Infiniti G37S. Testing The Mettle. The Management Fleet

For a luxury coupé there has also been minimal body roll, which is impressive considering that city driving was smooth, comfortable and completely absent of the spine snapping rigidity that can be associated with sports suspension. The G37S has surprised me in so many ways today but there is one niggling thing that has been a distraction from an otherwise rewarding driving experience.

It was inevitable that sooner or later all this spirited driving would show a chink in the armour of our G37S Coupé. To be fair, it wasn’t something I had picked up on during normal driving. But out here, pushing the G to its limits, the combination of a superb engine and capable chassis highlights its Achilles heel: the transmission.

Our car came equipped with the seven-speed auto box, and the combination of close ratio gearing with the manually operated paddle shifts had actually been a lot of fun around the city. On these twisting roads though, with heightened focus and urgency, the delay in selecting a gear and waiting for it to engage can be frustrating. That momentary delay equates to tens of metres of road travel and a feeling of never truly being able to exploit the G to its full potential.

For the next few hours I regularly get lost as I dart down every side road and see where it takes me. As the sun begins to set I pull over to grab a last photograph of what has been a fantastic day. The Infiniti G37S Coupé may fall short of being a true driver’s car but it is superbly capable and tackled everything thrown at it with ease. A luxury sports coupé is always going to be a compromise between comfort and performance. But in the Infiniti G37S, I have to admit that it is a compromise I could live with.

Now, which way is it back to Dubai…?