If you think we’ve got a man crush on the BMW 3-series, walk into an Infiniti showroom sometime. Nissan’s upmarket brand is practically stalking the 3. Nearly half of Infiniti’s floor space is given over to Far East facsimiles of the BMW 3-series family: There’s the G37 sedan, the G37 coupe, an EX35 with the X3 on radar lock, and now this G37 hardtop convertible. All Infiniti needs now is a despised former chief designer.
Like the 3-series cabriolet, the new two-door G’s top stacks itself into three sections and disappears behind the rear seats (albeit in 30 seconds versus the BMW’s 23). Also like the convertible 3, this car weighs two tons. Our scales measured it at 4136 pounds, which is 454 more than a manual coupe and nearly 800 pounds more than the Nissan Z on which both are based.
That extra weight is in the roof’s armature and motors, as well as the gussets and braces that backfill some of the torsional stiffness sacrificed to open-air motoring. Other changes from the G37 coupe include an exhaust system that robs the car of five horsepower and a rear suspension whose top mounting points were moved to accommodate the folding roof.
In addition to a lower price, what the G has always offered in response to the 3-series is a certain lightness of control feel and freneticism of powerplant. But the G37’s extra weight dulls the eagerness that defines the other Gs. Kick down the 3.7-liter V-6, and the car seems to think hard for an instant before committing its considerable heft forward. Also, the noticeable body flex over broken pavement leaves the impression that the G37 could actually use a few more braces. Infiniti must have decided that enough added weight was enough, lest drivers think that the car was carrying a rhino in its trunk.
Keep Reading: 2009 Infiniti G37 Convertible - Short Take Road Test
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