My wife and I decided to spend a good chunk of change on a new patio and pool surround (1500sf) done with flagstone on concrete and made us re-evaluate our car purchase. Some of the money for the car is invested in real estate now! I was amazed to find out that the flagstone came all the way from India.
We have an 05 G35X coming off lease in January. I considered buying out the lease for $25k, but decided not to after looking at the US used prices. I think that Canadian used prices will fall in price closer to US prices over the longer term as American cars enter the Canadian market. My G has 99,000 km on it and that was another reason.
We really were considering something with a bigger trunk as we like to travel with other couples on road trips and find the G trunk a little tight. The rear suspension compromises the usable space to some degree.
We tried some SUV's and we weren't ready to give up the feel and handling of a sporty sedan. We drove the MB R320D, but I couldn't get over the size of the thing. It felt like I was driving a bus!
We decided on an Infiniti M35 as we have really enjoyed the two G's we've owned. I didn't bother with all wheel drive as we always use winter tires. The price gap between Canada and the US is about 22% and I decided it was time to buy in the US. I tried for a while to buy new in the US, but the dealers there were very reluctant to sell for export.
I decided to buy a used M35 and picked up a 2007 in the US with 22,000km for $31,500 plus import duty etc. I figure I saved in the order of $10-12,000 after all expenses compared to a one year old Canadian car. In Canada lists for about $59k new and about 45k used although Infiniti has recently put some cash incentives on the table on 07's in inventory. Cars.com had about 450 M's listed for sale while autotrader.ca was only showing one or two.
We are going to Cuba next week for some R&R and I fly down after our return on December 10th to drive the car back (about 11 hours).
The car has the journey package which has the upgraded sound system, adaptive headlights, rear backup camera, HID headlights, and heated and cooled seats over and above the standard specs.
It feels a lot like a G, but is a little less harsh, and not quite as nimble probably because it weighs about 90kg more than my G.
I'm looking forward to picking it up and driving it home solo while I listen to my music as loud as I want!
