Value Added; G35 defines a darn good deal.(Auto File)(Infiniti G35)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)

THE INFINITI G35 RIDES ON THE SAME rear-wheel-drive stage as Nissan's hot little 350Z and soon-to-be-stateside Skyline GT-R. Good. Yet, it has four doors, ample headroom and a spacious trunk.

AutoWeek readers are gobbling up the sedan with gusto, flooding our mailbox with more owners' voices than we've gotten in a long time for any single vehicle-and they're not afraid to compare it to the Bimmer's benchmark 3 Series.

Before you dismiss this group as proud, glazed-over parents, let us admit that adoring the newborn G35 is contagious. The G35 has its hiccups-no manual (due next year), hard-to-see gauge cluster, oddly placed controls, expensive nav system, less than satisfactory dealer experiences-but it gives a heck of a chase to Bavaria's undisputed best-in-class.

Performance-wise, the G35 holds its own, even with an auto tranny. At 6.90 seconds, its 0-to-60-mph is slower than what AW rang up for the Acura TL Type-S (6.42 seconds) and just slightly off BMW's 328i (6.86). It's significantly faster than the Cadillac CTS (7.53) and dead even with Audi's 0-to-60 for the 3.0-liter A4. Using a six-speed manual, the slightly lighter, front-drive Maxima outran the G35 to 60 mph by 0.7 second.

Through cones, the G zips a 44.8-mph slalom, which is better than most of its mates but behind the nimble, confident 328i's 46.4-mph slalom.

Stopping is where the G35 excels, halting from 60 mph in 112 feet. The TL Type-S needed 134 feet for a stop from 60 and the Maxima 130 feet. It tested better than the CTS and ...