Wife and I took a 1220 mile trip up into the mountains of Oregon this week. Was thinking 6 hours in the seat each way back and forth and in between sight seeing might have gotten to me but I was very comfortable once I got the right seat adjustments set.

One day took a 5 hour drive up to Diamond and Crater Lake with lots of twisties and it handling everything well BUT I did not like the shifter in sport mode while descending twisties as it would hang in a gear and rev to 6K many times unless I used the shifter or paddle shifters to manually upshift which I really didnt want to do. Got on some long straights and cruised 120+ many times. Even with sunroof and windows all open at that speed it wasnt being moved all over the road.

Found that when climbing long grades I had to put it in sport mode or it would try and bog down instead of downshifting on its own unless I romped on it and then it hunted for gears.

Got caught on one road for 8 miles that had about 1/2" inch of loose gravel on it and car was all over the place in slight curves at very little throttle sliding around to the point it was getting dangerous but I think any car would have done the same.

Trip ended up with 22-24 mpg with a/c on at 85-90 mph for most of the 825 miles drive up and down elevations of 400-4000 feet with lots of curves and trucks to maneuver around.

So all in all for our first trip I'd say the car does just fine. Had lots of stares from people in Oregon as I guess there isnt many G's up there, in fact I didnt see 1 other one the whole trip. The gas station people filling me up thought the S was for supercharged and commented they had never seen one before (In Oregon you cant pump your own gas).

 

Oregon is beautiful is it not? I have the privilege of living on one of the mountains in the Willamette Valley.

There are not a lot of G37s in Oregon, not even in the greater Portland area. I get comments from people all the time... even in drive throughs.

On my gravel driveway it is far too easy to break out the back end. With traction control on it is no problem.

Tell us more about your site seeing pl0x. (Pics or it did not happen!)

 

^ great pics man. looks beautiful.

 

My wife and I will be driving some of those same roads, from Roseburg to Crater and Diamond Lakes soon. However, we won't be traveling quite as fast, or sliding through the gravel curves.

 

There is some major roadwork being done on 138 out of Roseburg headed toward Diamond lake so beware. It was about an hour delay for us with slow and stopped traffic with only 1 lane open in several places with flag people out. The road work started about halfway up around Toketee Falls I think it was and covered maybe 8 miles or so of different areas of repaving and digging out complete sections.

 

Why not want to use the paddle shifters? I rarely use DS mode, I don't even see the point of DS mode when you have the floppy paddles to play with.

 

Because I'm usually driving with one hand on the wheel only, talking to the wife, looking at scenery or munching on snacks and dont have both hands available for paddles. Paddles are fun occasionally but sometimes I just wanna enjoy the drive without worrying about what gear im gonna manually shift up and down to and at what time.

There is too much lag with shifting of this car with paddles or shifter its unpredictable when its actually gonna do what you want it to do manually.
The paddles just take some getting used to and if I actually drove it more I might play with it but Its my wife's car and I only drive it occasionally.

 

I drive my G for long times often and its definitely very comfortable and bearable!

 

I would suggest you should keep more attention to your driving. One of the things I like about the paddles is that it makes me hold the steering wheel with two hands. You seem to have been going through twisty sections at a good pace, kinda scary if you were looking at the scenery, talking to your wife and snacking while driving through a curvy road, sliding around gravel and doing 120+ on the straights. I don't need my hands to talk to the woman and if I need a snack she feeds me (lol true story).

Get used to the paddles and holding that steering wheel with both hands, you'll be surprised on how much more fun driving can be and how much more control you will feel.

 

I know it sounds like I don't pay attention to my driving but I really do. I'm used to one hand driving after 35+ years in stick cars on tight twisty road courses when very few times are both hands actually on the wheel. I just tend to want to be more relaxed when im not actually racing and enjoy not shifting manually anything so was just really trying out DS mode and hoping it would be satisfying enough to leave it in that and for the most part yes it is. Only a few times di it act awkward and hunting for when to shift usually on a tight downgrade or steep upgrade in lower gears,

 

That's because you were in the wrong part of Oregon, lol. That's, like, the hill-billy area with nothing but below-average cars. You come down to the Portland area and we have plenty lots of G's here. Even IPL's driving around here and there. And sometimes, like today, 550-WHP G35 sitting right in front of a Starbucks. Mine is on the lefty.

 

wow that G35 looks mean!

 

Ok I was out tonight and decided to do a wot run from a stop up onto the freeway using paddles. I hit the paddle to upshift into 2nd at 6500 and it decided to finally shift after it began bouncing off the rev limiter at like 8K but only after I let off of it. Geezus it was ridiculous I had to actually let up on it to allow it to upshift. I'm sorry but in my book the characteristics of this cars upshifting with paddles is a friggin joke. But in all fairness I didnt buy this car for using the paddles but to just drive it in auto and enjoy not having to shift manually.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be up there late next month, but will certainly check road conditions. Not much to do but wait in line after catching up with the drivers who passed me before reaching the flagman.

 

wow. 22-24MPG!! that's v good.
85-90MPH up and down hills, AND around curves? u and ur wife drives fast!