[Samson]

I didn't realize these had the 4" wheelbase stretch. That would take the rear seat from "are you kidding me?" to "Ok, I can tolerate that". The cargo capacity would still be a bit meager though unless the seats are down, but unless you want an older FX I suppose this is as good a compromise as you can find.

How does it drive? Steering, ride, etc?

Yeah, the original one was a bit too small to be useful. This is borderline, but overall has more flexibility than a sedan. Sort of. A CX-5 or RDX would have been the practical choice. To give an idea of the cargo space, here's my ~60lb dog back there. He looks pissed because he thought he was going on a walk, not being stuck in the back of a miniature wagon.

The load floor is high, but he's 15... he gets a lift into the Rav4 too. Now that we have 2 child seats vs. 1 (and 1 dog vs. 2, sadly), I can no longer put him in a soft kennel in the back seat.

It drives a lot like a G35. The increased height doesn't seem to have negatively impacted handling very much, and an added benefit is that I'm not blinded quite as badly by all of the poorly-designed LED headlights out there. Steering is a little less sharp (I'm sure the squishy MXM4s play a role here), it has a touch more body roll (barely), and a more responsive drivetrain. Even though it should be a little slower than the G35, it feels faster. Ride quality isn't as plush as the CX-5 Touring that I drove, but it's definitely more refined and comfortable than the G35.

I hope it serves you well.

Thanks. Me too. With how little I drive, it should last a while.

 

[Samson]

What a bitch. I ordered the only hitch available for these (Curt), and like the Curt that I ordered for the Rav4, it arrived slightly bent and half of the mounting holes didn't line up. This is "normal", and there is a DIY fix on etrailer for this exact issue. Unlike the Rav4 though, it was not feasible to remove the damn thing and bend it back with a scissor jack. So I'm going to clearance the holes on the hitch with a dremel. Luckily it's only a coupe of mm off, and one bolt on the messed up side is in place. I imagine there is no issue with this.

The hitch, which baaarely fits and is a huge pain in the ass to get in position, also has built-in exhaust hangers. Guess what? Also bent, so the passenger side tip is about 1/4" lower than the other. I can bend the hanger, I'm sure. What I probably can't fix is the fact that the receiver is also crooked. And the instructions and video are incomplete. One bonus is that I was half expecting the exhaust to leak after the amount of movement that was required, but it seems fine.

I was tempted abort, throw this into the woods, and install a roof rack, but roof racks are dumb.

Pro tip: blue shop towels do not protect paint from ****ty hitches.

 

[mrothwell]

Man, I think it’s your delivery person. The Curt I bought for my wagon arrived spotless.

 

[iamnotemo]

What a bitch. I ordered the only hitch available for these (Curt), and like the Curt that I ordered for the Rav4, it arrived slightly bent and half of the mounting holes didn't line up. This is "normal", and there is a DIY fix on etrailer for this exact issue.

Pro tip: blue shop towels do not protect paint from ****ty hitches.

Off topic. I've been gone for a long time. When did the IS300 go away and when did you move to NC?

 

[Samson]

Man, I think it’s your delivery person. The Curt I bought for my wagon arrived spotless.

Nah. The shipping issue wasn't the kind that would result in this sort of misalignment. It's some strong stuff. When I called etrailer about the Rav4, they said that this is a normal manufacturing tolerance issue. Seems like crappy QC to me. The hanger misalignment falls in the same category. I've had other Curts fit OK. Maybe it's the style, or maybe Curt doesn't like Japanese CUV owners and wants to make them work for it.

Off topic. I've been gone for a long time. When did the IS300 go away and when did you move to NC?

Man, good memory! The IS300 went away in 2009? before we moved to CA (then to CO, then NC). Sold the Boxster then too. I've had a Civic Si, Accord Sport, and G35S since then.

 

[ghost03]

Sweet pick up!

Personally I would call it a wagon...similar to Alltrack/Allroad/Crosstrek, it's kind of a best of both worlds thing.

 

[Cabin Pics]

Those are good rigs, good job.

 

[Samson]

Sweet pick up!

Personally I would call it a wagon...similar to Alltrack/Allroad/Crosstrek, it's kind of a best of both worlds thing.

Those are good rigs, good job.

Thanks. It's funny... a few years back, I was interested in a Crosstrek. I dismissed it due to lack of cargo capacity. This has even less. It's a wonder how 325hp changes things.

I took it off road:

Now that I've put some more miles on it, I've noticed a few things:

The VLSD in the G35 did a lot more than I thought. This could use one.
The headlights in the G35 were a little better.
The LED fog lights in this are ridiculously bright. Like, far too bright and likely make things worse.
The LED DRLs look cheap, so I'm probably going to unplug them.
Curt trailer hitches need to work on quality and consistency.

Other than that, :thumbup:.

 

[CostcoPizza]

One of the few Infiniti products I love. Styling still looks fresh to this day, especially in that super light blue color.

Crazy to think the current Infiniti would shelve a product like this in 5min. :laugh:

 

[Samson]

One of the few Infiniti products I love. Styling still looks fresh to this day, especially in that super light blue color.

Crazy to think the current Infiniti would shelve a product like this in 5min. :laugh:

Heh, yeah. They sort of dropped the ball a few years back. I currently have a loaner QX60 (and will for another couple of weeks*), and while it's nice, it lacks the qualities that I find/found appealing in the brand. The huge cargo hold is growing one me though. Being able to leave a car seat installed and easily put a FS 29er in the back, with room to spare, sure is convenient. But it doesn't ride as smoothly or drive as well as the QX50.

*The dealer thinks the rear differential is the cause of the very slight noise it makes off-throttle. It's on backorder for a couple of weeks. And yes, I tired to get a VLSD instead of the open diff, but as expected, warranty only replaces like for like... and I'm not even sure it's interchangeable with the G37. At this point, I've had this 2020 QX60 for longer and driven it more than the QX50. It gets the same MPG. :laugh:

 

[Samson]

1,000 mile update: it grew and turned blue.

Wait. No, this would be the "I put 1,000 miles on a loner because my car is perpetually sitting at the dealer waiting for parts" update.

Never mind.

I have learned that Infiniti CPO warranty coverage and customer service is solid. :thumbup: Parts availability could use some work though. :laugh:

 

[mrothwell]

It looks a bit...swollen.

 

[Crispyfritter]

Sucks that it's down for service. When my LEAF was in the shop for a month, Nissan paid for my months payment. You should see if they would do that for you.

Chris

 

[Samson]

It looks a bit...swollen.

I believe "taut, muscular shapes and flowing lines" is the preferred description.

Sucks that it's down for service. When my LEAF was in the shop for a month, Nissan paid for my months payment. You should see if they would do that for you.

Chris

I've been in contact with Infiniti consumer affairs, and they have indicated that once this gets resolved (if this gets resolved?), something along those lines is possible. Whatever the case, I'm really curious what is wrong with the thing. The current guess and part delay is the driveshaft and u-joint.

 

[Samson]

It's now one new driveshaft (well, two if you count the one that was damaged in transit), a couple of front wheel bearings, and an electric steering wheel tilt/telescope adjustment motor later, and it seems to be fixed. Hopefully it sticks. The culprit? The u-joint was excessively stiff. They thought the front wheel bearings seemed loud as well, so they swapped them out before I could complain about that too.

The grand total of warranty work put into this car so far is around $9k. About half of that is a differential that wasn't needed. Yow.

Now I need to figure out the crooked hitch. I'm sure I'm well past the return period on that one (plus I had to dremel it to fit), so I might just pitch it and buy a new one. Related - when removing exhaust gaskets, do you have to replace? Assume they were just replaced. I want to drop the rear muffler to make R&R of the hitch easier, and there are two gaskets involved. It also seems that the dealer removed the hitch at some point. I should have had them leave it off.

Like this:

 

[ice4life]

It's now one new driveshaft (well, two if you count the one that was damaged in transit), a couple of front wheel bearings, and an electric steering wheel tilt/telescope adjustment motor later, and it seems to be fixed. Hopefully it sticks. The culprit? The u-joint was excessively stiff. They thought the front wheel bearings seemed loud as well, so they swapped them out before I could complain about that too.

The grand total of warranty work put into this car so far is around $9k. About half of that is a differential that wasn't needed. Yow.

Now I need to figure out the crooked hitch. I'm sure I'm well past the return period on that one (plus I had to dremel it to fit), so I might just pitch it and buy a new one. Related - when removing exhaust gaskets, do you have to replace? Assume they were just replaced. I want to drop the rear muffler to make R&R of the hitch easier, and there are two gaskets involved. It also seems that the dealer removed the hitch at some point. I should have had them leave it off.

Like this:

Glad you got it back. Nothing worse than a used car sitting indefinitely at a dealer with no prospect of lemon law to help.

 

[ArmenB]

Related - when removing exhaust gaskets, do you have to replace? Assume they were just replaced. I want to drop the rear muffler to make R&R of the hitch easier, and there are two gaskets involved. It also seems that the dealer removed the hitch at some point. I should have had them leave it off.

Like this:

Glad you got it back!

If it's a layered-metal gasket and it's in good shape, there's no reason you can't reuse it. Exhaust gaskets either leak or they don't, and the metal ones will usually withstand a few install/remove cycles and still seal up.

 

[2000JettaGLXVR6]

$9k in warranty work on an old, pedestrian, fancy-Nissan? Isn't that why you buy a Nissan in the first place, because I can't think of any other reason.

OP, are you considering ditching this turd?

 

[Samson]

Glad you got it back. Nothing worse than a used car sitting indefinitely at a dealer with no prospect of lemon law to help.

Yeah, finally. I was not looking forward to the prospect of trying to get them to buy it back. The issue was/is pretty strange and doesn't lower my confidence in the vehicle, but the process was a bit excessive. I get the parts shortage and delay (nobody bought these in the first place and nobody else wanted a driveshaft, let alone had one in stock), I guess... but still. The amount of effort and resources they put into solving the issue was impressive though.

Glad you got it back!

If it's a layered-metal gasket and it's in good shape, there's no reason you can't reuse it. Exhaust gaskets either leak or they don't, and the metal ones will usually withstand a few install/remove cycles and still seal up.

Cool - thanks. :thumbup:

$9k in warranty work on an old, pedestrian, fancy-Nissan? Isn't that why you buy a Nissan in the first place, because I can't think of any other reason.

OP, are you considering ditching this turd?

Yeah, I know, right? I'm going to sell it and go buy a C7 A6 with a 2.0t. :thumbup:

 

[Samson]

To update this, Infiniti offered to reimburse me for 3 months of payments. Not a bad outcome, though in hindsight, I totally should have gone for a shorter loan/higher monthly. Oops. :laugh: While their parts availability for this particular car is far from ideal and the process was sometimes frustrating, they do have solid customer service in other areas. Can't complain on that end of things, and as a bonus, I kept about 2,500 miles off of my car in the process. With how poorly Michelins tend to wear, that's probably over 10% of the usable tread life.

I also was offered a warranty replacement/repair for the crooked hitch, but when factoring in my paying for shipping a 35lb hitch (and finding a large, sturdy box), it wasn't much more to just buy a new one. Just like last time, it arrived poking through the box and scratched... so etrailer gave me what amounted to a 10% refund. Good enough. It's a hitch, and 95% of it is hidden. It's more the principal that bugged me.

Hopefully this is the end of the annoyances, because it's an otherwise fun little wagon-car hybrid.