Olympus XZ-1 Digital Camera
Reviewed by Dmiko on
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I have always wanted a camera (other than my digital SLR) that had all of the following: 28mm wide angle lens, large aperture, optical image stabilization and a sharp lens. And now I have the Olympus XZ-1. I also use the Canon Digital Rebel XS digital SLR camera.
About the Olympus XZ-1 The Olympus XZ-1 is a 10-megapixel digital camera with a 4x zoom, 28-112mm equivalent zoom range, f/1.8 maximum aperture at wide angle (f/2.5 at telephoto), optical image stabilization, a 3-inch OLED display with 610,000 pixels, 720p HD video mode and an accessory shoe. The minimum aperture is f/8 at wither wide angle or telephoto.
The camera is powered by a rechargeable Li-Ion battery and stores pictures and videos on SD/SDHC memory cards. It has full manual control, aperture and shutter priority mode, art filters and a built-in Neutral Density filter (ND). It also has face detection and ISO range of 100-6,400.
Getting Started The camera arrived with a small printed quick start guide, but the full manual is on the included CD, which I have not opened yet. The battery is charged in the camera either through the USB cable from the computer or though the same cable through the AC adapter with folding prongs.
The charging can take up to 3 hours, but upon arrival took less than 2. I inserted the 4-GB Toshiba SDHC card I had, attached the straps to the lens cap and the camera itself and tried out the case I bought separately. Then I was ready to see the camera in action.
The camera asked me for the current date and time, location and the language I would like to use for the menus. After taking a few pictures indoors, I realized that the f/1.8 lens and optical image stabilization allowed me to take reasonable pictures indoors with no flash. I also realized that he “Program” mode had face detection disabled by default for some reason, but enabling it in that more was easy.
Ease of Use
While the camera is very well built and has solidly-feeling controls, it is moderately sized and not light. To a point that you would only be able to put it in a pocket if it is a large pocket that you don’t mind bulging out. Which rules out most pockets. But at least the camera looks and feels substantial.
It also doesn’t have a well-defined grip, which makes holding it slightly awkward. But, this aside, the controls are well laid out and the 3-inch screen is not only large, but has high resolution, is bright and easily viewed from any angle. In fact, it is too contrasty and makes pictures appear more colorful and contrasty than what you see when you view them on the computer.
The top deck has a rotating mode selector with Auto, Program, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Art effects, Scene modes, etc. The large screen has enough real estate to show you all shooting parameters, settings, live histogram, etc. and have enough space for framing your subject.
Settings are changed by rotating the ring around the lens, rotating the small ring around the control buttons on the back panel or pushing the said buttons. Sometimes it is not clear which does what. Also, using the ring around the lens is counter-intuitive in two ways.
First, you would expect that ring to be used for either zooming or focusing, but you can’t ever use it for either. Even in manual focus mode, you have to use buttons to adjust focus. Why?
Second, when you try to adjust the setting using that ring (e.g. ISO), the setting is actually adjusted in the opposite direction of what I expected. But you can get used to this, I suppose.
There is no viewfinder (although you can buy and attach an electronic viewfinder (EVF). And the lens cap has to be removed and recapped manually. That is probably due to the size of the lens, and I accept that.
The LCD is large, has high resolution and is bright, but it becomes barely visible in bright light.
Performance The camera powers up fast, in less than 2 seconds. Same applies to the shutdown. I could take pictures with no flash about once a second. And the battery lasted over 200 shots so far and is not discharged yet.
Optics Not only is the lens bright, allowing you to shoot in low light with relatively low noise; it is also very sharp. Unlike most cameras that exhibit blur in corners of the frame, this one has is sharp corner to corner at wide angle at all apertures and is only slightly blurry in corners at full telephoto and its largest aperture of f/2.5.
In JPEG mode, the barrel distortion at wide angle is very mild and pincushion is low at telephoto. In RAW mode, there is more barrel distortion at wide angle. There is some purple fringing at both wide angle and telephoto in the corners in the areas of high contrast.
As most zooms, this lens behaves best in the middle of the zoom and aperture range, but even at very wide angle and f/1.8 it was sharp and therefore detailed. One issue with such a big lens though is flare. And unlike some mega-zoom models from Panasonic, there is no lens hood included. Plus you have to buy an adapter to use filters, although I found one for only $7.
Formats, Settings and Modes You get a choice of several resolutions and 2 compression levels for each (Fine or Standard). You also get a choice of saturations, with Natural being default. Natural is not something I expected Natural to be. From using Fuji cameras, I am used to Natural being soft, muted colors. In the case of this Olympus though, Natural means pleasing to the eye with saturated colors, enhanced blues and reds. But there are other modes for muted colors, vivid colors and even monochrome.
There are also art filters, including the one that looks like black and white grainy film and another for soft focus.
There is an Auto Gradation setting that helps preserve shadow detail in harsh light. It works very well.
Flash The flash is extended when you slight the corresponding switch. The flash is slightly uneven at the wide angle and slightly dim at telephoto as well as in most shots indoors where I used automatic settings. But you can adjust the flash output to compensate. Plus it is useful to have a slightly dim flash if you want to combine available light with the flash. The flash recycles in 4 seconds.
Sensitivity There is strong detail and low noise at ISO 100. Some chroma noise visible at ISO 200 in very low light, but not in moderate to bright light. ISO 400-800 result in more noise and less detail. Fortunately, with wide available apertures and sensor-shift optical image stabilization, there is normally little need to venture into higher ISO range.
Focusing The camera has automatic focusing as well as manual focusing. The automatic focusing is aided by face detection and by AF-assist light in low light. It has little trouble focusing in low light.
Printing With 10 Megapixels of resolution and relatively low noise, you can print up to 13x19 at ISO levels up to ISO 400 with good results. 4x6 prints are okay up to ISO 1,600. I wouldn’t go higher than that, but you can if you absolutely have to.
USB Interface The USB 2.0 interface on the camera is very fast. I figured it is close to 8 MB/sec. I prefer to use the card reader though because it does not discharge the camera’s battery and doesn’t make you plug any cables into the camera.
Pros: Excellent lens, sensor, large LCD, great build quality, looks and performance, value.
Cons: Not compact, strange control choices, filter adapter sold separately.
Bottom Line I am happy with the Olympus XZ-1 and plan to use it a lot. Although it is not pocket-able, it is still more compact than an SLR and produces pictures that are of better quality than the compact models. Plus it has all the flexibility I need, including full manual control, ND filter and RAW mode.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5.
A while ago, I have had this drive for more than three years. First week was spent trying to make it work. I realize that this is probably not the Acer problem, but the problem of all ATAPI CD-R/RW drives.
Installation
The drive uses E-IDE/ATAPI interface. Obviously, you have to have an older system to install this drive. Even then, setup was not straightforward. I reinstalled Windows, tweaked registry, reloaded drivers. Nothing helped until I went to BIOS and changed PCI Bus Latency. Then it started working.
Also I had a problem with DirectCD software that came with the drive. It crashed computer at start until I downloaded the patch from the Internet. I removed DirectCD software later, because it was too slow.
If you get CD-R drive, make sure to get rid of "power saving features", I trashed a couple of CDs when my computer decided to "sleep", also while recording, do not do anything else. Other than that, this drive is good - I bought it after it won some compario test in the PC Magazine.
The drive supports Disk-At-Once but unfortunately it doesn't support "overburning" - the ability to record more than 650 Mb of data or 74 minutes of audio on a standard 650Mb/74 min disk. I have yet to try it with 700Mb disks (update: it works with them, you can record 700 Mb of data or 80 minutes of music).
Media
The drive supports almost every type of media I tried (Acer CD-R, Acer CD-RW, Sony, Maxell, Imation, Mitsui) except Hi-Val (it rejected right away).
Also keep in mind that it is more reliable to use lower speed - in this case the laser's power is reduced comparing to a higher speed operation, which minimizes overheating and provides better results (reliability wise).
Also the lower speed requires less resources and minimizes the possibility of "buffer underrun", which happens when the stream of data is interrupted and disk goes to the trashcan.
FYI: Recording at 1x requires 150 Kb/s of data (full disk will be recorded in just over 74 minutes), at 2x - 300 Kb/s (about 40 minutes).
There are faster drives nowadays (this one supports max writing speed of 2x and reads at 6x), but if you don't burn a lot of CDs - this drive is a good value.
About 13 years ago, I bought this Sharp DV-600U for what was a good deal at the time - I managed to buy it for $135 on the web.
About the Player
It was small and looked nice, picture and sound quality were very good. It has Coax digital out (RCA x 1), optical digital out, S-Video output, video out (RCA x 1), component out (RCA x 3), stereo headphone out with volume control, Virtual Dolby Surround (Q-Surround) Decoder, Dolby Digital (AC-3) and DTS Ready (Digital bit stream out).
Features include Direct Chapter Skip, Multiangle, Multilingual (8-language support), Multistory, Interactive Story and Parental Control.
It can play DVD-Video, CD-Audio, CD-Video. But it doesn't play CD-R discs. I have quite a collection of music on CD-R discs, and all of them refused to play in DV-600U.
So far so good. However sometimes it seemed that the unit would overheat, so it started to skip and/or freeze. If I stoped it and tried to play the same disc again after a while, it worked OK - and the disk itself felt a little too warm. Also on some occasions it refused to play the disk at all, it ejected it immediately. But this could happen with any player.
Remote Control
The remote control has a bad key layout - there are 2 separate pairs of keys for up/down and left/right. And left and right buttons are located one under another one. The person who designed it had definite problems with common sense.
Additionally, if you press "Stop", you have to press the "Resume" button to resume the movie, if you press "Play", the player will start to play the disc from the beginning and there is no way to get to the point you interrupted the movie, other than skipping to that chapter and pressing "FF". It was quite annoying.
The player couldn't play CD-R discs (neither did it support MP3), however it provided great sound quality when playing music CDs (especially when you connected high quality headphones to its front headphone jack, a rarity nowadays).
Bottom Line
Even in its hayday this player could not be recommended - it was slow, overheated and is very outdated now. There are great inexpensive DVD players today that are much better choices. But if you simply need a CD player with a headphone jack, you can use it. My web site
I have bought the Lowepro D-Res 30 AW for my Panasonic FZ digital camera. This bag is suitable for a larger digital camera (e.g. FZ1, FZ2 or FZ3) or a compact digital camera and its accessories.
The camera bag features soft interior lining and an adjustable divider in the main compartment that can be placed anywhere or removed completely. If you have a compact camera, you can keep the divider close to the middle of the compartment and keep the camera in one part of the main compartment while keeping some of your accessories in the other.
In addition, the bag has a small sub-compartment in the main compartment for battery (or AA batteries) as well as two mesh pockets for memory cards on the outside of the main compartment. All compartment (including mesh pockets) are covered by the bag's zippered flap.
The bag comes with a shoulder belt and has an attachment tab that cam be fastened to a belt or any SlipLock-based product.
Usage
Since my camera is relatively large and I keep the accessory ring and the UV filter attached, I moved the divider all the way to the wall of the interior compartment. This way, the camera fits snugly.
The interior is soft and does not scratch the LCD. The exterior and so-called All Weather Cover seem to provide good protection from elements. I have taken the camera in this bag to snowy mountains and there was more than enough protection from melting snow.
I don't carry extra batteries or memory cards, but one of the two mesh pockets hold the case for my 55mm UV filter, just in case I decide to remove it. Unfortunately, this bag is not large enough for me to store the lens hood. But it is not a problem and is only the case since the camera itself is so large.
The flat back side of the bag makes it convenient to carry using the supplied shoulder belt. It is also quite compact and fits in my backpack easily. The shell has enough rigidity to protect the camera in case of moderate impacts.
The zipper on the flap works well ans is smooth (unlike the one on my backpack, which requires a lot of force and gets stuck once in a while).
Conclusion
This case will definitely not do if you have a digital SLR and accessories, neither will it fit a larger camera like Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15 or FZ20. But for a compact digital camera or something moderately sized like Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1, FZ2 or FZ3, it is a good choice. My web site
There are two distinct opinions on airbags. Some people say that airbags save lives and improve safety of cars. Others think that airbags inflate so violently that they may kill you.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE CRASH Let’s take a look at a 30-MPH frontal crash into a solid barrier, which is equivalent to a frontal 30-MPH collision with a car of the same weight. Experts say that it is roughly equivalent to a fall from the three-story high building.
The vehicle comes from 30 MPH to a complete stop in 65-90 milliseconds (0.065-0.09 s.) which is faster than a blink of an eye (100 milliseconds). GM estimates say that the load from your body at the steering column reaches 2000-2300 pounds. So what would you rather hit, the sold surface or the airbag?
About 50 to 60 milliseconds after the impact, you are being moved forward 5-6 inches in your seatbelt and your face and chest are being buried in the inflating airbag. I wouldn’t want my face to be “buried” in the dashboard or the steering column instead, do you?
”OLD” AIRBAGS Early designs of airbags had to conform to the government standards that required them to protect unbelted occupants. Since unbelted occupants move forward during the crash much faster than the ones who wear a seatbelt, these early airbags had to inflate faster, with a higher force. The speed at which they inflate was about 100-200 MPH.
These airbags had to be powerful and large to pass the standard test – protect 175-pound driver in a frontal 30-MPH crash into the solid barrier.
By 1995, the government was starting to see the alarming problem. During low-speed accidents (sometimes even 10 MPH) unbelted children and small adults, passengers were being hurt and sometimes killed by the force of inflating airbag. During severe braking that preceded crashes, unbelted passengers were moved forward, towards the airbag cover, so when the airbag inflated, they were too close and were hurt by the inflating airbag.
According to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), there was one factor common to all who died as a result of a n airbag deployment – they were too close when the airbag inflated, and many of them didn’t wear a seatbelt.
NEW AIRBAGS Today experts agree that the airbag is not the primary safety measure, it should be used in conjunction with a seatbelt. That’s why airbags are called SRS – Supplemental Restraint System.
The new airbags do not have to meet the original standard of protection unbelted occupants. Carmakers install depowered airbags, that inflate with less force. Some airbags have two stages of deployment – depending on the force of impact; they deploy either at full power or in “depowered” mode. Today, new-generation airbag systems evaluate passenger weight, position, seatbelt usage, and force of impact and choose the deployment scenario best suited for the situation. Example: airbags in my 2004 Infiniti G35.
STATISTICS Statistics show that as of October 1995, 3.8 million driver airbags and 554,000 passenger airbags have been deployed. 84 children and 62 adults have been killed by the airbags (total 152). However, it is estimated, that 4758 people have been saved by airbags. If you play the odds, airbags are much better bet.
Additionally, some cases of injury and death caused by airbags are related to improper seatbelt and child seat use.
BOTTOM LINE • Airbags should be used in conjunction with seatbelts, without them the airbag may injure or kill you. • In addition, it is recommended to sit as far from the airbag cover as possible (minimum ten inches from the airbag cover to your breastbone). • If you have side impact airbags, sit upright, do not lean against the door. • Children under 12 should ride in the rear seat, if possible. • Children in rear-faced seats should never be placed in the front passenger seat in the passenger –airbag equipped vehicle. • If you must place a child in the front seat of a pickup truck, don’t forget to turn the passenger airbag off, if the car has a “airbag-off” switch.
Have a safe trip!
P.S. Majority of information, numbers and statistics are taken from the car magazines and GM.
I wanted to get the Infiniti G35 Sedan (Luxury Leather) to replace my Mitsubishi Galant for a while, but was waiting for the 2004 model. You see, I try not to buy the new model cars the first year they are released.
The wait paid off in several areas. Firstly, the 2004 model (I am talking about the Luxury Leather Auto) has heated seats and outside mirrors and tire pressure monitoring as standard equipment (unlike the 2003 model) and also features an updated 6-disc CD changer with faster operation. Also, the car has a power passenger seat now as standard equipment.
Secondly, the price went up only $450. And I was able to get the car for only $500 over invoice price, which would be impossible a year earlier. I got my car in September, at which time the CarsDirect.com listed the 2003 model at the same price I got my 2004 model for.
Buying
I have to mention that getting the car without sunroof, premium package, Bose sound system and the like is very difficult. I was barely able to locate one G35 with no sunroof and other options in Southern California using Infiniti’s web site when I was ready to buy. Even that car had a trunk mat and mud guards.
I am not a big fan of sunroofs. I don't like them, don't feel like paying $900 for one and like extra headroom space the lack of sunroof entails. And I didn't want the Bose sound system either, because it has artificially high levels of upper bass and mid-treble (and it lacks lower bass and upper treble), producing unnatural sound for another $900 or so.
I wouldn't mind paying for navigation system, but to get it, you have to get the Premium Package for $2200 (including, useless for me, reclining rear seats) and sunroof.
More Info
The G35 Sedan is a rear-wheel drive car with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, which produces 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque (the coupe produces 280 hp and looks better, but it is smaller and more expensive). The power in the model I got (Auto) is routed through the 5-speed automatic transmission to the rear wheels.
The car features 52/48 weight distribution front to rear and has aluminum suspension components. The standard-issue G35 has zero-lift front aerodynamics and feels very stable at high speeds. It also features LED stoplights, which illuminate faster and last longer than conventional lights.
The front features HID xenon headlights (low beam) and I was a little surprised to find that the windshield washer jets are not located on the hood and provide clean hood look.
The brakes have electronic force distribution, ABS, vehicle dynamic control and brake assist. The G35 has front, side and head-curtain airbags as well as active head restraints (they move forward in rear-end collisions preventing whiplash).
You can get more information elsewhere, but I just have to say that I believe I got a great bargain: the interior space of a BMW 530 with more power for the price of the stripped BMW 325. Of course, there are other variables involved, even aside from the BMW’s legendary handling and BMW free maintenance. But I am happy with the deal I got.
Impressions
This review was last updated 09/2014. I currently have 74,000 miles on the car and can see the good, the bad and the ugly of it.
Not Good
First, the standard-issue audio system should have been better (and the Bose is even worse). Both the Bose-equipped cars and non-Bose cars use the same head unit made by Clarion. I am unsure if it is to blame or the antenna, but the reception could have been better. It is worse than my Galant's (even though both use the in-rear-window antenna), and definitely worse than the mast antenna on Volvo S40.
The speakers lacked depth and imaging when the car was new, but the situation improved somewhat with the break-in. They are still no match for the Athena speakers I have at home, and even speakers in the Volvo S40 (Philips).
The standard audio system has 4 6.5-inch woofers in doors and 2 tweeters in front doors. The Bose system adds and amplifier and a couple of 6x9 speakers on the rear parcel shelf. The Bose system is a complete waste of money as it sounds even worse than the standard system.
Both Bose and non-Bose systems have over-emphasized upper bass and treble and severely lack midrange and lower bass. Contrary to popular belief and the common sense, you have to adjust bass to about -3 dB and treble to about -4/-5 dB for sound to get semi-decent. Only then the midrange can be heard. Still, the bass is lacking and the bass to midrange area is muffled.
The Bose system (I drove Bose-equipped G35s as loaners) boosts upper bass, which makes the sound unnatural. The speakers on the rear shelf are added and they are called "super woofers" - they boost upper bass and lower midrange but do not produce any "real" bass. As is the lower bass, the upper midrange is also lacking. The Bose system is, scientifically speaking, pure crap and a waste of money. Unless you like lots of overboosted upper bass.
Next, the dashboard and the Infiniti signature analog clock reflect into my eyes through the windshield at night, even with the backlight dialed way down. It is not a terrible flaw, but it is just ridiculous how they missed it.
When the sun is behind me, it makes the compass and climate control display as well as the stereo display all but invisible. You can only see the electrodes on the displays, but not digits and signs.
Also, although I have no problem with the way the power seat controls work (4 separate rocker switches), their location is not smart (inboard seat cushions). I would fear using front cup holders for the fear of spilling drinks on them and rendering them unusable.
And did I mention that I hate foot parking brakes? The G35 auto has one. And the car gets about 19 MPG so far. But I am willing to pay for the performance and I get about 24 MPG if I do a lot of freeway driving.
Speaker Swap
Update: I replaced the speakers in my G35 with component JBL P650c in front and JBL P652 two-way coaxial speakers in rear doors and the improvement is amazing. Even with stock head unit, the sound is just great, much better than the stock paper-cone Panasonic speakers with no low-pass filters or crossovers. And, needless to say, much better than Bose system for fraction of the price.
Interior
The car is roomy inside and I find the seat comfortable, due in part to the adjustable lumbar support. There is plenty of leg room up front and in the back seat. The wheel tilts with the instrument cluster - a feature I don't mind but don't care much about (it would be better if they made the secondary displays better visible in the sun instead).
The car has an automatic climate control, which is easy to use, but does not allow you to have full control in manual mode as far as the combination of the air distribution direction goes.
It works well in auto mode, however, aside from its propensity to engage at the maximum fan speed when you start the car on a hot day, creating hair-raising winds inside the cabin.
The display in the middle of the dash has an electronic compass, climate control display and the outside temperature gauge.
Make sure you set the proper "zone" for the compass to show the correct reading. The proper zone for Southern California is "3", whereas the car I drove was somehow set to zone "8" and the compass reading was a bit incorrect.
Below it, there is a signature Infiniti analog clock. There is a cigarette lighter and 2 power outlets (one of which is in the armrest compartment).
Some car magazines complained about the climate control buttons that are located in a way that makes them difficult to use. I have no problem using them, aside from the fact that you have to look at them while adjusting the temperature or the direction of the air.
And the audio control buttons on the steering wheel make it easy to control the CD playback or radio without even looking.
The aforementioned display for the compass and climate control lets you see the contacts/patterns for the letters/pictograms when the sun light hits the car from the rear.
I got the Graphite (black) interior with titanium accents. I like it - it is not up to VW/Audi or BMW levels of finish, but it is clean and functional. The sun visors feel a little cheap though. They have the weight and surface of a thick eraser-rubbed cardboard. But they are also functional, having sun visor extensions and illuminated vanity mirrors.
The steering wheel is convenient and has buttons for cruise control as well as for audio control functions. The back seat does not fold, but has a pass-through with an arm rest for the back passengers, which doubles as the cup holders and a first aid compartment.
The pedals are well-spaced. The interior has several storage compartments: center armrest compartment, 2 little glove boxes (one taken by DVD-based navigation system if so equipped), the compartment in the center top of the dash (taken by the LCD screen for navigation system if so equipped).
The sunglass storage compartment on the headliner is too small to hold my sunglasses (I tried two different styles), but will work fine for more compact sunglass styles.
Exterior
The standard 17-inch aluminum wheels come with an anti-theft bolts and are fitted with 215mm V-rated Bridgestone Turanza EL42 tires (the sports package equipped cars get W-rated tires of the same size).
I already mentioned the windshield washers located on the wiper arms. The outside power heated mirrors can be folded.
I must admit that I didn't really like the car's exterior when it was released, but now I like it a lot, even the rear styling.
Trunk
The trunk is roomy and has a cargo net. The opening is quite large and the trunk lid has gas-charged struts. The trunk can be opened from the cabin or by pressing a button on the remote. The trunk lid has a handle on the inside to close the lid without having to touch the outside (possibly dirty) surface, as well as the glowing-in-the-dark release handle.
Handling
The main reason I got this car (aside from the price) is its acceleration, braking and handling.
During the test drive before I bought my car, I could accelerate at full throttle entering a 90-degree turn and the VDC (vehicle dynamic control) kept the car on course by braking individual wheels and restricting engine power.
I don't do stuff like that with my own car - brake pads and rotors are not cheap, but it is good to know that if some situation arises when I need this functionality, it will be there. I am intending to keep the VDC on, even though there is an "off" switch - the car power-oversteers with the VDC off.
In fact, 2 months after I got the car, I discovered it oversteers even with the VDC on, although briefly. I was making a very late left turn (the left-turn arrow was about to turn red) in my usual fashion - late braking and acceleration out of the turn. During the acceleration (after the "apex"), the tail started sliding wide (even with steering counter-correction) until I and VDC put it back in place - I scary moment, which indicates that the car is not as balanced as, say, BMW 3-series (I went to the performance driving class, where the 330i never exhibited this kind of behavior).
It is not as I don't expect to be able to cause oversteer if I really try. But the abruptness of thereof and difficulty to control it what makes me think twice about disengaging VDC, especially in semi-slippery conditions. I tried to power-oversteer in the rain once (when no other cars were present) and the oversteer was very abrupt. Despite counter-steering and throttle modulation, it was VDC that saved the day at the time when I was already rotated about 45 degrees. Bottom line - it is fun, but keep VDC on in the slippery conditions.
Maybe it needs wider and grippier tires, because the 215 mm all-season Turanza EL42 is no match for wider Michelin Pilot Sport (I am comparing it to more nimble, albeit smaller, BMW 330). In fact I got better tires later (see below) and the handling/braking improved dramatically, so did the noise and ride.
The car is has rear-wheel drive, which was a requirement for me. Sure, you can get the Infiniti I35 (with the same, but slightly detuned engine and 4-speed automatic) with more standard equipment and standard Bose sound system and wood trim for thousands less. But it, being a front-driver, torque-steers, is slow exiting turns while spinning its front wheels and brakes worse because of the front-biased weight distribution. Plus, its structure is not as solid as the G35's.
The G35 does feel solid. It also (in my non-sport trim) has reasonably compliant suspension. And it corners and brakes quite flat.
Brakes
Some car magazines complained about overly sensitive brake pedal. I don't find it to be overly sensitive, unlike the Porsche Cayenne I drove recently. The brakes are easy to modulate and they provide impressive stopping power.
I have heard form other owners about the brake pads and rotors lasting, in some cases, only 15K miles. Infiniti responded in November 2003 by offering free brake service (pads and rotors) for 3 years/36,000 miles. Which was good, because my brake pads (both front and rear) were replaced at 15K service having only 25% left.
The pads that were used for replacement seem to be different from the ones originally installed and lasted almost 30K. So they last almost twice longer, but the pedal became more "squishy" and the brakes were generally less "grabby" at the beginning of the pedal travel. The pedal travel is longer, it is less sensitive and inspires less confidence. In stop/go traffic, it is also a little more fatiguing than the old brake pads.
I replaced these pads with Hawk HPS Front Brake Pads HB268F.665 and Hawk HPS Rear Brake Pads HB370F.559 (review of Hawk HPS Rear Brake Pads HB370F.559 is here) (09/2008, 43K on the car). I heard they last longer, provide decent pedal feel and generate less dust. The pedal feel is somewhere in between the initial dusty, fast-wearing but grabby OEM brakes and the longer-lasting, but more "squishy" Infiniti replacements. The Hawk HPS produce much less dust and should last much longer than OEM. And the dust they produce is lighter in color and therefore less visible on the wheels.
As of 05/2013 with 27K miles on the brakes, the front pads still had 8mm and rears 8mm left. This means, they should last over 80K overall in front and more than that in the rear. This compares very favorably with the original OEM pads that lasted only 15K and their OEM replacements that needed replacement at 28K. The Hawk HPS pads don't squeak at all. The only thing I wish for is better initial bite .
At 43K, the front rotors were below spec for replacement (less than 22mm left from 24 when new). They developed a ridge on the outede edge and the front brakes were pretty squeaky at slight braking, especially in colder weather. I replaced the front rotors with OEM ones.
The rear rotors are barely worn at all with no ridge. I simply replaced the pads with Hawk HPS in the rear, even though the existing pads had some life left in them. Seems the fronts take care of most braking (which is not surprising).
Transmission
The 5-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly and does not hesitate to downshift, however its manu-matic functionality is limited (on my car). It does work well if you want to downshift, but you cannot make it upshift if you want. Floor the throttle and it will downshift anyway, even if you don't want it.
Basically, it is not even manual control of the gear itself, but the manual selection of the allowed range of the transmission operation. Slide the lever to the right while driving on the street at about 40 mph and the digit 4 illuminates on the display. It doesn't mean the car is in 4th gear, but that the transmission is allowed to shift as it pleases within 1-4 gear range.
Move the lever down and release it and the 3 illuminates. Now the transmission is limited to only 3 gears. Works well for driving in the mountains or to slow the car down driving downhill without using brakes for extended periods of time. But my Mitsubishi Galant has the same functionality sans fancy way to engage it and without bragging about it.
On the other hand, the G35's transmission works well enough in the full auto mode. Plus, the car is available with the 6-speed manual transmission. I would probably have gotten it if I haven't had to deal with crappy LA traffic.
I have driven a late 2004 G35 with Premium Package and the manual shifting worked differently there (as well as on the Infiniti FX35 I drove recently). You choose the gear, not the range of gears. The car even shifts to 1st gear once you come to a stop. Although it is better than the implementation my car has, the shifting was still slower than you can accomplish with a manual transmission and you cannot downshift or upshift twice quickly.
Maintenance
Unlike BMW, Mercedes, Volvo or Audi, which provide you with free scheduled maintenance for 3-4 years, you have to pay for your with Infiniti. BMW and Mercedes cars have flexible service system which tells you when to change the oil (on average 10,000 miles).
The G35 has 3 service schedules, with driving in ideal conditions requiring oil changes every 7,500 miles. Two other schedules - preferred (for people who are paranoid or have OCD) and severe (for all others) - require oil changes every 3,750 miles.
I am sticking with regular service schedule but going to change the oil every 3,750 miles. The manual explicitly states that Infiniti recommends mineral-based oils. I followed this recommendation up to 48K miles, even though I like synthetic Castrol and Mobil 1 oil. But now I switched to Shell Rotella T Syn 5W40.
The reason is I mostly drive in city traffic, short trips of 6 miles. Not only this kind of driving bad for the oil, the VQ35DE engine is also known as being unkind to any oil. Various used oil analysis results suggest that the oil shears pretty badly in this engine, probably due to its valvetrain design with no rollers on cams. Engines of this design usually like oils with ZDDP and this one is no exception, according to UOA results posted online.
According to them, the engine reacts very favorably to Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, Quaker State Q-Horsepower 5w30, German Castrol Syntec 0w30, Mobil 1 0w40 and Shell Rotella T Syn 5w40. I bought the latter after seeing UOA of it used in a VQ35DE engine for a year in short-distance driving for over 6,100 miles with plenty of life still left in the oil. This is in contrast to some oils that get to the end of their useful life in this engine in as little as 3,500 miles.
The maintenance costs at the dealership are pretty high. Although I payed $13 for oil changes at my dealership since I bought the car there (regular price was $40), I paid $130 for 7.5K mile service, which includes only oil change, tire rotation and a couple of inspections. And the 15K service cost $185 and only after some haggling as they wanted to charge me more than $300 for nothing more than the glorified oil change and tire rotation.
This is not counting the annual (or 15K miles, whichever comes first) in-cabin air filter replacement that dealerships normally want about $100 for. I do it myself, but it takes close to an hour and the filter was about $35. I later found that I can buy this filter for only $12 at DriveWire.com . Now I buy Fram filters with charcoal and baking soda on Amazon for $13.
My brake pads were replaced and rotors machined all around at 15K service (free) because the brake pads supposedly had only 25% left. I am trying not to think how much I will have to pay once the free brake replacement period expires. At least the new pads that Infiniti provided lasts longer than the originals (see above). The transmission service is not listed in the service booklet at all, unless you qualify for severe service or frequent mountain driving. I did the first transmission fluid replacement at 74K miles nonetheless. The old fluid was Nissan Matic-J and the new was synthetic Nissan Matic-S. Do It Yourself
I do/intend to do some maintenance items myself. Replacing the in-cabin microfilter normally costs $80-100, but you can do it yourself for about $15-25 (price of the filter particulate/activated carbon). You have to remove the lower glove box, but it is doable.
I did it myself first time after about 18 months of owning the car and the filter was quite dirty. It took me a little less than an hour as the design of the glovebox requires you to remove the entire lower section with the glove box cover as well as the side kick panel.
Some items require less maintenance than in other cars. The platinum-tipped spark plugs are supposed to last 105,000 miles. The engine uses timing chain rather than timing belt, that would need replacement every 60-100 K. So no need to replace it at all. Fuel filter also does not need replacement and there is no mention of brake fluid changes.
Unfortunately, some items are a bit more difficult than they should have been. To check the oil, you have to remove and reinsert the dipstick, which has more bends and twists than the mountain drive to my hiking location of choice.
There is no tube to re-insert it into, just a hole in the engine block with a little "guide", which is useless at best. The hole itself is all but invisible, even in the daylight and requires a use of a flashlight, as it is surrounded by the intake pipe and the black engine cover. I have never seen the worse-designed dipstick.
The air filter on most cars can be replaced without tools in about 2 minutes. On this car, you have to use tools and it will take about 30-50 minutes. You have to dsconnect the MAF (mass-airflow) sensor cable, remove the front air intake scoop and disconnect the hose that conveys the air from the airbox into the air intake. At least you don't have to do it often. And the air filter is cheap: $8-11.
The battery in this car has plugs in each cell you should remove to check the electrolyte level at least once a year and refill with distilled water as needed. I found that I needed to put quite a lot of distilled water every 8 months or so to keep the electrolyte level at the "full" mark. The battery lasted 5.5 years in the SoCal heat and died after I left the car sitting for 2.5 weeks. After returning from vacation, I couldn't start the car and the lights were dim. 5.5 years is not at all bad in the hot weather of Southern California. The OEM battery in my 2000 Mitsubishi Galant lasted 2.5 years and the one in our 2006 Honda Accord lasted only 4 years. That taught me to preemptively replace batteries, as I did in our 2007 Honda Accord after 3.5 years. I replaced The G's battery with the one from Costco for only about $70 (with 100-month prorated warranty).
Squeaks and Rattles
There were two distinct noise areas in my car. There was a squeak coming from the front ashtray area (in front of the shifter) and there was a rattle coming from the rear parcel shelf area. I took the car to my dealership several times and asked to have these taken care of. Several times they were taken care of on paper (foam pads installed in both areas, supposedly), but both were still present.
I have since taken the car to another dealership and they seemed to have fixed the astray squeak by replacing the ashtray, but couldn't reproduce the slight rattle in the back. Then I drove with my girlfriend in the back seat - she heard the rattle and was able to pinpoint the location by pressing on the rear pillar trim (C-pillar plastic trim) on the driver's side.
I told the service personnel at the dealership about this discovery and they fixed the rattle!
Even Worse
In October 2004, my windshield cracked. Entirely by itself, without any "help" and against my will. It happend overnight as the car was sitting in the parking lot. There was no extreme temperature change. The crack developed from the upper edge of the driver's side of the windshield and was about 12 inches in length when I found it in the morning. Since then, it grew about 3 inches (on a sunny day).
The service department of the dealership found no sign of impact and replaced it under warranty as a "stress crack". I sure hope this won't happen again.
Also, in the beginning of 2005 the driver-side speaker (tweeter) would stop working periodically. I never listen to music loud... Went to the dealership twice and had the tweeter replaced, but that did not help. After that, I had the stereo/head unit replaced twice.
The car had more issues in the first 18 months than my previous one (Mitsubishi Galant) had in 5 years. But then the issues stopped and the last few years were relatively trouble-free (knocking on wood).
At least the service department gives me a nice loaner car and is otherwise helpful. Due to all these problems I am became very familiar with FX35 and different 2005-2007 G35s (loaner cars).
Wheel Bearing Issues
I originally noticed the noise at about 47K miles. The noise was repetitive and sounded like rubbing/groaning at every rotation of the wheels. The car was still uner powertrain warranty then, but when I brought it to the dealership, I was told it was tire noise. At 67K the noise got unbearable and I replaced the tires but the noise didn't go away. I took it in again and this time it was diagnozed as a bad wheel bearing. Cost to replace: $777.
When I mentioned that I complained about this issue first when I still had my powertrain warranty, I was told (by both the dealer and the Infiniti Consumer Affairs) that the rear wheel bearing was not covered by the powertrain warranty. Only after I showed the warranty booklet to the service advisor and the line that specifically lists wheel bearings as covered under the powertrain warranty did he agree to call Infiniti and see if they would do anything. In the end, they picked up the tab for labor and I paid $280 for parts.
I never had to replace wheel bearings in any other cars, including a Volvo with 185K miles when sold.
Fuel
The manual recommends Premium 91-octane, but permits operation on Regular 87. I was using the Premium but switched to regular with no apparent side effects aside from an occasional nock/pinging. The nocking got me slightly worried and I switched back to Premium gas, then to midrange (Plus or whatever it is called). The fuel tank holds 20 gallons. I get between 20 and 21.5 MPG in about 50/50 city/highway driving, 22-23 MPG in 20/80 city/highway driving. And lately, in 90% freeway driving I got 24 mpg. With 74K miles on the odometer I have been getting 25-26 mpg in 100% freeway driving.
Tire Upgrade
Replacing mediocre Bridgestone Turanza EL42 tires with Yokohama YK520 reduced noise and vibration and increased grip. Both improvements are significant and very welcome. In addition, after 45 K miles, they still had some tread left (5/32"). Still, I replaced they with the newer version of the tire: Yokohama YK580 Tire and then the Michelin Primacy MXV4. The MXV4 made the ride excellent and quiet while improving MPG by about 10% with good traction. I get 26 MPG with these Michelins. Marvel Mystery Oil I used Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) in the gas of this car for several thousand miles and got stellar smog test results thereafter. But I got a timing chain rattle after about 6K miles on synthetic oil, which should have lasted me 8K or so. I now use MMO in this car only periodically. Pros: Excellent power, handling, braking, looks, price, features, interior fit, seats Cons:Windshield reflections, MPG, squeaks and rattles, poor speakers, Bose are even worse, windshield cracked Bottom Line
After 74 thousand miles and 11 years, I am still happy with my G35. It is inexpensive even comparing to the smaller and slower BMW 330, Audi A4 3.0, Mercedes C320 and Lexus IS300. It handles well and has good warranty. It proved reliable and durable. Even the small aforementioned annoyances it has (stereo, windshield reflections, etc.) would not stop me from buying it again and recommending to others.
. I also use the Canon Digital Rebel XS digital SLR camera.
