I pronounce it "Nissen", and I just bought my first Inifinti
 

Hello future friends,

I recently purchased my first ever Infiniti product - a Moonlight White G37S Sedan in 6MT.

So I thought I'd say hello, introduce myself, and maybe entertain you people with a story of how I landed on this 2013 Infiniti.

It's been a while since I've owned a Nissan product, but my first ever car at the age of 16 was a Nissan 240SX, which was mint, totally stock, and from Georgia - sans rust.
I've been around...but have been in the Chicago burbs most of my life.
I didn't know this when I was a 16 year old immigrant...but everything in the Chicago area is rusted beyond recognition.
This Georgian car was a bit of blind luck.

I was into cars, but I didn't know wtf a 240SX was. It looked like one of those Saturns that were in vogue at the time.
Most importantly, though, it was manual.

I always had this theory that I genuinely developed from scratch:
My hypothesis was that if you revv'd up an engine and then dumped the clutch in 1st gear...it would spin the tyres.
So really, I would have bought any manual car to test this theory out.

Later on, I came to find out that people called this activity "burning out", and that I wasn't pioneering any of this.

So what does a 16 year old do with his fresh Georgian Nissan after doing MASSIVE burnouts?
He:
-Learns how to replace a clutch.
-Does skids.
-Ruins it by driving it in winter.
-Ruins it


After 1 winter (and 1 crash while doing skids), my mom insisted that the RWD 240SX was a bit dangerous to drive in the snow for a 17 year old kid.
So she bought me a 1990 Civic Hatchback. Also manual....because I wanted to make sure it did these "burnouts" all the kids were into.
So I had the civic and the 240 for a bit.
The Civic seemed like a joke at first...but after learning how to engine swap it and building my own wiring harness...I started REALLY liking Hondas.



Unfortunately, I can't find any photos of my 240 when it was stock, as my theory of putting a camera onto a phone had not been entirely developed yet. The only shot I can find of my beloved hatchbox was taken by my friend...sideways for some reason. Maybe he was only wearing one shoe?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...9834dcaa65.jpg


But here the 240 was, quite modified indeed:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...7e0882aca9.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...9dece4a7a.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...2c77433fa2.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...6177f5326f.jpg


Anyway...
A bunch of friends were going to do a track day at Road America, and I thought I'd tag along and do some skids in my 240SX that I was quickly losing interest in.
A few weeks prior to said track day, I drove a friend's AP1 S2000 and fell in love.
With the car...

The S2000.....

So I bought a S2000.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...9b87da10cd.jpg


This newfound love with my S2000, combined with the fun I was having with my Civic really put me off of anything except Hondas for a VERY long time.

I bought and sold and built countless cars between then and now...and virtually all of them were Hondas.

Fast forward to Mid-September 2020.

I had found myself in a situation where I had multiple S2000's, was wearing jorts, drinking fizzy beverages, learning to paint and video edit.....and had sold off any semblance of a daily driver.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...aceaf61263.jpg


I live in a downtown area, and most things were within foot or bike riding distance anyway.
I figured...if I needed to get around in winter, I could just share my wife's car and/or buy an E-Bike or dirtbike or vespa or something.

However, there was some looming thought to spending about a month or so in NYC.
I needed a car to take me there that I could:
-Hand over to the building's valet for parking while I'm home at the apartment.
-Drive thru the city.

I opened up Autotrader.

What to buy...what to buy..
-A Camry? I liked this idea because a Camry is a total appliance. But...no...some cheeky vandal like me would just replace the "A" in the badge with a "U" for laughs.
-A SUV? I test drove some newer Lexus GX 460's. While they were nice....I can't daily drive a SUV. And I didn't want to spend $30K+ on a car that I needed for a month and then would likely sit around.
-A BMW? The wagons enticed me...but...again...pricey for what I needed it for. And it would break somewhere between IL and NY. Probably between IL and IL.

Then, I remembered!!!
The same friend what convinced me to get the S2000 all those years ago had also recently bought a G37S 6MT to drive daily.

In a convoluted and symbolic way, I had recently driven his G37S back from Michigan to help him bring back his third go at a S2000. I remembered enjoying his G37S a lot.

A few weeks of procrastination later...I thought I'd open up Autotrader again and look for manual G37's.

I found a "newly listed" one in AZ.
Moonlight white.
Black interior.
AZ and CA car all its life.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...a7c60d1abc.jpg


I called the dealer and within 15 mins of back/forth with the guy sending me pics and videos, I sent them payment and the car was mine.

Poetically, the story coming full circle; the rust free Nissen rises again like a Phoenix (the car was in Phoenix).

Wait. $h1t, eh. The car was in Phoenix.
I'm in the Chicago area.
And the whole GD point was to buy a car to take with me while I stayed in NYC.
And I was about to need to leave for said trip.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...c01fcbc26e.jpg


So I had the car shipped to my house and took (stole?) my wife's car while she was at work and set off to NYC on a Thursday Sept-10.

The Infiniti arrived at my door on Sept-14. I phoned my wife to pls go outside and get the car from the trucker.

The only photos I have of it are from the dealer and the logistics company:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...d4f86b6c5.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...1bcd4fa9e.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...f3271696d.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...ad4c16653.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...cdd26ba6b.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...13b476c82.jpeg


I requested a photo of it from my wife and she passive-aggressively sent me this terrible shot of it sitting in our driveway.
That's the last time I buy her a camera phone as a gift.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...5974f8b5c5.jpg


From what she tells me, it drives well.

I'm looking forward to get home and test the car out myself.
I've already bought some suspension mods for it BUT I am convinced that I'm going to keep it massively simple.
I just can't drive a stock height car for too long. I've been tempted to lower cars that I've rented.
All of this is smart...considering I have never laid eyes on the car.

I'm also planning on tinting the windows (10%?), and blacking out all the chrome.

I'll clean the car up and polish the badly faded headlights and clear bra them.

I hate that I'll occasionally need to drive it in the winter. The chassis looks damn good.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...604ccd6f7e.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...09570f7216.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...453fcab65d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...a30e3b571c.jpg



I'll POR-15 as much as I can and probs fluid film it.

I'm also planning on a fluid and filter change.

Will review again when I actually drive it! Maybe I'll take it for a spin whenever I do actually get back home

Wait.. your wife knows how to drive a manual... She's a keeper!

You got balls to buy a car sight unseen (no test drive) from across the country. Hope it works out.

Yeah, she cool. I've never owned an automatic car to date. So I guess it kinda rubbed off? She's good at it though. She used to also have a S2000 before deciding she only wanted 1 car.

I figured the car would work out. Photos looked clean and the dealer had an almost 5 star rating. My first plan was to fly to AZ and then book it to NYC.

But that would require an overnight stop or two. And...you know...the virus...

Cool story. Way-y-y more energy in that storytelling that I was expecting. Welcome to the forum, OP. My first Nissan product was also a 240SX 5MT, brand new back in 1992.

If you're looking to mod, there's a lot you can do with that G, particularly the 6MT.

Odd relocation of the G37S trunk badge. Clean up those headlight lenses, fill in those strange plugs in the front bumper, and she'll be a looker. I've always liked white cars.

Wow, that really was a clean 240! All you ever see in Florida are ragged out drift cars with no bumpers when it comes to the S chassis.

I'd bet the previous owner debadged the trunk lid and the dealer just slapped it back on not realizing where it goes. Easy to fix though! Congratulations on a clean car OP! I hope you enjoy it! (By the way, Rochester's 6MT is by far one of the cleanest moonlight white builds on the forum, so look to his build thread for some good inspiration! He convinced me on the FI catback and I couldn't be happier!)

Now, that is one hell of an introduction! Very interesting story. Subbed for chapter 2.

The Honda S2K. I so badly wanted that car...

Yeah, I'm not sure what is going on with the badge or the front bumper holes.

Carfax stated 0 accidents and 2 owners. So...idk maybe the trunk got dented and repainted?

And I'm going to assume the front bumper had some sort of strange license plate bracket situation.

I really want to clean the car up to make it look nice. Hopefully its not the crap end of fall by the time I get back home. Anything below ~60F, and its not worth going outside unless its an emergency, IMO.

I doubt I'll mod this one much. My usual thing for a DD is:
Coilovers, Wheels/tyres, brake pads.

I bought some Swift springs and wheel spacers already. I'm contemplating maybe returning the Swifts and going with either the Tein Basis or Tanabe Revel coilovers. Idk.

The tyres on the car are good...but they're the wrong size. 235/50/18 square. So I think I'll throw a set of all seasons on the stock wheels. This will be the first all-season set that I've bought in like...10 years? I'm trying to keep it simple, as I said.

I will, however, probably use some sort of overly agressive brake pad compound like usual. Depends on how the stock brakes feel.




Thanks!

Yeah, S2000's are fun. I haven't run out of fun times with those cars for the 14+ years that I've been owning them.

Alright...so I've been back home a bit and I've had a chance to put maybe 100-200 miles on the car to feel it out.

My comments:


Engine
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...bb5046034d.jpg
Is fantastic. It just makes power all the time. It's a little rough and coarse, and it's not as willing to rev up...but it just makes power all the time!
I finally took it to the max between gear changes today (2nd to 3rd) and I was loving the constant rush of power.
I'm happy that mine came with a stock exhaust, as every VQ I've heard sounds absolutely terrible.


Transmission/Drivetrain:
As far as reasonable, real world comparisons go...this shifter feel is very precise.
My other 2 cars are S2000's. So trying to compare almost any car's transmission feel to those cars would be completely unfair.
I wish that the gear lever action was a little easier to flick...and that it wasn't so rubbery. But...again...in the real world, this trans has really good overall feel.
The gearing is right on for the powerband and the trans is fine being shifted hard.

The clutch pedal....on the other hand....
I get it. The car has torque. But is this clutch from a tractor?
Why does it engage right off the floorboard?
Why is there so much resolution between "on" and "off"?
Maybe I'm weird. I like more of an on/off switch than something that feels like it's dragging the pressure plate.
The clutch effort is also way too high.

The diff...
I know the diff is strong. It's an R200.
VLSD's are virtually an open diff. This chassis loves doing skids. They should have put a stronger locker in here.
Either way...this is a daily driver. It still does skids as long as you get the tyres spinning in a straight line first or get the tail out via momentum.
The way it's bushed to the chassis is also dumb. ONE post in the back??? :facepalm:

Overall, though...the driveline is pretty good. It's smooth enough, quiet and the power really wins me over.

Chassis:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...0407f34a72.jpg
No real complaints here. It's a genuinely good chassis.
Mine has 82k miles on it...which isn't super high. But it feels super tight.
The subframes are bushed with really soft rubber...so that hampers the feel a bit.
But for a car that can cruise but also get down? I think this is right on.



Brakes:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...57ac7b1d3a.jpg
Also excellent.
I can tell that these are ceramic pads...which I generally hate.
BUT...I think Nissan uses a fairly large master cylinder for pedal feel.
Usually, this would require more pedal effort than using a smaller master cylinder.
However, it seems Nissan uses a powerful booster to overcome that?
That's what it feels like to me.
Great initial bite and good stopping power.
I'm sure they would fade if pushed hard...and I'm sure this thing would stop even better with a dirty set of semi metallic pads.
But since I'm not tracking the car, and the pads on the car are brand new OEM ones...I'm just gonna let them keep doing what they're doing.


Exterior looks:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.myg...21a5548b65.jpg

Yeah...ok, it's a tiny bit ugly. Nissan/Infiniti's are almost always ugly.
Everything in their lineup from the Sentra to the GTR to the Q series is a bit ugly.
But it's got a certain charm. The cool "bubble" shape of the headlights and the S-class knockoff rear clip are nice.
There's lots you can do to improve this. But in stock form, I keep catching strong glimpses of Altima in there.




Ergonomics/Interior:
This is probably where I have the most complaints lol.
I'll keep it short...

Cupholders too small.

Seats without shoulder support.

Clocks do not automatically synchronise to each other (??!?!?!?)

Clocks do not automatically synchronise to where the car is located or DST even though it has GPS (?!?!??!!??)

NO BLINKER ON THE WING MIRRORS?!! IS THIS A 1970'S LADA?!!

The stereo isn't...bad. But not great either.
The rear seats don't fold (?!?!?!). Why engineer mensch would allow this?!?!?!

The trunk opening is also small for someone who refuses to make 2 trips when getting groceries out. How tf am I supposed to pull 20 bags out of a small opening like that??

This type of stuff can be completely overlooked (or even welcomed) on a 370Zed. But this isn't a Zed, is it?

But hey. It's quiet and comfy in the car. The climate control works well.
The controls are fairly easy (except the menu toggles that are located on the dash binnacle instead of the steering wheel).
The Bluetooth system works really easily and is not infuriating like it is on my wife's car.

Overall:
I really like this car. It's different than what I'm used to and there are ups/downs for every car.
But at the current price point for these cars, I think it's a bangin value.
Real deal RWD, real power, great dynamics...and maybe slightly outdated tech and ergonomics that are funky.
All the essentials for a daily driver are present. Nothing that I find is totally lacking....just stuff that I find could be done better.

I plan to make a post where I address some of the concerns I have about the car to see how much I can improve it to meet my expectations.

Nice write up. You really need the RJM pedal assembly and a STS.

Thanks for the tips! I will research those acronyms sans haste.

I appreciate all the knowledge you have from being around this chassis. I recently used one of your threads to mod my car.

I'll be posting a thread going through all the stuff I've done to this car thus far.

Chassis looks very clean. I too plan on doing POR-15 and fluid film this winter. Let's see if I ever get around to it.....

If you really want turn signals in your mirrors, you can look at getting the JDM mirrors. I don't see why this is even important. It also looks like your rear subframe bushing is shot, there is fluid residue on the diff. I recommend getting the Bell Raceworks rear differential brace, it really makes the drivetrain feel much more solid.

Welcome and enjoy!

I think someone's replaced the subframe.

I saw the residue also, so I bought some whiteline bushes.

I have cleaned off the residue and it hasn't come back. And inspection of the stock bush shows no tears.

So now I have these whiteline bushes still in a bag....

As far as the mirrors go...I did research the Skyline mirrors. Idk. Not something I'd be motivated to do, TBH. Just wish it were there from the factory :( . It spells out opulence, is why I want it.

Sounds like an expensive fix or maybe it was covered under warranty at some point. Did you pull the service records for the car? I had Gregory Infiniti in Libertyville pull mine, at first they were hesitant but then service writer caved in.

Yeah, there's a ton of service from Beverly Hills Infinti on record on the Carfax.

Good tip about asking infinti to look up my records. I was just there. The service advisor wanted to buy it from me and they gave me good remarks on the inspection.

They claim it needed a LF stabiliser link. But...as far as I see, its fine. They said everything else was in great shape!

This is reading like the start of a build thread, so I moved it.