Test Drive: 2012 Infiniti G37 X Coupe

By Kevin Harrison

I was once asked why I have such a compulsion towards spicy food. And I mean compulsion for intolerable levels of spice. It’s something that I must consume daily no matter what or else I can only assume that my body would revert into some sort of withdrawal that would leave me in a fugue-like state, running through parking lots licking car windows and signing a rendition of Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Luckily, I’ve never been willing to wean myself off spicy food long enough to see if that would actually happen, which brings legitimacy to the original question. What is it about spicy food that makes me have to have it? As my friend (who by the way has a severe intolerance for spicy food) pointed out, spicy food makes your mouth burn, makes you sweat, makes you cry, makes your nose run, gives you heart burn, stomach aches and then, there’s the next morning.

All seemingly valid points. Emphasis on the word seemingly though. Because if everyone had the same sort taste for bland spiceless food, we’d all be driving Toyota Corolla’s, we’d all be wearing clothes from Wal-Mart and we’d all be listening to Ben Stein ramble on about the latest in economics on the radio. Simply put, I don’t want that kind of life.

That’s why cars like the BMW M3, Ferrari 458 Italia and Ariel Atom exist. They are for people who prefer a bit of spice to their lives. Nissan has its own spicy offering in the form of the GT-R whose name alone is synonymous with the word ‘perfection’. It’s clear Nissan knows how to make a deliciously invigorating car, but for a price. What if you want the same sort of thrills without having to re-mortgage your house?This is where the Infiniti G37 coupe comes into play. It has a long list of contenders who have long held benchmarks such as the BMW 3-series coupe and the Audi S5. Does it have enough spice to register on the Scoville scale? I drove one to find out.

First things first, in order to appeal to the non-boring types, design of a sporty coupe is almost as important as the way it performs. There’s no question that the G37 coupe is decidedly good-looking from almost any angle, however the rear quarter angle is definitely its best side from this author’s point of view. Sleek Infiniti corporate lines are in abundance along with attractive 18 inch wheels which help to complete the look. My tester’s bright red paint certainly helped to emphasize that the G37 coupe is no boring car.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the interior quite so confidently. While all materials are high quality and soft touch, my tester’s beige interior didn’t quite match the bellow of the car’s exterior. The centre stack is logically laid out, and the buttons are large enough to use with a glove hand. The nav system controls consist of an angled keypad which seems strange at first, but you get used to it almost instantly. The nav system is also straight forward and easy to use. The rear seats are fairly useless for their intended purpose but they work quite well in storing your jacket or luggage. Trunk space is adequate, if a bit too shallow, but the rear seats do fold for additional cargo capacity.

The G37 coupe is powered by a V6 that emits one of the most knee buckling exhaust notes around. One of the highlights with my time in the G37 coupe was turning off the radio altogether and listening to the symphonic notes that the G37 is able to produce. The unit is also able to produce a healthy 330 horsepower and 270 pound feet of torque at 5,200 RPM. While there’s no doubt that the G37 coupe is fast, when pushed hard, it feels as though peak power is only available for a short time as the redline is 7,500 RPM, however that’s not to say that the G37 is a screamer, there’s still plenty of power in the low end. There is no doubt that this is a good engine, however it seems to lack the smoothness of the inline-six from BMW.

The AWD system doesn’t bog down the car much off the line and as a result, the G37 X coupe can get from 0-100 in 5.3 seconds, however it does feel a tad slower than those numbers suggest. The all-wheel drive system is foolishly named ATTESA E-TS which means Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All Electronic Torque Split. When spelled out it’s pretty self-explanatory, however what most people may not realize is that in normal conditions the G37 X coupe operates mostly as a rear-drive car which is very much a good thing where performance is concerned. When accelerating from a standstill the all-wheel drive system splits the power to 25/75 and becomes full on rear wheel drive once at speed. If you put it in ‘snow mode’ the torque split becomes 50/50 from a standstill and reduces throttle power. It then locks at 25/75 when at speed. This happens all very seamlessly while the driver is completely oblivious that any of this is going on. It’s quite an intelligent, well thought through all-wheel drive system.

 

 The seven-speed automatic is generally good with smooth, sharp rev matching shifts in manual mode. My only complaint is that the transmission seems to be a bit inconsistent. There was a few times when the shifts seemed delayed for upshifts, but this generally was not the case for downshifts. Another gripe: paddle shifters are not available on the G37 X, only the rear-wheel drive G37 coupe, which seems like a fairly large oversight. Do yourself a favour and get your G with the proper six-speed manual.

Steering feel is also good, however a bit more feedback to the driver would be appreciated at lower speeds. But overall the G37 X coupe is well balanced controlled and poised. Twisty bends is really this car’s forte. It takes corners with such addictive gusto that the G37 X almost dares you to push it harder when you think you’re at its limit of grip, which is fantastic. It’s rejuvenating actually.

Which brings me back to my original point. This car almost exactly personifies why I like spicy food. It brings out an unusually obsessive sensation to drive it more because you don’t want to lose that feeling of absolute gratification. Just like intensely spicy food, it gives you that extra kick that leaves you begging for more. That is exactly why I eat exceptionally spicy food and that’s precisely why you should put the G37 X coupe on your shopping list if you’re the opposite of bland spiceless food. I can only assume that when Infiniti was developing the G37 X coupe that it modeled it against the Infinity chili pepper – a pepper that for a brief while held the record as being the hottest pepper in the world. Sure the IPL promises more performance injected fun, but for a year round endorphin laced drive, the G37 X coupe is your best bet.

Base Price: $49, 200

Pros:

  • Attractive exterior design
  • Lots of standard equipment
  • Competitively priced
  • Excellent in the corners
  • Good all-wheel drive system
  • Amazing sounding exhaust note

Cons:

  • Inconsistent manual shifts
  • Interior is a tad bland
  • Rear seats rendered useless
  • V6 kind of coarse

Overall: 8.5/10

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