The Infiniti G Convertible: A Sure Fire Way to Impress the Ladies
From: George J. Notaras   0 days 1 hours 12 minutes ago

I am not a married man, but I often wonder what my garage would look like if I were. For the better part of my life, I have envisioned my future ball and chain behind the wheel of a blue Volvo station wagon, for no other reason than my secret desire for a Volvo. My plan is to use the aforementioned Volvo to cart around rug rats and take the inevitable trips to Home Depot (a current guilty pleasure even though I live in an apartment the size of a Volvo). But I still want my first true love—a highly impractical, very fast, two-seat convertible sports car. Every past girlfriend has laughed in my face when I lay out the details of this plan.

Looking back, I don’t think they object to the Volvo. For some reason, they feel that they would be missing out on the top-down, fun-in-the-sun that is/would be my ‘Daddy Car’. The car that makes your heart skip a beat when you walk towards it in the parking lot. Volvos do a lot of things, but making your heart skip a beat is not one of them.

In my defense I have always proposed the following trade: keep your mitts off my ‘Daddy Car,’ and I relinquish all claims to closet space. And in the end, it is always the promise of unlimited space for clothing that settles the issue. Until now.

I may have found a way to reclaim that lost closet space in the most unlikely of places: Intrepid Carlos Goshn’s upscale brand, Infiniti. From it’s outset in the 1990 model year, Infiniti  has sought to build a better Jaguar or BMW rather than a luxury car like Mercedes. That mission got even more focused when they brought out the G sedan. It was the first Japanese sports sedan to really come close to BMW’s formula for success. Then they followed with a coupe. Far more attractive to look at and based on the Z platform, it had a lot of things going for it. But for me, it left a lot to be desired. I couldn’t really put my fingers on it, - maybe the headlights of the original, the interior - I don’t know exactly why but I just didn’t feel it with the G— . That was until a G Convertible turned up in my driveway.






At first glance, this car strikes you as good looking. But like a woman that gets far more attractive the more time you spend with her (without the aid of alcohol), the G Convertible becomes a stunner—even with the roof up. The transformation from coupe to convertible makes the car look simultaneously more organic and elegant. But enough of the looks department—if we are talking about an option for my future betrothed, we need to get to the substance. I am happy to report that there are a lot of the trademark Infiniti (and underlying Z car) traits—namely the V6 and the always cool, never-get-tired-of-it exhaust growl.

And I don’t know what it is lately with every manufacturer, but more gears seem to be the new black. The specific automatic equipped car I drove had seven of them. I have to say in this application, though, it works and works well, mainly because it makes the car so easy to drive. No matter what you are looking to get out of it, it is comfortable.

On one side you can leave it in regular ‘D’ and, for lack of a better term, it becomes a girl’s car. That is to say, it’ does everything to make you look good and is very easy to drive. However, put the car in ‘DS’ , or sport,  and the personality changes as if it was designed for the conundrum I face should I be married: Should your wife’s car be fun to drive or should she be driving a Volvo? In this case, it becomes fun to drive. In requisite techno-transmission and engine throttle mapping, the car changes character through higher shift points and does this very cool throttle blipping trick that really makes use of the Infiniti trademark exhaust note. At first, it really kind of surprises you. Only downside, your future wife will know when you slip out in her car.


The real fun is had getting on freeways and finding somewhat twisty roads in sport mode. These are the G Convertible’s sweet spot - or shall we say ‘man spot’. The car just comes alive in a lively kind of way but it doesn’t go over the top. It is not be confused with a Corvette Convertible as they have very different purposes.

Like the future woman in your life, there are some *small* things that can annoy you and will probably worsen over time. There is a bit of more flex in the car going over bumps - more so than some other convertibles. There is also a significant lack of the trunk space. I am a bit of a traitor in saying this because I have personally owned a lot of convertibles and none are great at this point but the Infiniti G fares worse than others. With the top down you can barely fit your future wife’s lipstick. Furthermore, there is no mechanism to store anything under the roof when it is down.

Most of that is forgiven, though, when going through the long list of gizmos. Navigation, Bluetooth, Rear view camera, Sonar radar, and my personal favorite, steerable headlights. I am at a loss as to why all cars don’t have this feature, but I’m happy to see it here. I cannot complete a list of gizmos without mentioning two of them.

First, Heated and Cooled cooled seats. A must have in all parts of the country for convertible owners—that said, these go about the heating functionality a bit differently than most. Every air-conditioned seat I have experienced blows cool air through small perforations in the leather to your backside. However, I have not seen many that use the same trick for heating. Most use a heating element of sorts like a heating pad. In other words, this Infiniti will blow hot air up your arse!

Second, the speakers in the headrests. In theory they make a lot of sense for adding depth to your tunes as you roll down the highway. And, in some cases, they did work quite well - more so with the top up. The general vote was that you really could not tell the difference. I will say they do make the seats look very cool.

While the G Convertible has a lot of cool features, the real strength of this car is in its looks. And in that department it gets a lot of attention.

In my time with it, I thought hitchhiking was a new craze I got so many thumbs up. My favorite comment was from a teenager with his pants hanging halfway down his rear. His intelligent quote was “Yo man, that sh*t iz dope, I dond know dey made that in a convertible”. I assumed it was a compliment and thanked him on behalf of Infiniti.

So yes, I feel the G Convertible is a bit of a girl’s car, but not in that VW Bug Convertible kind of way. There is substantial beauty in the design that really sets it apart from other hard top convertibles. More importantly, it keeps about 90% of that fantastic G Coupe DNA intact. What it gives away to flex and trunk space are easily made up by the fact that you can use the G Convertible as a bargaining chip in the negotiations with the future wife in your life. After a short drive in the G Convertible, she just might keep her hands off of your ‘Daddy Car’. Then again, you may want to commandeer this one as