I reread the Edmund's Inside Line Comparison Test of 2007-2008 Sport Sedans, which I had not read for sometime.  The five speed transmission may get a bad rap in some circles, but this passage captured for me a reason I like the G35 sedan so well:

"The G's five-speed tranny not only responds quickest to the throttle, but also has the sharpest, most aggressive gearchanges (with rev-matched downshifts) of any automatic we've ever driven. And it feels as comfortable while blasting between gears with hard-hitting precision at full throttle as it does swapping cogs with a simple switch and slide in commuter traffic."

I also happen to think the 07-08 G35 Sedan, and 06 and earlier G35 Coupe, are strikingly nice looking cars.

The G35, however, aced out the 335i in the comparison mainly because of its lower price. I know this is very old news, but I enjoyed reading the article again.

THe 5spd AT in the M45 was equally nice (until it started having 'issues'); throttle response was great and gear changes were quick.. it just needed a few more gears to move up to.