I thought Infiniti's direction with the original G35 sedan was spot on. I was then an almost-owner of the first gen G35 coupe but build quality issues and a lacking interior kept me form actually buying one.

I held out hope for the g37 and was let down by the sedan's design direction (no more vertical headlights, to curvy/melted) but thrilled with the interior and quality updates. I was a bit more enamored with the g37 coupe concept but something from concept to production just fell flat. While it has gotten accolades for performance (kudos!) the design puts it in my mental bucket previously reserved for the Lexus SC430: chick car.

Now that Infiniti has taken the G37 and FX design language full-on, I do not at all like what it's producing. Both this, the new M, FX, and EX are just - to my eye - ugh.

Heck, I actually still prefer the Y34 Gloria based M to the new M, just like the G35 to this.

Wish they would have stayed on track, but to me they are way off in JDM swoopy land.

@paul34: "LJ, you need to be fair. Obama has plenty of blame here, to be sure, but Bush also did this. It's safe to say McCain would have done the same thing. They're all rotten... throw them all out."

[truth in advertising, I'm a Bush fan and a Obama skeptic but...]

That's just Not True. Bush granted bridge loans that stretched into the next administration after consulting and getting agreement from The Office of the President Elect (errr, Obama's transition team) with the statement that if they weren't paid back, they'd go to bankruptcy as is.

When push came to shove, Obama gave them another set of loans with looser payback constraints and, when that didn't work - well, the Administration/Congress/AG created new bankruptcy law out of thin air. Unprecendented in bk history: the bondholders got shafted. Lo and behold, the magic wand of Obama made whole the UAW by magically changing the agreements they had strangled GM and Chrysler with into -cha!ching- an equity stake!

Sorry, but Bush wouldn't have done that (or why would he have provided bridge loans instead of just doing it upfront?) and I doubt McCain would have either.

That said - what compy386 originially said is now true: no player in their right mind would buy bonds from GM or Chrysler because The Bam's rape of previous investors to payoff the UAW is about the same plundering as what happens in third world countries.

The good news for GM and Chrysler is that they now have the endless deep pockets of the taxpayer to forever prop them up. It's the best credit market in the world! No ramifications, lax oversight, tons of cash sloshing around,and no reprecussions for fraud/theft/embezzlement. Think I'm overstating it? Please see Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.

Exactly, for example:

"Another chief concern is GM and Chrysler's inability to access the credit markets for the foreseeable future."

What are they talking about? They have the unlimited, bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars via the [cough] reluctant partner [cough] Obama administration. That _is_ their credit market now. Since they unconstitutionally screwed the bond holders, who in the private sector would _ever_ buy their paper?

Does anyone think that since the fed didn't let them fail not once but twice in the past 12 months that they are ever going to let them fail now that they're on the public dole? What politician will ever be brave enough to pull the financial plug on something they now have a vested interest no matter _how_ bad it ever gets (see Fannie/Freddy (via CRA), Medicare, Welfare, Public Education, etc.) It could turn out to be a veritable feeding frenzy of waste, fraud, and abuse and it'll still keep chugging along - see "The Stimulus" to see how this works.

For better or worse, the Frankenstein monsters that the Obama admin created are now with us for life and beyond, like any other Fed you-the-people-need-to-eat-this-it's-good-for-you program.

(ps '06 Cadillac CTS-V owner and GM lover, FTW! But sick of them and any other hand-out taker who doesn't swallow their own self-manufactured (+UAW) poison like a man and bk/restructure like the rest of us).

I saw my first one on the road the other day too. Just for the record, I thought it odd for a Porsche (though recognizable as one) but nowhere near as jarring as I expected it to be. In fact, to some extent, I thought it was well done - just not quite my thing.

That said, can't wait to see a Rapide.

Not to harp on it, but in summarizing I can't believe you missed the CTS/CTS-V:

2010 Cadillac CTS / CTS-V - 10Best Cars: Maybe the best American car ever made.

Exactly.

@ Polly Prissy Pants: "So how do you declare bankruptcy, borrow money to keep going, lose $1.2 billion a quarter and start paying back your loan? ... Something about this doesn't add up."

Not only that, but the Fed just subsidized the biggest sales month of the year with the Cash-4-Clunkerz! debacle. Can you imagine what the numbers would really look like if GM had been responsible for plunking down ~3-4k per deal of their own (err, borrowed) cash instead of we - the taxpayers - having done it?

Oh, I forgot, we're in HopeNChangeNBaitNSwitch fantasyland.

...and even if I did (err, could) I would expect someone to take the plastic protective wrap off the shoulders.

oh, wait.

Speaking as an "Amurrrican" [is that a sic or a slur?] and an avid bicyclist who lives in the state of Florida, the weather here makes it impractical to use bicycles as transportation for anything other than recreation for 9-10 months out of the year. Our high temperatures and high humidity make scurrying from air-conditioned building-to-vehicle-to-building the norm. Even walking a block most of the time in business clothes would result in a sweaty mess.

Granted, I (unfortunately) perspire more than the average person, and there are some on the other side of the spectrum (lucky sobs!) who don't at all, but I'm representative of the vast majority.

For those of you outside the US, most of our South is in a similar situation. I'd also seat-of-the-pants-guess that, generally speaking, about 25-40% of the country is in a similar situation 60-80% of the year.

Now if you're complaining about those who don't bicycle in more temperate areas, I see your point - but that's not the whole country.

@AZZO45b: "No its your ill rational HATE of anything Obama."

Hmmm, my point was intended to reflect the slant of the _press_, and didn't have anything to do with Obama.

I suspect your explosive reaction incorporates far more "HATE" than my original point. Please re-read and then check your temperature again.

Beautiful.

It's so refreshing to see real, honest to goodness individual craftsmanship. What this artist is doing is the sort of stuff that just makes me grin.

Bravo!