. The G35's power is then
put through a 6 speed manual transmission before hitting the ground
through the 18 inch rear wheels.
While the engine of the G35
is identical to the Nissan 350Z, the G35's styling is refined and
more luxurious than the comparably priced 350Z. Between the two
vehicles, it's easy to tell that the G35 was designed as a more
elegant vehicle compared to the 350Z's outright sports car design.
Definitely one of my
personal favorite features of the G35 is the tuned exhaust system
straight from the factory. The low-pitched growl of the G35's engine
makes this a very distinct sounding vehicle whether making a daily
commute or screeching through a corner.
The model that we test
drove was the Sport Coupe package, equipped with 18 inch wheels, 6
speed manual transmission, and a handy traction control on / off
switch. The car's twilight blue paint appeared nearly black in the
shade, but complimented the G35's black leather interior perfectly.
For the first few laps
around the track, our driver gripped through the course with the
traction control on and then off, to get a feel for the vehicle. The
traction control of the vehicle didn't seem to be the most refined
device as it seemed to "pulse the engine" on and off as
the wheels neared the limits of traction. By easily turning the
traction control off, our driver was able to better control the
vehicle in all corners.
After rounding the Sweeper
in 3rd gear, the G35 was only able to get up to 110 by the end of
the nearly 1/2 mile long straightaway. A decent, but not overly
impressive top speed on the Hawaii Motorsports Center raceway. But,
at speed the handling remained impressive as our driver reported the
vehicle "sitting" through high speed corners and feeling
very stable at all times.
Under heavy braking, our
driver reported the brakes starting to get soft at times, but the
quickly cooling Brembo brakes that came with the G35 would usually
cool quickly and allow for good braking in the next corner, even
after mashing the brakes in the previous one.
After a few laps, it was
time to drift the G35. The very responsive steering and ample 280
horsepower allowed the G35 to drift fairly well. The car did appear
to want to plow through the corners however and significant effort
was needed to break rear traction. While driving the vehicle hard,
our driver found it easiest to drift simply through using
horsepower. 3rd gear was about right for most drifting at the Drift
Session track, as 2nd gear would slow the vehicle down too much to
make use of momentum. Surprisingly 3rd gear still contained
significant power to spin the rear wheels and induce a drift in this
vehicle without kicking the clutch.
Overall the Infinity G35
was rated:
Driftability
7.5
Power / Weight 8.0
Brakes
8.0
Handling
9.0
Interior
Fit
10.0
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