[scrufy]

About 3 weeks ago, my car was hit (100% fault of other party) and the insurance managed to make a disaster out of every single step. The accident was on 12/10 and I just dropped the car at the body shop yesterday and they still have to wait (yet again) for the adjuster to come for a 3rd look because they say the estimates are all too high.

I decided it was going to start costing them. I picked up a rental 2011 G37 with 1,200 miles on it at their expense yesterday and I have some observations.
The G37 feels very lazy in turns, steering has no feedback- vague comes to mind.
While it has some power, it's no match for even a stock 335i.
The G37 has lots of bells and whistles, and rattles, and road noise and generally is not nearly as quiet as the 335i.
The G37 has a bit of plastic feel to it.
Exhaust note stock is raspy at wot but normal acceleration it is actually pretty good, even better than a stock 335i.
I will say that the key fob is much better and has a much farther range on the G37.

All in all, I'd say this rental helped me feel better about my BMW, which I was really beginning to dislike due to all the service issues.
I know now I will absolutely NOT be buying a Japanese car next.

Thanks for reading...

[ZoomZoom]

Great..just what we needed another 335i vs g35/37 thread where guess what the G is a POS.

Thanks!

[Clarence Watson]

There's a different analysis and opinion on the 335i vs. _____ out there for every person experiencing the comparison. I like reading them all -- especially since I considered some of those cars before settling on the 335. Thx for the post.

[maxipad96]

I now own both a G37 and a 335i so I'll give my 2 cents on the debate since my whole life until this point, I've been relatively a Nissan homer.

Speed - I know the 335 is faster, but it doesn't feel any faster than the G37 even when you are driving them back to back. Both cars are different kinds of speed. The G37 has much more low end snap your neck type of power where as the 335 has a more elegant holy crap I had no idea I was already going this fast type of power.

Handling - No question the 335 has much more driver feedback. The wheel feels much more solid. It's going to take some getting used to for me coming from the G37 where the wheel turned relatively with ease. The G37 steering has never felt loose, just feels like you are getting more assistance from the car. Where the 335 feels like you are doing a lot of the work. Don't know if this is good or bad yet. Don't know if it's true yet, but G37 feels like it might be a little easier to lose the rear end.

Reliability - I'm crossing my fingers that the 335 doesn't cause me too much trouble, but I do have to say beyond a few VERY small things, the G37 has been flawless for the 40,000 miles I've put on it, even when I've neglected it.

Interior Build - Right now my 335 feels a bit overwhelming. So many buttons, what do they all do? So many custom options/configurations. Will I every get it exactly how I want it. The manual doesn't help straighten out my questions much either. The build quality seems very nice and more solid than the G37 but I wouldn't say it is overwhelmingly nicer. The G37 is more about simplicity. You hop in the car and instantly know how everything operates (although the lack of "toys" leads to boredom quickly). The BMW, I still don't know how to use the turn signal properly. LOL. However, every Nissan/Infiniti I've owned has ultimately rattled like crazy within 2 years.

Paint and build Quality - Nissan paint flat out sucks. My BMW paint looks factory fresh at the same age. Everything on the 335 feels heavier and more solid in a good way. The doors close with authority, the fenders don't flex, the alignment of body components are precise, the headlights are gorgeous. Just little things that Japanese cars tend to look over.

To each their own. This is my first German car I've owned, I've had an FX35, G37, 350z, 2 Maximas. They all were great cars and besides 1 transmission in the maxima (which was fixed under warranty even though the car was out of warranty), they all functioned close to flawlessly.

I will say that I won't miss the G once it's gone. Not that it was a bad car, it just doesn't have a whole ton of personality like some of the other cars had.

Hope this doesn't fuel the fire, just adding my perspective since I have them both.

[07_335i_AW]

^^ Great review..

[madeinhongkong]

G37 just a Nissan IMO. Good bang for buck but no comparison to the bimma. It's a Asian bimma.

[dtc100]

Thanks for the detailed review. Although from the price standpoint a G37 should be compared to 328i. No doubt the G37 has more power than the 328i, but when I test drove the G37 it had too much road noise, I had to really step on it to get the max power but by then it was not as smooth anymore.

All said I think they did well with the G37, a formidable challenger.

While the controls in the G37 were nicely laid out, I did not find 328i's controls cumbersome, in fact I liked the simplicity of the 328i's controls, if you think it is too much, should have tried one of those GM or Ford sports sedans

But I agree BMW's controls are not very user friendly, the nav for example lacks a lot of good features and is hard to operate.