Driven: 2006 Infiniti I35

It sat quietly, dressed down in a proud silver, waiting for a driver. On the far corner of the lot there were no less than eight I35s lined in a row, one big stretch of Infinitis in varying hues. I was looking for a car for my mother, who badly needs something to replace her
mediocre and aging Mitsubishi Galant. Torn between the G35 Sedan and the I35, I figured some personal time would sort things out.
The end car was ours, and as a customer the sales consultant asked if I’d mind if he drove the car off the lot. “For legal purposes” he assured me. I nodded, ducked in, and got to work studying the interesting interior.
Grey. Lots of it.
A car like the I35 is charged with appealing to without offending. Nothing bold will ever happen in this car, and the most arrogant it gets is in its performance –a trait you’ll never see if you don’t ask for it. The interior appointments are for the most part, well-crafted and neutral. A grandfather clock has been shrunk and squeezed into the dash, resting straight ahead and setting the pace for the level of class found here inside. A power rear-window sunshade? Check. Power seats with memory? Yes. That angelic glow-white light for the gauges, 6-disc in-dash Bose CD player, and a digital gauge reporting “miles left before gasoline depletion”? All here. Our car sported a steering wheel decorated with wood grain, and a similar grain console and shifter area. Wood has always seemed foreign to me in the cockpit of anything not 30 years old and English, so I was put off by steering tree bark. Subjective, to be sure, and order the Cold Weather package and you’ll
be trading the wood for heated leather anyway. Not sure which way mom would lean here –I’m thinking wood.
All of the controls fell naturally at my hands, and the steering wheel controls, while a bit 80s-Pontiac-ish, were very convenient. Xenon HID headlights really light the candles at night –do not underestimate the value of this enhancement. The day, or evening more precisely, these become standard, the roads will be a safer (and brighter) place. No scheduled tune-ups until the odometer clicks past 100,000 miles. Time saver. Strangely enough, I noticed the center plastic piece on the steering wheel at least 4 times during my drive. It was made of an awkwardly bad plastic and seemed ill-fitting on the backside. This could become a problem if I was 3” tall and lived on the steering column, forced to stare at such an unseemly gap all day. It could happen.
Before shutting the door I also notice the sill plates, shiny and metal looking, bearing the proud Infiniti name (which was also carefully stitched into the front seats, right between the shoulder blades). Impressed, I gave them flick and found them to feel like plastic. Joe-the-sales-consultant assured me it was genuine metal. I shrugged my shoulders, shut the door and we were off. Once in the driver’s seat the level of refinement really begins to soak through this car’s skin. Whisper-smooth shifting from the standard automatic 4-speed transmission was impressive, and was so transparent at times that it felt seamless, like one, long drive gear. The venerable VQ35DE, this time in 255 HP form, is responsible for motivation, and it has an Anthony Robbins-like ability to do so. A full 30 more horsepower than the Acura TL, the I35 is serious about performance. In fact, it is only misses much higher kudos in this regard due to its front-wheel drive layout, which, as Nissan sees it, is for most I35 buyers actually a bonus. If you want a rear-wheel drive Infiniti with 4 doors, see the G35 sedan. My mom doesn’t even know what rear-wheel drive means.
The I30, the pre-pubescent version of this graduated, mature automobile, was stuck with a good deal less power and still hinted at performance. The new I35 is better endowed, but also a bit more mature, less stressed and more subdued when things start happening
fast. It is still, however, able to merge, pass, and cruise as quickly as the local constabulary has patience for. This is a luxury car first, sent to pamper and shuttle you about as smoothly and safely as possible, but do not be fooled. Just because it lacks the dramatic marketing don’t think this sedan can’t slide across dusty deserts too. In slow motion, even. Speaking of slowing motion, every Infiniti is equipped, of course, with anti-lock braking systems, the logic of which is also used by the new Traction Control System. This function can be armed and disarmed via a small switch on the dash marked, creatively enough, “TCS”. Sticklers for the obvious, the Japanese. The TCS in the I35 is, unlike those found in other manufacturer’s applications, fully capable of intervening at speed, rather than on launch only. The ABS in this Brilliant Silver Infiniti was very well-trained, only taking control when panic-stops were simulated, and then offering very strong,
controlled braking with strong but acceptable feedback back through the brake pedal.
The Sport Package on our demo unit is available for an $1800 premium over the base model, and includes Vehicle Dynamic Control, a sport-tuned suspension, 8-Spoke aluminum-alloy wheels, 225/50/17 all-season performance tires, and those sexy pseudo-metal side-sills. The Sunroof and Sunshade package is another $1500. Our car, blessed with the previous 2, but void of the Navigation and Cold Weather package, stickered out at $32k and change. This price was palatable for such mutually occurring quality and performance. A flea-market bargain, in fact. Pleased with the I35, I was ready to drive the G35 and compare mental notes, but it was not to be. Joe-the-sales-consultant informed me that his evening had suddenly gotten much busier, and he hadn’t the time to take a G35 around the block. Pity, maybe next
time. In thick traffic I drove home, distracted with wonder in what I had missed in the G35.
Maybe my mom would have better luck.
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