lol I didnt even notice that.

 

The thread was about the upcoming Car and Driver review, i.e., of the entire car. If you changed the conversation to what you wanted, isn't this the definition of thread jacking? And, if so, shouldn't you have started a new thread?

If beauty is only skin deep, isn't this the definition of shallowness? (Where is Tony Robbins when you need him? If he did it for Jack Black, maybe he can do it again.)

If you only want something to look at, then buy something only to look at.

P.S. You'll save thousands, but, of course, you won't be able to brag to people you own a "full size" G37.

 

My first post was sparked by what Sukairain posted regarding what reviews would say when the G37 is compared with the 335i regarding price. So my whole post does regard the review considering that they do look at how the car looks. I don't know the definition of "thread jacking" since this is the first forum that I actually like spending my time posting on. You can call me "forum ignorant". I personally dont believe that I should have started a new thread since looks and luxury does pertain to any reviews. I remember watching a video review of the 335i on Youtube by Fifth Gear and they applauded the BMW when it came to performance and handling but they couldn't help but talk about the looks of the car and how bland it was. So I felt that my post does have relevance. If I SHOULD have made a new post, then I apologize because I didnt know, hence why I'm "forum ignorant".

I buy a car PRIMARILY on looks. Driving experience is SECONDARY, which doesn't mean that it IS NOT important. (ack double negative) I think that a car should have the total package and that's why I mentiond BMW in my first post. They have excellent performance vehicles but they mostly miss it when it comes to design and looks (MY OPINION - just making sure so that I don't get flamed by hardcore Bimmer lovers). What attracts most people to lets say... a Bentley that they see on a street? Most people would be attracted to it by how great (if they think it's great) it looks and then want to take a look at the engine second. I think you may just be misunderstanding me. I am not shallow (don't know why shallowness would deal with me and this situation).

I do not want to buy a vehicle just to look at it. There's a reason why I said that I buy a car PRIMARILY for looks. I was hoping that would be "politically correct" on my part but I guess it wasn't enough. Looks, luxury, style, and so forth is like 60% and performance, handling, and so forth is about 40% (does this still qualify me as being shallow??... even though this is dealing with cars and not human beings?). To me... the G37 hits both almost perfectly (I'm trying to be politically correct). The 335i (as an example) gains the 40% but only like 35% of the looks, luxury, and style (if BMW would only change the interior)... so 75% total.

I do hope that clarifies things up a bit. I think a lot of it is just misunderstandings and ignorance on my part (when dealing with the "thread jacking" thing).

 

I get the impression if the G37 were being released by Hyundai or Kia, even with all that performance (and looks), you wouldn't even be considering it. I think STATUS is important to you as well...

 

Yimbie - +1.

If you are only looking for performance, why would you ever look at the 335? For the same money as a decently equipped (not loaded) 335, you could get a 430+ HP vette with pure V8 muscle. Actually, the vette looks good on the outside as well. So, my point is why compromise on performance with the 335 if performance is all you care about?

 

If Hyundai would build an EXACT replica of the G37, then I wouldn't care who made it. The reality is that Hyundai could probably copy a bit of the design, but somewhere along the line, there would be styling compromises and performance compromises. If it wasn't, then we'd have one built by them already. They haven't yet, so assuming nobody would buy one is just that - assuming.

People shopping for cars have their own priorities. I'm pretty sure very few people would buy a car SOLELY on looks and the same for SOLELY on performance. Does status play a role? I'm sure but where on the priority list does it fall? Everyone is different.

 

Status is important for me, but it's definitely not above the visual and physical of a car. There's a bit of a difference though between saying if you have a Toyota or if you have a Lexus. Status is of course different from person to person. For example... I come from a family where our cheapest car is an Infiniti (brother's G35) and it goes up to the Mercedes S550 (aunt's new car in black - one of my dream cars). When I say family, I include all aunts and uncles. Status may not mean anything to you, but in my "walk of life" it's a bit different. A lot of my friends have high-end cars. Dinavie - Lexus IS350, Christina - BMW M3, Megha - BMW 5, Megan - Mercedes SLK...350?, and Nav (yes, his name is Nav) - Mercedes E-class. I have pressures from both my friends and family to get a high-class car and I'm very glad that I am getting one.

I must say though Hyundai is getting better and better. I'm looking forward to them launching their luxury division in a few years. My mom's really interested in it also because she's korean (it's a factor, trust me) and she tends to by the korean alternative if it's of good quality (Samsung and LG). All our TVs are Samsung, hehe, and my dad's, mom's, and brother's phones are Samsung. I have a LG phone. I think Hyundai's luxury division will have a history that's somewhat similiar to Lexus's.

To be honest, if Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, or even... Ford... (ok maybe not Ford)... was the one to come out with the G37... then I would still get it regardless of the name because the G37 is a beautiful vehicle. The brand name will definitely increase if any of them owned the G37.

If I value Status as well and it's viewed as a bad thing, then oh well. My life is different and I have different pressures and situations to deal with. Don't hate me please. Now if Status was extremely important to me.. then I wouldnt even consider Infiniti. I would stick with Mercedes, Audi, BMW, or Lexus because they certainly have their names carved in the luxury brand stone tablet.

I've been defending myself all day... oh well, keeps me busy and on my toes (metaphorically speaking of course)!

 

Well I don't hate you, but I go out of my way to avoid brands like BMW and Mercedes simply for what it mostly means here in the USA - status. It sickens me frankly, and if I were an evil man and had the power I'd exterminate all those people. But fortunately I am not evil and respect their choices, but I can say for a fact I have chosen not to date women and limit friendships specifically because of the importance they put on the type of car they and their friends drove. In my opinion it says a lot about what kind of people they are. I've gotten to know plenty of them, and that's really what enlightened me about them.

Now, I could buy a BMW if it were really, really good, like maybe a 335i WITH LSD, but the lack of it and the turbos bug me. Also I've known plenty of BMW and Mercedes drivers who had them for reasons other than status, so I know they all aren't superficial.

Even the Infiniti brand is a lot for me to deal with, but other than the 350Z Nissan doesn't make a RWD car afaik.

Oh and fwiw I could get myself a Mercedes SLR McLaren, but I choose not too, though at least it has quite a bit of uniqueness to back up its price(and brand)... My current car is a '98 Maxima 5MT. MY next car I hope with be the G37 otherwise I may hold out for the Dodge Challenger 6MT so long as it lives up to the hype..

Oh and just to remind I don't hate you I just have a different way of looking at things I guess. I am always tempted to go out and get that bad *** high end car but it would go so against what I have always preached and in the end I'd feel like a jackass driving a $50,000+ car.

 

Status, reputation, whatever you'd like to call it, plays a part in everyday life and it's completely normal. Just some people value it more than others in different cases. For example... Apple has a reputation and status of making great mp3 players (iPod of course) and they're widely known. I have a Samsung mp3 player (which is great and a worthy rival of the iPod nano) and a Creative Zen Vision: M (which is a worthy rival of the iPod video) but they're MUCH MUCH MUCH less known. I've lost count on how many people called my mp3 players... iPods. Apple has the highest status amongst the MP3 player world but I decided not to get the iPod because I liked the other MP3 players better.

I hope that you aren't judging me because I do value status when it comes to cars. In real life, I am a very humble person. I NEVER brag about anything and even my friends call me the "most humble rich person they know". If I ever came off as "snobbish", a jerk, or whatever, I apologize because I really don't mean to come off that way.

In relation to the visuals and physicals of any car... status would have to be like 15%. Visuals - 50% Performance - 35% Status - 15%

335i (example)
28/50 visual 35/35 performance 12/15 status = 75%
... and even though the 335i is made by BMW... it's only a C in my list. So this shows that status isn't extremely important to me.

G37 (if it lives up to my expectations)
47/50 visual 35/35 performance 10/15 status = 92%
... and even though the G37 is made by Infiniti... it's still an A in my list. So this further shows that status isn't extremely important to me.

Performance isn't so important to me as compared to visuals because I'm not looking to put my car to the max in both speed and handling. Now If I drag raced (never on the street because that's for idiots) then the 0-60 and 1/4 mile times would matter to me but I don't so even if the 0-60 time for the G37 turns out to be like 7 seconds, it wouldn't bother me. I'm just a casual driver that does like decent performance (driving feel, road/wind noise, handling, and so forth). I'm not very picky when looking at the physical parts of the car. Visuals do matter to me because I'm going to have to look at the car whenever I drive it (interior is more important than exterior for me).

I hope this post clarifies any judgements against me and how I view status... I feel like I'm being looked at as a bad person... am I misunderstanding?

 

Can't wait until the 25th, hopefully we will get some final hp numbers and prices!!

 

my thoughts exactly

 

I find this discussion about the status of a car interesting, so I'll chime in with my 2 cents even though this is not the main topic of this thread.

Status used to be more important to me than it is now. I bought my '02 Mercedes CLK partly because of the status, and partly because it looked so darn good (it was, and still is IMO, one of the best-looking, elegant and sporty cars on the road). I am also referring to the previous body style of the CLK (my car was in the last production year that had it); the current body style of the CLK is not such a successful combination of sportiness and elegance, again IMO.

However, I have grown to appreciate other things more than status now, things like reliability, value for the money, performance. That's why I picked the G35 sedan (I wanted the coupe, but my wife won't let me buy a coupe any more because our 2 kids are getting bigger every day, and we need more room in a car). With the G, I still get a decent amount of status, plus I get more performance, more features for less money. In fact, I've told my friends (and only half-jokingly) that I feel richer driving the G than I did driving my CLK. Now, I can do things like changing cabin temperature with my voice, find the way to my favorite restaurant on the fly, hook up my iPod to the car, have Bluetooth phone support,... and go FAST too! Oh, and I'm still driving one of the best-looking cars on the road OK, I know I can get all of that in a Mercedes too, but I would have to pay about 20k more, and there are a lot of other good things that I can get for that 20k.

So, in summary, status is not so important to me any more. I'll trade off some of the status for more "bang for the buck" any day.

 

I love the 2007 G35 sedan. I think that it's both beautiful inside and outside and it's completely understandable that you would get the sedan > coupe because well... the coupe will have a smaller rear sitting space than even the current one. I've seen the sedan in person at the Infiniti dealership and I was really amazed on how well it the interior looked in person than from the pictures. Congrats on your sedan! and about that 20k thing?? I personally believe that Mercedes really overprices their vehicles. I think that people are paying thousands just to have the name "Mercedes" honestly.... and the same goes for BMW. Like I said from a previous post... Infiniti is a great luxury brand for the correct prices.

 

Thanks, Yimbie. BTW, I think you made a great choice for your G37. Blue Slate w/ Graphite is a great color combo. I love the Blue Slate, as you can probably tell from my sig.

Looks like you are going for a fully equipped G37. That's going to be one amazing ride. Enjoy!!

 

Maybe a little, but I have not met you nor read much else from you so I haven't reserved judgment. Perhaps there exists a sentiment of status being important without being a snob.. Or perhaps your definition of "status" is much different than mine. Regardless it's not a big deal and mostly my discussion about this is for fun.

This cracks me up. It is funny enough that these criteria have been broken down like this but just as funny is you took the time to think about it and write em down.. Reminds me of how I used to decide which girl to get serious with(when dating multiple at one time)..