Danoli

So as many of you know I recently lost my 03 TL-s in a bad accident

now I need to buy a new car and Im not sure if I can deal with the lack of sirius in the acura. so I began looking at the 06 lexus IS250 AWD with navigation and the Infiniti G35X AWD with navigation.

the AWD lexus is only available in the 2.5L engine which is too underpowered and while the IS350 is super hot its only RWD and we get too much snow in NJ for that.

so that leaves me with the Infiniti or the Acura. and its a tough call.
acura has a great navigation system, voice controls, better fuel economy , and a lower price.
the Infiniti is AWD, 22 more horse power, 37 more lbs-ft of torque, better color combinations, your choice of XM or Sirius radio, intelligent key, more extensive warranty, and a slightly roomier interior.

I'm totally undecided. just when I figured the the Infiniti wasn't worth the extra cost I got a call from infiniti saying they had an 04 with all the options and only 10k miles for less than the price of an acura. so Im back to square one. how is the third gen acura with nav? does the voice recognition work well or is it just a fancy toy that barely works.....?

Any one have friends with the G35x or test driven both cars. love to hear your opinions. or web articles/forums you can link to.

thanks in advance

TCMS

I use the voice recognition rather frequently. Sometimes it get confused but it's generally very useful.

I also consider the G35x, the interior is what turned me off. (Though pre-05 was worse than post 05)

vp911

You should probably search... this has been discussed more times than I can count.

avs007

I'm sure somebody will flame me, but this is my honest opinion:

I personally don't see what the hubub is about the Acura Nav. I actually like the Nav in my G35 better than the one in my TL. My wife likes the Acura Nav better, but she admitted it was because to get the turn-by-turn directions only requires one key press, but it requires 2 or 3 on the G35. I countered that by saying that to cancel the directions takes one key press on the G35 but 2 or 3 on the Acura.

I like the Bird's Eye of the Infiniti Navigation, because it allows you to "see-ahead" and prepare for the exit/turn etc, and get in the proper lane in advance. When I drive the TL, there have been times when I've been caught off-gaurd and couldn't make the turn/exit because I had too many lanes to cross. Bird's Eye also benafits on those occasions when you have a bunch of forks in the road, as it's plain as day to figure out which way to go. I've made wrong turns with the Acura Nav.

However, my biggest gripe with the Acura Nav, is the touch screen and the points-of-interest. I've found the touchscreen to always lock-up when I try to use it. I enter in half the stuff, then it freezes for a minute or two. It also happens on my co-worker's TL, so it's not just me. Whenever I use it, I end up using the joystick thingy.

The touch screen I guess doesn't bother me too much. But the points-of-interest ticks me off to no end. I don't know about other regions, but in the Pacific NW, 99% of the time, when I enter in a destination it's not in there. However, the same location is in the G35's Nav. I've had my wife call me on the cell to ask me to look up a place on my Nav, and read her back the address so she can enter it in manually.

I like to use the POI to pull phone numbers, because sometimes I want to call a place to see if they are still open, make reservations, etc. However, I've never been able to do that with the TL's nav, cause it's never in there. I've even tried looking up major things next to it, like the anchor stores in the mall, but they weren't in there either. I enter in Sears, and it says there is one like 3000 miles away. And this is across multiple categories. Hotels I needed weren't in there, stores weren't in there, restaurants, etc. I never had this problem in the G35.

But don't let that scare you. I'm still glad I got the Nav in our TL. You can't go wrong whichever car you choose. It just boils down to personal preference.

As for the voice recognitions stuff. Works wonderfully for me... I love it... However, it doesn't work at all when my wife tries to use it. Same with my coworkers wife. I'm convinced the Acura engineers were all men, and they neglected to test it with women. It constantly screws up when my wife tries to use it.

datmrman

Are you using "North always on top" mode avs007? There is a compass on the upper left corner of the map screen that when pressed will allow you to toggle between "North always on top" view and "straight ahead" view (which I think you refer to as "Bird's Eye" view). I prefer "straight ahead view" because the map will show me what streets are straight ahead. Therefore, I have no problems knowing where to turn.

The navigation works fine for me. I think it is cool that it will announce the Freeway number and direction to take. "Stay left and continue onto Freeway 5 North"

datmrman

Danoli:
I think you made a wise choice not to go with the IS250. For the standard features that come with the TL, IS250 just isn't worth it.

As for the G35. I love the exterior of the car (but I think they ruined the tailights in the 06 model). The interior of the G35 (dash, buttons on steering wheel) turned me off though. The interior of the TL looks and feels aesthetically better than the G35 interior IMO.

I thought the warranty on the TL, G35, and IS are all about the same.

mio

hey, if u really want a good AWD, what about A4 3.2 QUATTRO?

avs007

No, I have them both set to straight ahead. Birds eye, is when the view is from 3/4 instead of directly on top. With both Navi's zoomed to the appropriate level to read street names, the Acura navi will have a radius of several hundred ft, maybe 1/8 mile. The Bird's Eye on the Navi allows you to see miles ahead.

For example, near me, there are 2 freeway interchanges. Both navis are telling me how to get on the freeway, but the birds eye allows me to notice that as soon as I get on the freeway, I want to get off again to get on the other freeway. With the Acura navi, I didn't realise that until I was already on the first freeway, but in the wrong lane to make the switch to the other freeway.

The more common cases are downtown, as instead of listening for the cue to turn or waiting for the street to come into view, I can look at the bird's eye view, and quickly see how far away from the turn I am, so I can make a decision if I can pass the slow-pokes in front of me, how much time I have before I need to move over, etc.

Another way it comes in useful, is when I'm not even using the navi's directions, but just the map. For example we were house hunting in some new neighborhoods, and I had the map displayed, to read the street names and such. With the bird's eye view, it makes it easy to "guess" which roads to take to get to various neighborhoods, as it allows you to see where each street goes. Because it also shows various things in the background you can easily figure out the general direction you need to go to get someplace too (Like how to get back to the freeway, etc). I suppose you could hit. "Go Home", but maybe I'm not ready to go home yet, and just want to get on the freeway to hop off at the next exit or something.

And for me, it allows me to have extra fun on the country backroads, because I can see the upcoming bends, and which way they turn.

Personal preference probably, becuase my wife has told me that she doesn't care for the bird's eye view, because it confuses her.

avs007

One difference is that Infiniti offers a Tire/Wheel insurance/warranty. I got the it for 5 years, it costs something like $250 bucks. It even covers your aftermarket wheels and tires. One pothole, and it could pay for itself. The stock 18" wheels on the G sedan are $850 each at the dealer, and that's not including the tire pressure sensor or the tire.

Granted you can find em' on ebay for cheaper, but I bought a set of aftermarket forged rims. Cheap insurance knowing I don't have to worry about bent rims and such. (At least for 5 years anyways). Also covers roadhazards, so I don't need to buy the road hazard protection from the tire store. Pretty easy to use to, from what I've heard from others that used it, and the dealer.

neuronbob

No offense meant, but this is one of our most frequently discussed topics. Please search for the other threads on the topic as they discuss this comparison in exhausting detail. The topic literally comes up once every other week.

F23A4

I periodically collect data (Edmunds) on the various cars that I would purchase to replace my 02 Maxima if needed, primarily the TL-6MT, G35S 6MT, IS350, 330i 6MT, Passat 3.6L, and CTS-V.

While my heart is with the 330i, valuewise the TL is the only one that is obtainable (loaded w/Navi) for under $35k. (I am surprised that the 06 G35S' TMV-true market value equals the MSRP.) Sidenote: if the TL had the RL 290hp/256lb-ft motor, I'm not certain I'd even consider any other comparable sedan; with a 6MT, it'd be beast.

datmrman

That sounds pretty cool. As for me, using the navigation in split screen mode (map and direction list) works fine. The direction lists shows you the estimated miles before the next turn, but I agree that its easier to read the map quickly than the direction list. To each, his own

Sorry Danoli for the temporary thread hijack.

drdamian

my personal opinion is that the G35x is FUGLY..... . the TL is way hotter . i test drove the coupe ,, wasnt to impressed with the navi.

EMF213

The G35 has plenty of good qualities, but I personally can't stand the sound of the Infiniti/Nissan engines....listen to an FX, M, G, 350Z, etc. They all sound very cheezy to me. Too high pitched and whirring, I guess.

The TL just sounds great to my ear. Smooooooth!!! And start-up a TL!! The sound is nice and deep....like that of a 3 series BMW...