Enthralled

SPECIFICATION

Some owners don't put 30,000 miles (48,000 km) on a vehicle before parting with it forever. So enthralled is the Ward's staff with its long-term Infiniti G35, the athletic and refined new sport sedan from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., that it's covered more than 30,000 miles in just nine months with the car.

Each year, Ward's subjects one or two of the winning engines from its annual 10 Best Engines competition to a year-long evaluation. Long-term tests provide an extended look at a winning engine, a year's worth of thrashing that helps assure Best Engines judges haven't been buffaloed by a slick beauty cover and handsome output figures. If there are any performance or reliability issues, the long-term test is apt to find them. A happy circumstance is the opportunity to assess the engine in what often is an all-new vehicle, not to mention stay abreast of dealership and serviceability factors.

The G35's 3.5L DOHC V-6 is the latest and most assertive of the long line of VQ-series V-6s about which we've sung praises since the VQ was launched in the U.S. market as a 3L for the '95 model year. Nine years later, this 3.5L variant is symbolic of some serious engineering: it continues to be the benchmark for just about every other auto maker designing or contemplating a new V-6.

The 30,000 miles Ward's has accrued in nine months is testimony to our testers' delight with the 260 hp and equally stout 260 lb.-ft. (353 Nm) of torque. The 3.5L VQ is being challenged lately, most notably by rival Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s freshly redesigned 3L DOHC V-6, which at 240 hp now develops 80 hp per liter, a specific output that surpasses even the mighty 3.5L VQ's 74 hp/liter in this application (the same engine develops 82 hp/liter in the 350Z, the VQ's top specification).

But numbers never were the VQ's only story: this engine family is about supreme smoothness, outstanding throttle response and free revving, and the VQ's combination of these attributes continues to be unmatched by any rival.

“The throttle begs you to nail it — again and again,” writes associate editor Eric Mayne in the car's logbook. That's the constant refrain for the VQ: Great power and torque are enhanced by NVH properties that mean you actually don't mind the process of exploiting the engine's high output.

Meanwhile, the Ward's staff has warmed somewhat to the G35's 5-speed automatic transmission, the only gearbox available at launch, although the G now is offered with the 6-speed manual available in its G35 coupe/350Z platform-mates. Perhaps it's adapted to our usually heavy footed driving styles — or, more likely, drivers have become accustomed to its peculiarities. The car now seems to launch more directly, and full-throttle upshifts don't seem as tentative, although it's still too easy to catch the tranny napping when demanding a sudden, hard downshift after a period of extended cruising.

Overall, though, this driveline is the strongest point in a car with many dynamic virtues. The VQ always responds with more power than is absolutely necessary, and hammering for the redline, as one is wont to do in vehicles that reward that sort of behavior, is never anything but a delight. Moreover, most testers find at least decent the overall 22.7 mpg (10.4 L/100 km), and the engine has required nothing outside of routine maintenance.

In non-driveline related matters, the G35's responsive chassis is another source of satisfaction: Although some don't believe this rear-drive platform is quite the equal of BMW's benchmark 3-Series, most testers swear it's so close there's no longer a question about sheer dynamic ability, just individual preference regarding how much rear-drive “personality” is preferred. The 3-Series chassis may be slightly better balanced overall — but the G35 actually might be more entertaining (at least when the G35's oppressive traction/stability control is disengaged).

If the G35 is the subjective dynamic equal of BMW's baby, it doesn't yet make the grade when it comes to interior appointment and quality. For example, we weren't that inconvenienced when the electric switch for the G's driver seatback stopped working, but it probably burned out in the first place because the power-seat controls, mounted on the inboard portion of the seat, are perfectly situated to absorb debris and fluids from every noshing driver.

The fact is, many of the G35's interior bits have not worn particularly well — and show it. Some staffers believe this is the tradeoff for the G35's aggressive sticker: Base price is $28,950 and our mildly optioned model is just $31,395.

But it seems apparent this car, developed at the cost-cutting zenith of the pull-ourselves-up-by-the-bootstraps Nissan Revival Plan, suffered from too heavy a hand when interior materials and components were specified.

Nontheless, Ward's is looking forward to its last quarter with the spunky G35 and its scintillating VQ V-6. Judging by the fact the car's never sitting for long, we're likely to break the 40,000-mile (64,000-km) barrier.

Mini, Volvo XC90 Take '03 Honors

Both marques winning this year's North American Car of the Year and Truck of the Year honors were first-time champs — and neither vehicle, incidentally, is made in North America.

The Mini Cooper/Cooper S, a brand returned to the U.S. market this year by owner BMW AG, wins the 2003 North American Car of the Year award presented by an international group of 49 automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada at last month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

And Volvo Cars' XC90 SUV fights off three other finalists to win as the North American Truck of the Year. The '03 NACOTY/NATOTY wins cap a year of expansive critical acclaim for the Mini and the XC90.

The all-new Mini Cooper/Cooper S currently is the smallest car sold in the U.S. and is powered by a 1.6L 4-cyl. engine. The Cooper S adds a supercharger to the standard Cooper's engine to increase power and torque, and was named one of Ward's 10 Best Engines for 2003.

The Mini bested 12 other candidates for North American Car of the Year. Of that number, the Mini and Nissan's 350Z and Infiniti G35 emerged as finalists for the award.

In winning the North American Truck of the Year, Volvo beat three other finalists: the Hummer H2, the Honda Element and the Nissan Murano.

There was a total of 13 trucks eligible for the award, including the Ford Expedition, Land Rover Range Rover, Kia Sorento and Honda Pilot.

The annual NACOTY/NATOTY awards first were given in 1994. Ward's Senior Technical Editor Bill Visnic is one of the judges.