Is the 7AT a deal breaker?
 

Hi All,
I'm considering a used G37 Sedan (probably a 2011). The major car review sites indicate that the G37 is reliable with decent owner satisfaction scores, but there are countless complaints in various forums about the 7AT. I recently had a 2013 from Enterprise (business rental) for a week and while the transmission wasn't horrible, it definitely seemed confused at times. Anyway, do these transmission problems affect all G37's with an automatic transmission or is it just some (whose owners rightfully are very vocal on the forums)? It sounds like a software problem, which should theoretically affect all owners, but since some seem to be ok, I'm wondering if it's a software problem combined with a certain percentage of bad hardware.
Maybe the solution is to just buy a 6MT, but then my wife can't drive it (which could be good or bad :) )
Any other thoughts regarding purchasing a used G37 Sedan are welcome.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bill

My complaints about the 7AT are minor. At times, it's not sure what gear to be in. My car was previously an Enterprise rental and I have yet to reset the ECU. Most of the time the transmission shifts perfectly fine. No issues at all while driving it hard.

i have the 7AT on mine and i don't have any problems.

idk why it would be a deal breaker, UNLESS you wanna have a little more fun while you drive (not that you can't have fun with the
7AT)......if so, then i would get the 6MT.

also, idk if you care about modding, but i feel there's more available for a 6MT than a 7AT.

I just bought mine 3 weeks ago for $24000 (2009 g37x sedan 17,200k). Im loving it no problem yet hopely stays that way. I'm not sure if they reset the ECU it seems no issue at all.

The first thing I would do is test drive the one you're looking at and see if you notice any of the things that you noticed on the rental. Most cars nowadays have problems hunting for gears, Infiniti is no different, but the DS mode does help with that. If the car you're looking at isn't being sold at an Infiniti dealership have it taken to one and see if it has the most current transmission update just to make sure. I know that was an issue for the '09s but it doesn't hurt to have it checked anyway. While you're there you can ask for any service records they may have for your car, they can check via your VIN. It will kind of give you an idea of the type of life your G had before you started looking at it. Let us know how it goes!

IMO the 7AT in the G really suffers in local driving because as I was told given the 7AT the computer if always trying to hunt for the right gear to be as fuel efficient as possible...But like you said my 7AT does seem to be lost at times it can't seem to figure out which gear to go in...hope they can do something about this soon...

I have an '11 w 7AT, which I have beat the **** out of for 40K, and its been flawless.

I think the 7at is ok, not great, not horrible. I really only find it trips over itself when I decide to drive it different than normal. (i.e. drive it hard after a long day at work). The transmission learns from your driving patterns and adjusts accordingly. If you normally drive conservatively and then try and race it the car isn't sure what to do. If you drive it hard all the time it's not happy when you're conservative with the throttle. DS does seem to smooth out the up-shifts for me, but the down shifts are slightly harsher and it's best suited for spirited driving.

Either way only you can decide if it'll bother you or not, I'd say 90% of the time mine works how I want it to. I can live with the 10% margin of error I experience.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

The 7at is definitely not the best. It is below average tbh. I would have to say the worst things about my car (7at coupe) is the tranny and the lack of torque.

Lack of torque isnt really due to the transmission....the VQ37 simply does not make a lot of torque...not down low anyways....

If you want more power, get 4.11 gears.

Even if you decided to go along with the purchase and your experiencing transmission issues , assuming the car is still under warranty you can have the transmission updated and have the TSB performed.

Are you just interested in the sedan or have you looked at coupes?

If you're worried about shift lag with the 7AT. Try the automatic IPL, shifts much faster than the G37s auto's. I drove both... The updated aggressive software in the IPL makes a world of difference.

I had both for many years. I thought the same goig from 5 speed to 7 speed. Car def seemed confused but eventually you end up likening it. Better for fuel economy and power curve is held longer on the 7 speed.

I didn't know the IPL ran different automatic tranny software; can the rest of us get it? I haven't had any problems with it searching for gears in the mountains, but wouldn't mind a more aggressive patch. I've read here that if you don't have problems, you shouldn't get the tranny reflashed, but most people that had problems, the new flash fixed most of their complaints. You probably will enjoy the paddles if you are wanting a AT, but considering a manual. They can be added, most G's are prewired. The wife can't drive a MT, so that should be a big plus for a 6MT, other than after a few beers.