I am here at a local Infiniti dealer for the first scheduled maintenance servicing on my Infiniti G35. It’s a simple oil change, supposedly taking 60 to 90 minutes.

I’d like to reflect on my Infiniti G35 after 2.5 months of ownership. Might as well, since today I just completed two ownership surveys from independent parties. (J.D. Powers even included a $1 bill in the survey forms!)

Aside: Why didn’t I get any such surveys when I bought my two Hondas? Do marketing firms only care about luxury car owners?

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As I was flipping through the latest issue (August 2008) of Road & Track, I couldn’t help but to notice all the mention of power and speed throughout the pages. While I understand car magazines naturally lean towards performance car coverages, it is in stark contrast to today’s reality. I for one restrain from even forcefully tapping (and not stepping) on my G35’s gas pedal for fear of upsetting the mileage gods.

There is an article in this issue related to car gas consumptions though. Titled “The Fast and The Frugal”, it’s a round up of fast cars with ‘good’ gas mileage. Unfortunately ‘good’ means 16 (Corvette Z51) to 26 mpg (Mini Cooper). By that standard, my G35 is pretty ‘frugal’ as well.

Today I filled up the gas tank in my G35 with my own money for the first time. Boy it was painful to pay for premium gas at $4.75 a gallon.

我买了，或者更正确地说是，我又“败”了。

Yes, I took the plunge and traded in my Civic Si for a 2008 Infiniti G35 6MT with Premium and Navigation packages. Date of crime? June 1, 2008.

买车后的那晚我真的有一点后悔，因为这G35怎么讲都是一件奢侈品，而我再怎么把脸打胖也充不起富人，不知这次是不是“败”得太狠了点。

I really only wanted the Premium package, but all 6MTs in Northern California come with Navigation. That’s a $2k option, but included are some useful extras like a touch screen and a rear view camera.

These links chronicle my weakness towards temptation: link 1, link 2, link 3, and link 4.

So I have been shopping for an Infiniti G35 6MT. The quotes for the 6MT itself were pretty decent, as in very close to invoice. The trade-in quote for my Civic Si, however, were not so favorable. One dealer gave me a value that’s $3000 less than Kelly Blue Book (KBB)’s trade-in price for such a car in Good condition. The other gave me a number that’s $2000 less. Apparently they looked at the auction price, which makes me wonder if the KBB’s trade-in prices are ever used. Now I will either sell the Civic Si privately or postpone the G35 purchase.

I haven’t written about gadgets for a while because I haven’t bought anything new to write about. Well, I am putting together this post not because I bought a 2008 Infiniti G35 Sport 6MT. Oh no, I write because I want one. That’s one 2008 Infiniti Sport 6MT, as in 6-speed manual transmission. Toss in the premium package as well, please.

Why not a BMW 3 series? Because it’s too expensive and small for the price. G35s are supposedly almost as good as a BMW, but I don’t think I will ever drive the G35 to its limit to know the difference. On the other hand, the monetary savings I do appreciate even sitting still at zero mph.

To be frank, I have test driven neither the G35 nor the newer BMW 3 series. Being a couch ‘driver’, all my impressions are based on Internet reviews and videos. I have excuses for not having test driven the G35 - I am not yet serious about buying the car, and the nearest Infiniti dealer is a toll bridge away.

I have, however, sat in one during last year’s San Francisco Auto Show. My wife and I both liked the interior.

There is a downside to replacing my Civic Si with a G35 6MT. The Infiniti requires premium fuel. It’s a pretty big gadget investment. And I am guessing the insurance bill would go up as well?

Some G35 links I found:

• Kelly Blue Book review, including video
• g35driver forum
• Edmunds road test and long term test blog
• Autoblog review part one and two
• Car and Driver review