G35 Shootout, Part II!
Rick's 2004 G35 6MT vs.
Loaner 2005 G35 5AT vs.
Loaner 2007 G35x 5AT

Download the G-Tech Pro data files (GTP files).
Download GTech PASS (GTP file viewer).

Loaner Runs: 03/07/2007

This week I dropped off my G35 for the 45,000 mile service (sob! so many miles...) and as my loaner vehicle the nice folks at International Autos gave me a 2007 G35x Sedan! For those that aren't familiar with the G35 specs, my 2004 G35 Sedan makes 260bhp stock (mine is about 270-275 right now), while the 2007 makes 306bhp, and with new (and more restrictive) SAE standards, it might be closer to 315bhp or so before.

So, on the way hope I stong-armed Chad into coming along for some G-Teching. By the time I got in his driveway the brakes were already rather warm, and pungent. Just trying the newly upgraded chassis out! :) This particular car is a G35x, which means AWD. That also means a totally different feel accelerating and cornering, too. Let's see how she did!

Acceleration:

Together Chad and I performed four acceleration runs in back-to-back pairs going opposite directions. The first two runs were in a fully automatic mode, letting the tranny shift itself, without any brake-torquing. The next two runs I brake-torqued the transmission as much as possible, and put it in manual mode and shifted myself. The results of the acceleration runs were 14.0 and 13.8 seconds in automatic mode, and 13.9 to 14.0 seconds in manual mode.

The transmission shifted slower in manual mode, making a solid shift difficult. I suspect the fastest combination would have been automatic shifting with brake-torquing. This was not the sport version of the sedan (AWD models cannot be) so I don't know if the sport shifts more crisply or not.

Due to the automatic transmission my launches weren't as hard as they could have been since the engine wasn't near its torque peak. My best 0-60mph was 5.6 seconds, with the worst at 6.0 seconds. Brake-torquing definitely helped it launch harder, getting a tenth of a second benefit across the quarter mile.

Power:

The highest power output was 223bhp, but the G-Tech made a total hash of the RPMs. It also recorded huge spikes of torque, but since the G35 is rated at 270lb-ft of torque I'm pretty sure this one wasn't putting out 400+. The power peak should be about 6800rpm for this engine. You can see the car is definitely putting down some power! After performing the atmospheric corrections, factoring out Chad's weight, etc. the calculated power is about 275 bhp. I suspect this figure is lower than the 306bhp primarily because my reverse estimates for AWD cars are very likely off a fair amount. Unfortunately, there are no accepted standardized corrections of this time due to the variances between vehicles.

As a better comparison, you can see all three vehicles acceleration curves here. Keep in mind that these figures are with Chad in the car for the 2007, or it would have run away even faster. The most interesting part is that you can see my G35 loses less power at high RPMs, from both my intake and exhaust changes and more significantly my manual transmission versus their autos (and AWD!)

Technique:

If I thought launching the 2005 5AT was boring, the 2007 G35x 5AT is worse. Smash the brake to the ground, put it in "5A" (the sportier, gear-holding setting), floor throttle, wait a second, release. The G35x launches at better than 0.85 Gs, a very hard and smooth lunge. Then you hold the pedal down and aim the car down the lane. 14 seconds later, you are done!

Corrections and Other Factors:

Once again I've corrected the quarter mile results to the weight of a single person, quarter tank of fuel, and SAE J1349 standards. Below you can see the best from from my G35, the 2005, and the 2007 loaner cars:

Recorded Data Corrected Data
Rick's G35 6MT 0-1/4 mile in 13.8 secs @ 104mph 0-1/4 mile in 13.9 secs @ 103mph
2005 G35 5AT 0-1/4 mile in 14.2 secs @ 100mph 0-1/4 mile in 14.2 secs @ 100mph
2007 G35x 5AT 0-1/4 mile in 13.8 secs @ 100mph 0-1/4 mile in 13.9 secs @ 100mph

So you can see that the 2007 G35x is a fast car, and I wouldn't care to race pink slips on it since it's super-easy to launch and I'd have to nail the best run of my G35's life to beat it. Plus, I know that if I run into a 2007 6MT I'll be watching it's taillights...