I came from driving a loaded (and modded) '04 Infiniti G35 Sedan and when I was shopping for a new car in the fall '06, I narrowed it down to the '07 335i and the '07 Infiniti G35 Sedan. I loved my Infiniti G35 Sedan, but I heard so much about the F/I twin turbo BMW 335i that I knew I had to test drive it as well...he he.
Although the new generation G35/G37 is absolutely a major improvement over the previous generation G35, it still doesn't match up to the BMW 335i in terms of build quality, handling, power (especially TQ), braking, transmission and overall "road feel" and driving experience.
The Infiniti G35/37 has the advantage of price ("bang for your buck"), interior design and electronics. The Infiniti Navi System is far more advanced and user-friendly than the BMW Navi System for example. Yes, the leather and sport seats of the BMW 335i are far superior than in the Infiniti G35, but the G35/G37's interior "wrap-around" design is just better, imho.
Where the Infiniti G35 (and I suspect the G37) falls short of the BMW 335i are several places including build quality, handling, power (especially TQ), braking, transmission and overall "road feel" and driving experience. Although I haven't driven the '08 G37 of course, I can tell you the brakes on the '07 Infiniti G35 Sedan felt much worse than the previous generation G35 brakes (and Infiniti admitted to "softening" the brakes for MY '07); they are way too spongy now...not sure why they did that since the prev. generation G35 brakes were fantastic.
In addition, the G35's auto tranny is just not even in the same league as the 335i's lightning fast and super smooth ZF auto tranny. The G35's auto tranny is still very slow (upshifts are painstakingly slow with about a 1/2 sec. upshift delay..I expected Infiniti would've fixed that by now
) and not nearly as smooth as the 335i's ZF tranny.
With all of this said, I'd say the Infiniti G35 and G37 remain the best bang for your buck in this car segment (and yes, they should be compared with the BMW 3-series since they're more sport than luxury, as opposed to Lexus which is more luxury than sport); the Infiniti G35 and G37 are equal to approx. 8/10ths of the BMW 335i...which is fairly close for less money. If money is a major issue, then those ppl will go for the Infiniti G35/G37 and have a lot of fun with it. However, the 335i is a superior car in so many ways (not to mention the performance modding potential.. he he
) and worth the extra $$, imho.
