The Infiniti G37 convertible's performance makes you look for excuses to drive, and its comfort and features encourage you to drop the top when other convertibles might not.
The G37 proves there’s more to making a convertible than cutting off the roof of a car. For decades, it seemed that was all automakers did, and the results were cars that baked you to death in summer, froze you to death in winter and always drove like the front end was joined to the back by hints and suggestions.
The G37 is a solid step up from those days. It has all the answers to those freezing, baking and driving issues I found in older convertibles. That’s not to say it doesn't have its flaws, but it’s an impressive car.
Top-Down Comfort
The biggest barrier to enjoying a convertible is the weather – and not just rain, but also heat and cold. If you’re uncomfortable driving a car with the top down, you won’t do it, which raises the question: Why buy a convertible in the first place?
What Infiniti does to address this is fine-tune the climate-control system for top-down driving. When the heater’s on and you’re going fast, it blows more heat on you to keep you warm. When you have the air conditioner on, it decreases the amount of cold air blowing on you the faster you go, then cranks up the A/C as you slow down.
I can’t vouch for how well the heater works, but I can say with certainty that the cooling system works very well. After a week driving in 90-degree-plus weather with the top down nearly every time, I was comfortable. It helped that our car had the optional ventilated seats. I never once got out of the G37 with my shirt stuck to my back, and that’s saying something in that kind of weather.
The fan that blows air through the seat is quite loud, though. You don’t notice it at speed, but you will notice it while puttering along slow country roads. The seats are available only as part of an optional, $3,050 Premium Package.
Another issue with convertibles is how much buffeting you have to endure in them. Many convertibles these days are good in this regard – you don’t get slapped around by the wind. I took the G37 on a 160-mile road trip at highway speeds with the top down and was no more fatigued than I am in any other car. The caveats: When I wore a ball cap, I noticed a slight sensation, like the wind wanted to lift the bill of my cap, and there was a slight buffeting sensation around my shoulders. Neither of those issues was major, though. If I owned the car, I wouldn’t be shy about dropping the top for any long highway drive. (There’s also an optional wind deflector behind the front seats that’s supposed to deflect more air from the cockpit.)
Now, others who have driven the G37 have said the power retractable hardtop is clunky when it goes up and down, and that it requires a lot of room and time to operate – about 30 seconds. Personally, I don’t think 30 seconds is too long to wait, and the operation of any convertible top doesn’t bother me as long as I’m happy when the top is down, as I was in the G37. Still, enough people have called it out to make me think it’s something you should test before you buy.
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