2007 Infiniti G35 Sport 6MT Sedan

2007 Infiniti G35 Sport 6MT Sedan - When the debutante gets rave reviews, whaddya do for the encore in four years? A major makeover? Or just the automotive equivalent of a little more eye shadow and a few sequins.

BMW has faced this challenge with its 3-series sedans for decades, responding each time with a cautious evolutionary styling update augmented by significant engineering improvements. It’s an approach that obviously works — for BMW. The 3-series is the benchmark in the entry luxury-sports-sedan segment, with 15 consecutive appearances on the Car and Driver 10Best Cars list to underscore its preeminence.

History: The G35 was an unknown quantity when it made its appearance in mid-2002 as an ’03 model — an eager rear-drive sports sedan replacing the I35, a badge-job version of the front-drive Nissan Maxima. Suddenly, Infiniti was a real contender in a game that has belonged almost exclusively to players from Germany, particularly those hailing from Bavaria. The real exclamation point came when a G35 prevailed in a seven-car sports-sedan shootout that included — ta-da! — a BMW [“$35,000 Sports Sedans,” C/D, March 2004]. Okay, the deck was stacked slightly in the G35’s favor.

Leaving the cautious styling update aside for the moment, this is a distinctly more capable G35 than the original: quicker straight ahead, quicker on its feet, with a new variable-assist rack-and-pinion steering system that tells the driver more about what the front tires are doing than did the previous setup. Infiniti also offers a new active-steering option that’s touted as a response enhancer, but it wasn’t present on our test car, and in any case, we wonder whether it’s worth the extra money — $1200, at a guess — or the added weight — about 25 pounds.

For another, there’s more thrust from the car’s 3.5-liter V-6 engine, the fourth generation of Nissan’s VQ series. Although the bore and stroke specs of this oversquare design are unchanged, Nissan says the engine is 80 percent new, with a beefier bottom end, variable cam timing on the intake and exhaust valves (the previous engine was intake side only), reduced exhaust back pressure, a slightly higher compression ratio (10.6:1 versus 10.3), a higher redline (7600 rpm versus 7000), and improved coolant flow — among other tweaks. It all adds up to 306 horsepower at 6800 rpm and 268 pound-feet of torque at 5200 rpm.

Nissan calls this effect, and the car’s all-around acceleration characteristics, “swell,” in the sense of a wave gathering power as it moves along. Uh-huh. We took our test car to the track, where it hunkered down and dashed to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds, covering the quarter-mile in 13.9 seconds at 103. Hmm, that is swell, and considerably quicker than the last G35 we tested (0 to 60 in 5.9 seconds and the quarter in 14.6 at 98 mph) as well as just a blink behind the IS350. More impressive still, our G35 tester went to the track with fewer than 250 miles on the odo. That’s like putting an Olympic sprinter in the starting blocks in his street clothes. What’ll it do with a proper break-in? We look forward to finding out.

The 18-inch shoes (225/50-18 front) — the base rubber is 17-inch all-seasons — deliver grip that’s a little better than the previous G35 managed: 0.87 g versus 0.85, but neither number is impressive by the standards of this class. What is impressive is the G35’s nifty footwork on a set of switchbacks or that secret stretch of country road where you just know your transit times are world-class.

G35 Sport models also have heftier brakes — bigger rotors, beefier single-piston calipers — that pay off in improved performance. The brake pedal felt a little long and a tad squishy, but our test car needed only 160 feet to stop from 70 mph, a number that would have been best in test in that October comparo.

The look that emerges is a little more tightly wrapped and athletic, particularly going away, but it takes a practiced eye to perceive its newness.

The interior is a different story. Upgraded materials, a superb new Bose audio option, an attractive and highly legible new instrument package, nicely placed switches with an exceptionally positive operational feel, and a sporty steering wheel with hand-stitched leather all lend an upscale feel that wasn’t really part of the first-generation G35. We’re not unanimously seduced by the aluminum interior trim — to some, at least, the optional straight-grain rosewood veneer might be preferable — and the front buckets aren’t quite in the BMW league in lateral support.

It never gets any cheaper. But if our estimates are anywhere close to accurate, the G35 will still be one of the best buys in its class. Can best in class be far away? We smell another comparo brewing.