Beer Magazine

MT>Auto always.

First off if you read all the forums of most car "enthusiasts" the majority of complaints are about the AT tranny...lagging, shifting, problems and other areas of general unhappiness.

The Clutch on most every Nissan I've driven with the V6 is a little strange on the uptake, and I'm honestly confused why they haven't addressed it to improve it. It takes some "re-learning" but it's pretty easy to drive smooth. If you can't...you need to look at why you can't be smoother with the clutch/throttle.

I recommend MT to anybody who likes to drive and be more involved. It's a better experience, and most of the time people who say they would rather have AT can't drive MT or make some lame excuse how it's faster, or they drive in traffic.

If you think a sports sedan, or car only to drive in traffic why actually buy a "sports" car? You buy it to enjoy when you drive it for enjoyment.

Also the reason why Honda has easy clutches is that you don't have any Torque. Drive any car with a decent amount of torque and the clutch is going to be more abrupt. I recently borrowed my friends Aston Martin Vantage V8 and the clutch was super firm..enough that when I got in my car I almost put my foot through the floor when pushing the clutch down...so it's all a point of reference on the feel.

This car is 100% better in MT. I had the 7at and couldn't stand it. With the MT the engine feel smoother, the car drives better and it's more enjoyable. If you don't "understand" MT...have fun in your car.

You DRIVE an MT.

You RIDE in an AT. Man up.DOMO

visualguy

Try living with a G37S 6MT in San Francisco - I think you would change your mind pretty quickly on this statement...

By the way, the clutch and transmission don't tell the whole story. How well the manual transmission works also has to do with other parts of the car, like the engine. It's more suitable for some engines than others.

One example is low-end torque or lack thereof in a heavy car. If you're in SF trying to start uphill with the G37S 6MT, you'll find that you have to rev the engine while doing it to the point where you're going to incur some clutch burn. No avoiding it - the alternative is a bucking stall or a rough launch with engine pinging galore. You're either going to make your clutch unhappy or your VQ37VHR unhappy - choose your poison, but you have to swallow some.

Another example is rev matching on downshifts. The VQ37VHR really wants that. The VQ30DE less so. This causes the G37S 6MT to have a steeper learning curve than the Maxima SE 5MT, for example, and it makes it more of a PITA to drive smoothly.

avsBuddy

My biggest problem with G37S Manual is the syncrho whine - my god, these things new are louder between shifts, than my Subaru WRX after 8 years of driving! At first I though maybe it's my shifting, and I shift too high, or too low - but synchroes whine at any shift point.

Another thing I noticed is that I burned clutch twice while parking all because stupid drive by wire keeps engine revs up long after I release gas pedal. So when I don't look at tachometer while backing, I can release gas pedal, and engage clutch and unbeknown to me, G decided to hold revs a little resulting in a "nice" worst smell in the world for a manual car driver. Ta da!

On my particular model after 3k miles, clutch pedal started to slightly catch/click just after being depressed and again right before the lowest point. Only does it in warm temperature, or if car is warmed up. Need to take it up with the dealer.

g37guy01

Days of an mt are way over.

visualguy

Synchro whine is normal on this car. Like the OP said, it has some aspects which make it feel like a truck manual transmission...

Burning the clutch is pretty much unavoidable once in a while on these cars - I don't think you need to worry about burning it twice while parking.

You should definitely have the dealer look at the clutch catch/click problem - that's not normal.

visualguy

Agreed. One thing that surprises me, though, is how popular MT still is in Europe, and not just on bare-bones inexpensive cars, but throughout the entire range of cars.

kaoticdemize

iTrader: (2)

the '12 6mt is a lot better then the previous years, IMO driving the old ones around a lot I can notice a difference in my 12 with the catch areas. Agree though driving in sf with a stick is ****ty, i did it for a while, e-brake it up

visualguy

Are you sure the clutch was worse before 2012? I wouldn't want to try one of those if that's true... The one in the 2012 is hard-enough to get used to. Was the catch area even shorter in the old ones?

The e-brake is a necessity on steep SF hills. However, like I said, the e-brake is weak on the G37S 6MT. You really have to yank it up hard for it to hold this somewhat heavy car on the little e-brake drum shoes, and even when fully raised it complains and you aren't sure it will hold... Besides, you're still stuck with burning the clutch because you still have to raise the RPMs enough to get some power while slipping the clutch. If you don't give it enough gas under these conditions, the engine protests mightily - bucking, pinging, and/or stalling depending on the circumstances. If you give it enough gas, get ready for some pungent clutch smell. You can't win...

rpm&my_G35

OP - Aside from the somewhat stiff clutch, it's engagement point and a little occasional clutch chatter, there are no major issues/complaints with the newer 6mt's.
A couple easy modifications and you can alleviate 2 out of 3.

Why do these threads derail into MT vs AT. Get and drive what you want and have fun.

canucklehead

iTrader: (9)

^ this. drive both in real-world situations, and decide what works best for you. the G37 6MT is slightly smoother than the G35.

i came from an '04 G35 6MT so i knew what to expect. AT was never really an option for me - MT is a must. i can happily deal with any slight NVH issues for the satisfaction of shifting my own gears. but that's just me. i did test an AT xS out of due diligence, but it didn't work for me.

cruzmisl

visualguy's assessment of the 6mt is spot on.

I will say that a good majority of the time I enjoy the 6mt. But the way they designed how this thing works leaves a lot to be desired. I actually avoid steep hills in the area that I know have stop lights. Not worth the stress and clutch wear. I'm sure if I lived in a place like SF, I would probably dislike it enough to consider other options.

It's almost like Nissan wants you to burn the clutch more often than necessary with the way they designed it. Even with the clutch spring mod (which does help quite a bit) it's still way too easy to make the car jerk around or even stall. I can drive my dad's 5 spd miata beater all day and never stall or make it jerk around.

If you simply prefer to row your own gears and want a G37 look, you'll probably do what I did and get the 6MT, but to me there is no question that this car with the automatic is much more refined.

My dad has an 08 automatic G, and you can actually hear the exhaust from the inside of the car with the windows up. All I can hear is the transmission whine unless i'm accelerating aggressively.

Beer Magazine

I've driven in SF, it's not hard. The one thing missing from the Infiniti is the Hill Assist braking feature. I had it on my 335 and it made hills non-existent.


But aside from that all those hills where also done by cars with way less power. I don't know what you people have driven but over 325 hp and almost 300pbft of torque is pretty powerful.

Drive a Civic or something with no bottom end and then you'll appreciate the power.

I grew up driving MT in the northeast. Big hills, rain, snow, and whatever else pops up...nothing is a problem. Yes SF sucks, but if you don't like MT then why buy a Sports car?

Beer Magazine

Why drive at all you can just play video games or sit in the back. There is a bigger connection to driving with MT, and generally I think MT drivers are better because they understand more about driving in general. And I'm sure most AT drivers will cry at that statement.

Technologically better isn't always more fun.

visualguy

I personally don't find the G37S 6MT to be a good choice for daily driving such as commuting on crowded roads (or when I go to SF...) It can be fun on other occasions when the conditions are right for enjoying it, and I have the patience for it. That's why I own both the auto and the 6MT, and so far my auto has 10X the mileage of my 6MT. If I had to keep only one, I would keep the auto.

JSolo

iTrader: (14)

If you live in an area with insane inclines then you either learn how to modulate the clutch very quickly, or you get an auto.

Interestingly, I have no issue with inclines on the bike, even really steep ones, but in the car it's a whole lot more challenging.