Short Take Road Test
Right as the filming for Star Wars drew to a close, Mark Hamill—he played Luke Skywalker, for you heathen non-SW fans—found himself involved in a serious car crash that left the famous Jedi with a busted and broken face. His injuries were serious enough to require a number of reconstructive surgeries. Although the procedures repaired the damage, and he did look familiar, something was unmistakably different. The youthful giddiness and raw excitement that characterized Luke Skywalker in that first film were lost in Hamill's subsequently more serious visage, and Skywalker's character was more mature and more reasoned in the next two films.
I bring up this bit of geekery because a similar fate has befallen the latest Infiniti G coupe, the G37. Like Hamill, this car resembles its former self—the G35 coupe—and it, too, has lost its youthful giddiness, its raw excitement. This latest Infiniti is more mature, more reasoned, and, yes, more grown-up than the outgoing G35.
But Wait! It's Still Good!
This is not to imply that the new G is bad—far from it. It's a wonderfully capable, fast, drop-dead gorgeous, and luxurious machine that anyone shopping for a sports coupe would be certifiably nuts to ignore. It appeals to a far wider audience of folks than the old car, and the G37 will likely sell many more copies per year, too. The G37 turns out to have a bit more sports tourer in its blood than did the G35, that's all.
An Air of Refinement
The biggest culprits in the personality shift are the steering and driveline. Some of us thought the steering, for example, feels best and most confidence-inspiring in a straight line, grand touring-style. Even though the rack talks loudly enough in corners, there's more feel and precision on-center than in the ensuing 40 degrees to either direction. The outgoing G35 coupe's steering was lighter and a bit more precise, which lent a bit more of a twinkle-toed, light-on-its-feet-type feel to the overall package, also abetted by the fact that the G35 was more than 200 pounds lighter than the G37.
