I would argue that your friends are correct. A new Japanese luxury car has left you stranded twice already? And gone back to the dealer for several other issues? No matter how small the other issues, that is unacceptable. Your G is definitely not what I would consider a reliable car.

My old General Motors 2000 Chevy Silverado, which had over 200k miles on it when I recently got rid of it, had just ONE problem in all that time. It was the alternator, and it cost about $600 to fix. As far as wear and tear, one brake light and one headlight had to be replaced. That is ALL that was done to the truck. It even still had the brake pads that came on it from the factory. I was never left stranded, not even due to the alternator because of the warning light which came on plenty early.

An almost new Infiniti has broken down twice already? I'd be very unhappy. Certainly not the "Japanese reliability" I would expect.

 

Waiting a few years and saving upwards of $20k on a G37 is not a bad gamble at all. Used car buying is only as smart as the buyer. Having the car thoroughly checked out for any repaints or damage is the only way to do it.

For example my car:
I bought it almost blind from Dallas (I live in Orlando, FL). I called the dealership where it was bought and got all the service records, the previous owner had the Elite Service Package so I already knew I was in good hands. It had a transmission flush at 30k miles at the dealership (upselling stealership). I had a very close car buddy of mine checkout the car, before I jumped on it. He took pictures of every nook and cranny. Wheel well was clean, no color changes in paint, clean fluids, spare never used, no rust, no undercarriage issues. ...yada..yada. Carfax and AutoCheck.

I bought the car and had it shipped without a flight to Dallas.

It's all about how you look for things in a used car.


On that note, no issues with a G37. The motor is over developed through R&D since 2002. Now all we need is direct injection...

 

Since you asked specifically about a '12. I bought mine new and haven't had any issues mechanically with it, but I've only got 13.5k miles. Just nit picky little details like rattles. Overall it's been a good car so far. I'm hoping to keep it for about 10 years, should be around 100k miles then. Will be saving up the car payments for something more fun next time around.

I did purchase the 8 year 100k mile elite warranty because I got burned on the used truck I had before the G. For me yes it cost more up front, but they took my trade at a higher price and the new one was only about $4k more than a 2 year old one with 30k miles at the time of purchase. My previous car made me worry about every little problem and it was driving me nuts. Yes I paid the new depreciation, but if you're one to worry about stuff like that then purchasing new is worth it.

Will the 11 or 12 G make it to 300k miles? Most likely not without some major repairs, but that's true of any car. I'd think you could make it to around 150-200k without much out of pocket expense outside routine maintenance. How many miles a year do you drive?

 

Having owned all 3 brands I will say this. Infiniti competes with Acura on quality and reliability. Neither one of those brands will ever be a Lexus, which is hands down better in every possible way. Just the overall feel of a Lexus lets me know I am in a luxury car. I honestly don't feel like my G is a luxury car in terms of the cheap touches it has, however the Infiniti is the smart choice in terms of what you are getting for your money, similar to Acura.

 

Consumer reports is nice and all, but their survey results are sample biased. People who buy consumer reports tend to predispositions that they rest of the population doesnt, influenced no doubt by thr seemingly pro Toyota/honda consumer reports reports.

It would be like taking a survey and only asking college educated white men, ages 30-45. Maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea.

That's not to say it isn't a data point, but it certainly isnt absolute.

 

My G was plagued with problems. Two transmission replacements, cat replacement, head gasket leak, bad clock spring, rear main seal leak. All before 55k miles. The head gasket leak is somewhat common apparently, the others were not. I was the original owner and babied that car, although I think my experience was uncommon.

I have since bought a 2011 CPO Acura TL-SH 6MT. It isn't as performance oriented as the G, but still plenty fun. And I like the technology better. 305HP with their AWD system removes all torque steer since up to 70% of the power gets sent to the rear wheels. Never have had to take it to the dealership for any issues. I do think Acura is more reliable than Infiniti, but not as much of a driver's car.

I also have a Lexus IS-F as a weekend car that I sold my G and Tacoma for, but have not driven that enough to really say much. I don't expect any problems, and also agree Lexus is way ahead of Infiniti and Acura in terms of luxury and refinement overall.

 

Well said. Except I would exclude driving performance from the "every possible way".

 

I used to agree with that, however I highly recommend test driving the new IS and GS. I was blown away at how nimble those cars are, even the 335i and 535i were not as fun. Also this applies to the rwd models, the awd across all brands are all sorta eh, however the G had the best overall feel for awd.

 

My parents had a Nissan Quest minivan that went to 180k miles without anything but simple maintenance. Luxuriousness-wise I would rate Lexus > Acura > Infiniti. Sportiness I would rate Lexus > Infiniti > Acura. I've had experience with the last generation TL and IS300 and IS350. The IS are more fun to drive and handle more nimbly. They are quieter and interior materials feel more high quality and luxurious, but get worse gas mileage and less interior space so not as practical, they also generally have higher sale prices. Reliability is a wash, they are generally all very reliable but there will be certain cars with quirks. The G is the most well-rounded in all categories. Used off-lease 2010 and 2011 G's are the best deal these days saving $15k in most cases and often pre-certified.

 

My IS300 will always be my favorite car, it had the L-tuned suspension and sway bars on it and was incredibly fun to drive, plus the inline-6 was smooth as hell. Owned it for 8 years and put 131k miles on it before I sold it to the same Lexus dealer I bought it from for 10k bucks. Every time I see an IS300 I get a little sad, until I floor my G and remember why I made the decision to get it.

 

I appreciate the responses my post has received so far. I know it seems strange and out-of-nowhere to make the comparison to my PT Cruiser, but that's the point -- just about every authority out there that evaluates and ranks cars on the basis of reliability (CR, JD Power) regard it as being one of the most unreliable cars ever built. So I figure that if it carries that kind of reputation, and yet I've never experienced a single major repair episode, then the G37 (which obviously is considered to be a much more reliable car) would be expected to be even less likely to experience any major problems. That's the only reason I had the audacity to mention the PT Cruiser on an Infiniti forum.

On Consumer Reports' reliability data page for the G37, I see that one of the sources of problems for the car is brakes. To be more specific, many model years of the car received quite poor reliability ratings (the lowest they give) for brakes. What actually tends to go awry with the brakes on these cars, and does the issue tend to cost a lot of money to repair?

 

Reliability is always a tricky subject, it's a question of statistics and numbers. I can just tell from my personal experience that my 2010 G37S sedan has been one of the most reliable cars I had. 73k+ miles and the only trips to the shops were for routine maintenance and some mods
Not only G's are reliable cars, they are also more fun to drive than any lexus or acuras.

 

Have you ever been in a late model Lexus? The last I checked the ES350 I felt like I was in a Chevrolet, hard plastics everywhere. Those Lexuses made before 2000 were great though.

 

Nissan, Honda & Toyotas are all reliable cars good engines.

 

Hedgehog,

The brake rotors on my 2009 xS had warped slightly by 22K. It was getting bad enough that you could feel it in both the steering wheel and the brake pedal, so I had the rotors turned and that eliminated the problem. That was the only problem I ever had with the car - bought new and sold at 24K.

The dealer I bought my CPO 2011 6MT either turned or replaced all 4 rotors on the Akibono BBK's and it only had 19K. So I would guess warped brake rotors are a common effect with either type of G37 brakes. I had the same issue with my previous Acura and my wife's previous Odyssey and Accord. So far I've put 5K miles on the '11 with zero problems.

Greg