Nostalgia is one hell of a drug, or so I’ve been hearing. I grew up in the suburbs of Toronto and got my driver’s license in the mid-2000s. This puts me right at driving age when the Fast & Furious franchise was at its peak, and every young guy wearing oversized clothing suddenly wanted an Infiniti — but not just any Infiniti. This 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe was quite literally peak motoring for my 18-year-old self.
Of course, being a student at the time, I didn’t have the money for a brand-new one. But I had a brief stint with a truly tired, black-on-black, and automatic G35 — and man, was it ever the coolest attainable car. This was a stage in my life where my friends and I thought cars would actually attract the opposite gender; that couldn’t have been further from the truth as we tried to capitalize on this fallacy with a rusty, beat-up, automatic G35.
The G35’s clean and crisp styling was stunning at the time, and the exhaust note from the 3.5L normally aspirated V6 it shared with its near-twin, the Nissan 350Z, was nothing if not distinctive. With cars like the Acura RSX Type-S, the Mazda RX-8, and the Honda S2000 on the market at the same time, there was really no wrong choice — except the G35 combined hot styling with a somewhat usable back seat and a premium interior.
Time went on, my car wore out even more, and almost a decade later I found that very car sitting in a scrapyard waiting for its final haul to the crusher. It was gut-wrenching to see a car with which you’ve made many memories await its final ride on a forklift. But I digress, because all good things must come to an end. I liked the G35 so much that I may or may not have peer-pressured our own managing editor into picking one up. It may or may not have ended up consuming more oil than gasoline.
That car went away, too, and I put that pipe dream fantasy behind me. Then around 2020, I started seeing a smokey silver — or Diamond Graphite in Infiniti parlance — G35 Coupe around my office from time to time. The car appeared bone-stock and immaculate, and was driven by an older gentleman. And not too long ago, I found an ad at a new car dealership in Bolton, Ontario for what had to be the same car — a 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe with a six-speed manual transmission and just under 60,000 kilometers. I had to have it.
We immediately checked it out, and the car was exactly as depicted — just about perfect. The original 2004 date-coded tires were down to the wear bars, and there were some scuffs on the wheels, but there it was. Opening the trunk revealed a bunch of documents including the original build sheet — this car was $60,000+ in 2003! — plus a sales brochure, a promotional DVD, and every service record since day-one from an Infiniti dealership just five minutes from my office. This was definitely that car, and I was overcome with that hit of nostalgia that I craved over 15 years of not having a G35 in my life.
We bought the car, threw a new set of tires on it, swapped in some fresh fluids, and I started driving it. I was mocked and berated by my friends and colleagues for parking all my other cars for days at a time and driving the G35 instead. But enough about my own nonsense; let’s talk about how the car drives, more than 20 years after its conception.
Nissan’s 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V6, known as the VQ35DE, put out 280 horsepower at a screaming 6,200 rpm and 270 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm. Our car is equipped with the optional Performance Package, which for $1,500 offered the seven-spoke 18-inch wheels, some interior bits and bobs, and a limited-slip differential. Along with the six-speed manual equipped here, a five-speed automatic was available. The manual is the one to have.
The G35 still feels somewhat quick, but the V6 definitely favours cruising over off-the-line performance; let’s chalk this up to newer cars with newer tech feeling significantly more urgent. When you’re on it, the G35 pulls hard right through the power band, never feeling starved for power and or lagging in any way. This is the one thing we miss the most about naturally aspirated V6s, but of course, fuel efficiency is the trade-off. Still, this car seeing about 10.5 L/100 km combined on premium fuel is within its ratings from 2004.
The shifter’s throws are short and feel excellent, just as good as anything sporty available today. It’s probably the best part of the car aside from the exhaust note. Where we found some confusion is the clutch — it grabs right up at the top and feels more vague than I remember. More than one of us on the team thought that the clutch may just be worn out, but after putting a couple thousand kilometres on the car and having it checked extensively, that’s just how it’s supposed to feel. It takes getting used to, and a 20-year old friend of the magazine who swears by her E90-generation BMW 3 Series expressed that the clutch feel is a deal-breaker for her.
Interior materials have held up very well, and the matte titanium trim throughout still looks great. The pop-out navigation screen has obviously aged poorly, but the fact that it can be hidden away means the interior is a bit age-proof. The G35 Coupe’s seats are still very comfortable, and the steering wheel’s small diameter makes it a joy to hold. Despite being more of a cruiser rather than a raw sports car, the G35 makes it very easy to get a good driving position and stick with it.
After 20 years, strong points of the 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe include steering feel, raw sound both inside and out, interior comfort, and subjectively, the styling. It reminds you about how few of these premium sports coupes are still around, and just how good they were. For me, I was able to relive the memory of a car that resonated with me so much in my youth, cruising on cool summer nights with the sunroof open and windows down, blasting Get Low by Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz through the Bose speakers. Nostalgia really is one helluva drug.
Take Two: The grass isn’t always greener
I don’t know what came over me — actually, I do; I thought I wanted more power but still something manual and rear-wheel drive. So, circa 2016, I thought it’d be a great idea to replace my NB Miata with a G35 Coupe. I also had a soft spot for these things as a teenager, so with Adi’s, umm, gentle encouragement, I picked up an ’05 coupe. Stick, 300 hp, low kilometres, and it had the correct wheels — because G35 Rays look good on everything — it should’ve ticked all the boxes.
The honeymoon phase was over after about a week, when I saw another Miata in the wild and thought, “awwwww.” I wanted to like the damn thing — G35s still look good even today, and I’m one of the few who seem to like how these things sound stock — but I just couldn’t jive with the damn thing. It lacked fizz. It felt isolated and boaty. And, yeah, it drank almost as much oil as it did gas. Just VQ things.
Almost a year to the day that I bought my G35 Coupe, I picked up an NA Miata. Four months after that, I sold the G35 — and vowed to never make that mistake again. Turns out, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. —Nick Tragianis
