G whiz winter appeal
Infiniti adds all-wheel drive with G35x

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Here in snow enveloped Canada, vehicles equipped with all-wheel drive are often marketed as the ultimate winter weather fighters. With four wheels pulling and an advanced traction control system orchestrating the whole affair, battling a snowy commute can be almost a fun trip.

Indeed, most vehicles offered in the United States with rear- or all-wheel drive come north only with the latter. That said, what better place to get behind the wheel of Infiniti's new all-wheel drive G35x sedan than … California?

You see, what a lot of drivers overlook are the fair weather benefits of all-wheel drive. A properly tuned system can make a vehicle charge in and out of corners and jump off the line far better than its rear-drive counterparts. Want proof? Why do you think Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley have adopted all-wheel drive on their latest supercars?

The G35 was already a truly great sport sedan when it came on the market in 2002. Most insiders credit it with leading the charge in Nissan's North American renaissance. This 5-seater is built off Nissan's FM (Front Mid-ship) platform, which was designed to keep the engine behind the front axle and weight distribution at 52:48 front to back. The all-wheel drive system does add 137 kg (302 lb) to the sedan, but performance seems mostly unaffected.

Particularly handy for the spate of bad weather we've had lately, the G35x features a Snow Mode, activated by a switch on the centre console. It starts the car out in a 25:75 torque split while modulating the throttle for limited wheel spin. At speed, it locks in a 50:50 ratio for best traction.

It comes as no surprise that adding all-wheel drive to the G35 makes it an even more impressive player. In a far-past-legal-speeds blast through the desert outside Palm Springs the system was flawless. Despite our best efforts to supplant the sedan, it hunkered down in corners, refusing to be swayed by bumps or the occasional sand pile that had drifted onto the tarmac.

A slightly more ambitious co-driver even took the G35x on a little off-road romp through the desert. Despite the giant dust cloud, a tail-out slide could only be achieved by brutally overdriving the car, which is a testament to the alphabet soup of standard stability controls. These include VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control), EBD (Electronic Brake-force Distribution) and ABLS (Active Brake Limited Slip), which uses the anti-lock brake sensors to detect wheelspin and apply braking.

The all-wheel drive G35x offers only one gearbox: a 5-speed automatic with a manual shift mode. It's mated to the now familiar 3.5-litre VQ engine, used in nearly all of Nissan's V6-powered cars and trucks. While it hasn't achieved the deity-like status of BMW's inline-6, the powerplant delivers 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque and is remarkably free-revving.

I did miss a manual shifter on the twisty California side roads, but the do-it-yourself mode on the slushbox was well-tuned, letting the engine rev to the limiter. Continual express runs through canyons and around peaks showed a nicely weighted rack and pinion steering setup and a suspension that's not too stiff. Why didn't the Coyote use one of these to catch the Roadrunner?

Adding all-wheel drive hasn't changed the G35's interior at all, besides the Snow Mode switch on the console. The steering wheel and gauges still tilt as one unit, the former featuring cruise and audio controls. A signature Infiniti analogue clock tops the dash along with a multi-information display for climate control, outside temperature and compass. Front, side and curtain airbags for both rows are standard.

Some of the interior plastics are rather paltry for a car competing with BMWs and Mercedes, and the orange gauges lack the richness of some diversely hued rivals. Controls for the power seats are nonsensically mounted on the seat tops toward the centre console, meaning drivers of slightly "husky" proportions had trouble operating them.

Complaints aside, the handsome brushed metal centre stack is well laid out and the interior is bolted together as well and as solidly as the competition.

The G35x is priced at $42,300 - that's $2,700 more than the base rear-wheel drive sedan. Nonetheless, it comes loaded with features like leather seating, high-intensity discharge headlights, 17-inch alloy wheels and a 6-disc CD changer mated to a 220-watt Bose stereo system. Check the Premium Package box and features like a sunroof, dual-zone climate control and an adjustable, reclining rear seat can be added. The Navigation Package adds a retractable 6.5-inch screen on top of the centre stack for the GPS-based system.

All told, a loaded G35x will run you $48,200. That's a kick in the pants for BMW and Mercedes-Benz. An all-wheel drive Mercedes C240 4MATIC starts at $48,650, while a BMW 330xi sedan, with 35 less horsepower, is priced at $49,950.

In bang for the buck, the G35x betters the big German automakers and makes an already potent sport sedan that much more stirring.

Immediate Competition:
Audi A4,
BMW 3 Series,
Jaguar X-Type,
Mercedes-Benz C-Class,
Volkswagen Passat,
Volvo S60