It comes down to personal preference. I like the AWD because it is much more secure and stable when accelerating on wet surfaces. As said by others, you can also get by with all season tires if you have AWD...saving the hassle of owning/changing two set of tires. Although not necessarily a deciding factor, I suspect the AWD will be more valuable in the resale market in a place like Chicago. That said, RWD is well suited for many on this board. There is no wrong decision.

 

But if I get RWD and even if I do put on a good set of snow tires will I be able to get out from a snowed in parking spot as easily as say my front wheel drive 95 civic on regular pretty worn tires?

 

Or will the tires juat spin, cause a snowed in parking spot is my main concern, as I stated before all the streets grt plowed almost right away

 

What are you looking for in a car? Are you wanting to have a car that looks nice that gets you from A to B? or are you more of a enthusiast that could possibly track your car, that enjoys driving back roads, or mod your car?

 

That's almost true. Bury the accelerator in the rain with an X and you will launch from a standing start in a way that you simply can't in the RWD, with or without limited slip. I've had a few AWD G's as loaners in the rain, and played quite a bit. It was surprising how well you can come out of the hole without any driving finesse. Just smash the gas.

But here's the thing, and it's a point very analogous to the discussion of snow tires: overall, 3-season tires ("summer-only") are much better in wet driving conditions than All-season tires. So while AWD will give you a greater ability to come off the line in the rain, those so called 4-season tires will perform worse in handing and stopping situations than summer-only's. Just like AS tires compared to snows when driving in the winter.

The point taken here is that even if you have AWD, you should still have 3-season tires on your G37x, in order to maximize both performance and safety in the non-winter months.

 

Honestly, I would get the RWD over the AWD, and here is why.

I got the AWD because I live in MN and I thought AWD would be the pinnacle of perfection getting around. In my experience, Infiniti's AWD system is extremely clunky. Since it wants to be RWD and only AWD when it's slipping, my car always slips in RWD. Once it gets moving, it kind of "clunks", which I'm assuming is the AWD system kicking in to rectify the slippage. By that point my car is already moving and it's kind of pointless. If I could go back in time, I would've got the RWD variant of this car as I really, really wanted a manual and didn't get it thinking the AWD would be worth it. It's not, imo. Good set of winter tires and you'll be fine.

 

If you just want a nice car to drive around that has a 'sporty' feel to it, the AWD is fine. You can be like a lot of owners on this board and get around with A/S tires etc and for the most part be fine. However, I think AWD is for the lazy honestly. They just want to be able to go without getting stuck and not have to 'bother' with changing tires over. Well, I drive an AWD and I change my tires over so I guess I basically have a snowmobile in the winter. Chicago doesn't see as much snow so you probably don't need full blown nordic winter tire however an alpine or my suggestion of a severe weather rated all weather tire will suite you best.

I like to drive, and I like to push the car and that is honestly where you begin to notice the AWD. If you drive slow and don't really push it but enjoy that semi-connected feeling, the AWD will be fine for you.

I am just incredibly picky with the way my cars should feel and going from a 6MT Sport has not only made me hate my car, it has made me hate the brand as a whole for screwing over the AWD owners so badly.. hence why I am getting out of Infiniti completely after this car. They neutered this car by giving it a tiny *** rear sway bar because they didn't want you guys to be able to oversteer. They wanted AWD owners to plow through corners and understeer so in slippery surfaces it doesn't scare them (again, it is neutered). And that is precisely what pisses me off. I feel ripped off, honestly. Nothing this car can provide makes me want it over my old car... and that is quite unfortunate. It is a beautiful car. Love the interior, the look, everything. Then I drive it, and nothing else matter.

 

Wannabe, I feel your gripes, and your comments are spot-on. But you know how easily you can upgrade your sways better than OEM Sport, right? And if you also upgraded your struts, then problem fixed. The steering will still be less precise than otherwise, but your handing will be vastly improved, and well matched to those PSS you're running.

Unless your renting and don't want to mess with de-modding the car. That's a common motivation to leave things alone.

Still a complete mystery to me how the xS Coupe gets the actual sport suspension and brakes, while the xS Sedan doesn't. Very odd design decision.

 

^whs.

With hotchkis sways, swift springs, PSS, and a couple of GTSpec braces, it drives great. No understeer, and you can easily push out rear end. I am sure with upgraded struts it will be even better.

 

I live in the west burbs. I used to have a RWD G35 coupe with all-season tires and lots of sand in the trunk. Even then, it was a mess. There were at least a couple of times each season where I absolutely hated having that car.

I now have a G37x with all-season tires and it is a HUGE improvement. I would strongly recommend either AWD or RWD with snow tires.

 

My gripe is that I shouldn't have to do all of that to make the car handle like it should have from factory. I am tired of modifying ****. Been dong it for 7 years and I just dont want to anymore. I just want to tint the windows and drive the car. No lower to eliminate evil wheel gap, no sways to get back the big *** planted. Just factory fresh. It is a lost cause for me really. lol.

The car is a lease that I am getting rid of in 1 year. I will suffer through it until I can return to something with RWD.

 

To a large extent it will depend on exactly how deep the snow is surrounding your car and how much you're willing to remove said snow manually before you try and go anywhere. Starting from a dead stop in low traction conditions is really where AWD shows the greatest benefit over RWD so given enough snow AWD could be beneficial in the situation you're describing.


Again, however, it really depends on how much snow you get and how much has accumulated around your car. For example, we got several inches last winter here in St. Louis and I had no problem driving my RWD G37 (though I did shovel a bit of snow so I wouldn't have to use my front bumper as an impromptu snow plow). On the other hand, when I was in college in Virginia we had a proper blizzard which immobilized everyone's cars except for one of my friend's Jeep Cherokee (which lead to the only time I've legitimately had to use 4WD-Low).

 

Thanks for all the replies but as of now I'm leaning towards the AWD, you have to remember I'm coming from a 95 civic with like 80 horse power I think it has lol, so either way the g37x will feel like a rocket. And I'm mostly looking to get from point a to point b, of course I want to have fun driving but I'm not race car driver and def won't be going crazy with it or taking it on a track or anything like that. It will be good having that extra traction in the rain when punching it from a stop and getting out from a snowed in spot alot better then RWD where the tires just spin. Also I'll just run on all season tires since I mentioned before I really don't have the space for extra set of tires, it's not that I'm lazy to swap them, I just simply have no where to put them. Now with that being said, should I do x or xs?

 

The xS is not a performance upgrade on the Sedan, only on the Coupe. On the Sedan the xS is trim-only: front bumper, sport seating, side sills, 18" rims.

So based on that, you might as well ask what color to get. I recommend Graphite Shadow.

 

Lol that's actually the color I want, does having the bigger 18 inch wheels burn more gas as opposed to having the smaller 17, sorry if I sound like a complete noob but I think I've read that somewhere...