I'm looking at an 03 G35 coupe, 6 speed. I know there were worries about oil consumption early on and window regulators are suspect, but is there anything else to look for on a high mile (86k) G?
Also, did they all have LSD? Will a carseat fit in the back?
A backwards facing car seat probably won't fit. You should be OK with forward facing car seat.
'03s are OK on oil consumption but bad on manual transmissions and front end alignments I believe that the manual trans cars all came with LSDs along with the Brembos. The window regulators are OK but the window motors suck. You can get lifetime warranty parts from autozone to replace them. There's a bunch of writeups on fixing them.
Are you planning to use it for anything but street driving?
Eh, I might autocross every now and then and the odd HPDE, but nothing serious. Having a kid kind of kills the budget for that sort of thing.
G35s are SWEET. My dad had an '04 for a few years before buying a truck to replace it 
It unfortunately had the manu-matic which would actually shift up okay, but couldn't downshift to save its life. Also no Brembo's, but it did have a LSD. Kinda heavy, but it stuck like glue.
I put 100K and 25-30 track days on an '04 automatic - loved it. As mentioned above, the early 6 speeds had some problems (synchro's I think), but they were covered under warranty and should be addressed by now. Yes I lost a window motor too. Other potential issues are:
Front LCA bushings may knock - these cars have a 2 piece LCA setup with the "torque arm" attached to the unibody through a bushing that can get noisy with age/abuse.
I lost an AC compressor.
seat control placement is not optimal for some people. Controls are on the top of the seat base by your thigh and this really irritates some (large) folks.
I got 21 mpg in mixed driving, a little lower than some competitors.
That's it for the negatives, positives are:
Great Motor and less weight on the 03-05's, they put on 150 lbs and lost the midrange pull with the new heads in '06.
Very good handling that masks the actual weight of the car. It drives lighter than it is.
Nice, well bolstered seats.
I think it's a great car and recommend it. I also recommend a set of adjustable sway bars (Hotchkis) and/or matching the tire sizes all around.
If you're not tracking it then its good to go. For track use, you need to upgrade cars without Brembos. The brakes ar ejust too small. Other than burning through brakes, my late build '04 (it has the suspension and transmissions improvements) has been dead reliable through 40+ tracks events and 50k miles.
The G35 is a VERY nice car. Try and old out for a car that was built in '04 or later so you get the improved transmission.
BTW, since I forgot to mention it, the 300 HP 3.5L engines are the ones with the oil consumptino issues.
The car I'm looking at supposedly has new-ish bilstiens and upgraded swaybars. It also has the brembos.
As for the transmission, I'd imagine the later transmission is a bolt in affair, no? If it does go bad I'm sure these cars get wrecked on a regular basis, a replacement unit shouldn't be hard to find. However, at 80+k miles if there were going to be trans issues I'd imagine they'd be taken care of by now.
Well, the G was sold and rock-chipped all to hell. However, I did get to try out an E36 M3. It was fun but I wasn't really all that comfortable in it. Not a place I'd like to spend a lot of time, and I definitely wouldn't fit in it with a helmet on.
Count your blessings, the G35 is extremely expensive to maintain. New pads and rotors are very pricey, and the clutches tend to go out very early, as well. Tires are also not cheap...
DJ
I had an '06 sedan with the manual and LSD. Mine didn't use oil, and I think that problem is overstated a bit, as are many car issues--especially on the intarweb. Loved it, had to sell it, miss it bad. I found the gearing to be pretty short, and I think I would miss the extra revs of the '05-up engine. Beautiful driving cars, and definitely don't feel like 3600 lbs. That said, I never autocrossed/tracked mine. Loved it in the mountains though!
dj06482 wrote:Count your blessings, the G35 is extremely expensive to maintain. New pads and rotors are very pricey, and the clutches tend to go out very early, as well. Tires are also not cheap...
DJ
Expensive compared to what? I haven't heard of any clutch issues (except for people burning them up learning to drive stick). Tires are the same price as anything else that width/wheel size. Pads and rotors are expensive but unless you track it all the time, you don't burn through them.
Dashpot wrote:I put 100K and 25-30 track days on an '04 automatic - loved it.
Tracking an automatic car would be pretty cool. When I passed guys I could tip my latte to them in thanks. I could also put my hand on the instructor's leg so he/she would feel a kinship to me as we flew through the turns. Another added benefit is that my left leg would no longer be one inch larger around therefore tightening my profile during swimsuit modelling shoots.
I may have to shop Craigs for such a beast.
