I had an 07 G35 with a manual. Even though the rest of the Car was great, it's Achilles heal was the trans. Especially when cold, it wasnt very cooperative. Crunchy, clunky and very much like a trucks transmission. It was replaced under warranty and apparently, it was normal for this trans.

In any case, 5 years along, have they made any improvements to the manual trans? Are there any wide ranging complaints?

Thanks
Chris

 

the throw-out bearing is noisy and there is vibration but the transmission itself is sturdy.

 

What about the quality of the shifts?

 

My wife's 2011 civic shifts gears smoother and the clutch is easier than a stock g37.
I made a couple mods to my clutch pedal and it's much better than stock...for me.

 

The manual transmission and clutch on the G37 are ok, but not great, and not as smooth, refined, and easy to drive as some others that I've driven. I can go into more detail; the bottom line is that you get used to them, but even then the G37S 6MT isn't a car that's easy to drive consistently smoothly for various reasons. I personally think that the 7AT is overall a better choice on this car quite frankly unless you simply must have manual.

 

It does vibrate a little, but it's pretty precise, you always know what gear it's going into, compared to some other smoother shifting cars.

 

Yes - the shifter is fine other than the little bit of vibration, and it's not hard to direct it to the intended gear.

The clutch is a little abrupt, not as gradual as some other clutches. This makes it more challenging to drive consistently smoothly. Its on/off nature also makes hill starts on steep inclines more challenging than on some other manual transmissions. The weak hand brake is a little frightening on steep inclines.

The sensitive gas pedal coupled with the abrupt clutch makes it easy to jerk the car while starting from stop or shifting the low gears.

The clutch and transmission make more noises than typical on other cars.

You need to upshift pretty rapidly on this car - the gearing ratio is such that I rarely spend much time in gears lower than 4th unless going quite slow.

The 1-2 shift is hard to get to be consistently smooth.

Downshifts really benefit from rev matching on this car - more than on other manual cars that I've driven.

Overall, a somewhat challenging manual transmission which requires some concentration to drive well/smoothly. Not something you want to get sloppy with, so not ideal if you get distracted by listening to music or talking on the Bluetooth phone...

Honestly, I'm not sure what the manual buys you compared to the auto on this car - seems inferior in every way... I would recommend the manual only to people who just have to shift their own gears because that's what they love doing for some reason. I can't find a rational reason to have it - it makes sense only if you have a passion for it. In the old days, auto trannies kind of sucked, but these days there are some great ones, including the 7AT on the G37 (assuming you don't hit the problems that some people reported, at least in model years before 2012).

 

The trans is better than the g35. Hot summer days in the 35 would make the trans sound like a diesel truck when idling in neutral. The 35 trans was notchy and was easy to miss 2 to 3 shift on hard acceleration trying to shift quickly. Much better on the 37.

 

Good write up by visualguy above. You definitely want to be assertive when shifting. Wait too long and the rpms drop too low (because the engine revs up/down quite quickly).

Rev matching when downshifting from upper gears takes some practice to figure out. I've found the rpm differences to go something like this; 6-5th ~500rpm, 5-4th ~750rpm, 4-3 ~900Krpm, 3-2 ~1100rpm.

I suppose it would of been nice to have an automatic for those lazy days, but in day to day driving, it's such a disconnected feeling. A manual keeps me more aware of what's going on around me, especially in front (trying to time lights, etc.).

 

Yes - the rev matching does indeed take some practice to figure out how much to blip the throttle. The rapid and synchronized foot acrobatics needed to pull it off smoothly is also challenging.

I agree about the more engaged nature of driving the manual, but I think this particular manual transmission may be a little too much on the demanding and stress-inducing side for routine daily driving. Sometimes it's fun, but at other times it's a burden you don't need and an added distraction... The auto drives this car really well (and still lets you drive it aggressively if you want) - better than what I can do with the manual tranny.

 

Wait... what parallel universe am I in? Now kudos for the AT? And knocks on the MT? Oh boy

 

I need to tell it like I experienced it while driving both the auto and the manual 2012 G37 pretty extensively... Get the auto unless you're a passionate die-hard manual driver who is willing to tackle the somewhat steep learning curve and demanding nature of the G37S 6MT. The attention it demands doesn't go away even with practice...

On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of the auto. The last automatic I drove was in the 90s, so i guess I missed some great developments. These new trannies eliminated all the reasons I've had for driving manual other than the more engaged driving experience, but that was never at the top of my list of reasons. My top reason was the inferior job autos did under some conditions (such as mountain roads or when trying to pass someone). I felt that the manual gave me the extra control I needed to get the car to behave like I wanted by being in the right gear at the right time. Not an issue anymore based on my experience, but I haven't encountered the issue reported by some people for the 7AT. On the other hand, the manual is a bit more of a pain and less forgiving than it used to be on my previous cars...

Anyway, I hope this helps people who face this dilemma. The conventional wisdom that manual is better for driving enthusiasts needs to be revisited in general, and even if it applies to some cars that don't have great auto transmissions, it may not apply to others that have state-of-the-art transmissions.

 

I fixed the abrupt clutch with the new spring. Nissan manuals have never been smooth as German makes or even Hondas but I wouldn't says it's a steep learning curve.

My wife and I test-drove a paddle-shift "S" and neither were pleased with the auto it just felt too detached.

 

Nissan's manual was actually significantly more user-friendly in the 4th generation Maxima than it is on the G and Z. Although even then it wasn't as nice as Honda's.

I don't feel the need to shift the auto manually, so no real use for the paddle shifters in my experience... Being detached from the shifting is a good thing in my opinion if the tranny does a good job on its own. The driver should be involved only if he or she adds value; otherwise, just let the car do it... I don't feel like I can do a better job than the auto tranny on this car, so it's better if I stay out of the way and let the computer do it...

 

Years ago (maybe not so many), yamaha came out with an automatic transmission for their sport tourer (fjr1300). This is a class of bike that has comfortable ergo's, comes with 2 hard cases and is really targeted towards the long distance spirited rider.



The local dealer (chicago cycle) that carried the big 4 jap brands and ducati had this model on their showroom floor. These places don't give test rides, but I did stop in there every few weeks to get parts/accessories or just window shop. During a span of 6 months that I stopped in there, the same bike was on display, just moved to different parts of the showroom. The salesman I dealt with for my own purchase said they were have a really hard time moving it. Eventually they either sold it or traded it.

My point is that some folks will still prefer a manual no matter what. One of the factors that biased my decision were the threads on here about folks complaining about the trans hunting for gears, sometimes at inopportune moments. Prior to the G, I had a late model automatic fwd car for several months (after driving manuals for over a decade). I found the automatic to be a distraction. On numerous occasions I was fumbling with the stereo/nav/other controls when attention should of been paid to the road. I don't have such experiences with manuals

At the end, ymmv and different strokes for different folks.