Well, here's one boy who hopes Infiniti uses more common sense with the 7-speed than they did with the 5-spd. I'm sure it's just me, but I couldn't drive the G35 smoothly. If I had to accelerate some to squirt past some slower traffic, it would kick down so hard that the engine would scream and people would look at me like I was some kind of boy racer or something. It was just entirely too hyper for me.

I drove an '08 for a day and it seemed a little better, but still too jerky-jumpy for my kind of spirited driving. I move on out, but I like to torque through my traffic moves, not scare everyone to death with overly-dramatic downshifts at unexpected times. I like more finesse.

In that vein, I am hoping the 7-speed allows more flexibility in gearing choices, and less abrupt downshifts. But Helldorado's right - that's some short-ass first gear. They need to team it up with a higher-geared rearend to tame it some, and with 320+hp, they don't need to gear it like a VW Rabbit anyway.

Especially in the M, it needs to have a sedate cruising gear. My LS460 turns 1950 rpm at 80 mph, and gets 30mpg on the road, yet it still hauls buns when needed. But my '06 M45 buzzed like a Pontiac 4-banger at 80, and sucked the gas, too!

Mike

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They obviously could have put a lower final gear in it, similar to Lexus whose gear ratios I pulled up for comparison:

First Gear Ratio        4.60
Second Gear Ratio    2.72
Third Gear Ratio        1.86
Fourth Gear Rato      1.46
Fifth Gear Ratio        1.23
Sixth Gear Ratio       1.00
Seventh Gear Ratio   0.82
Eighth Gear Ratio      0.69

Final Drive Axle Ratio 2.94

Infiniti 7-speed AT:

1st – 4.92
2nd – 3.19
3rd – 2.04
4th – 1.41
5th – 1.00
6th – 0.86
7th – 0.77

I took my FX in for service a couple of days ago and that was the biggest complaint I had about the loaner.  I couldn't seem to successfully pass people with ease.  It was all or nothing.  I'd massage the throttle and the G would weeze past the slower vehicle.  So next time I put a little more foot down, and as you described, the auto would kick down a couple of gears and the G would take off like a bat out of hell.  What happend to "Acceleration Swell".  I'm sure it was a combination of gearing and the fact that was used to the quite piggish acceleration of the FX.  Like you, though, I like to be able to ease that right foot and use the torque (and proper gearing) to glide past slower vehicles.

Thanks for the pretty-understandable response. Damn physics.

The M is a heavier car with a larger engine and higher final gear... so what you said makes perfect sense.    That on top of Lexus' legendary soundproofing.