Its been fun!

ImportConvert

Yep. Considering my demographic (24/m/single/comfortable middle-class), noone at the dealership understood it, either. I like to keep people guessing, and fully admit that I enjoy "shock value". Trade was a 2002 Infiniti G20, loaded. Trade-in was a 2001 WS6 6-speed w/black interior, also fully loaded. 149K on trade-in, 112K on the car I got for it.

OP, you may be military, but I was good friends with an E5 who owned a Z06, low 12-second EVO, a cammed GTO, a Tundra 5.6L 4-door, a $120K* house, and a lot of other cool stuff. No, the cars were "one at a time", but it goes to show that military-pay isn't at all shabby if well-managed. Further, banks are more lenient with you because they can go to your CO and garnish your paycheck if necessary. You have some serious buying-power, debt/income ratio not withstanding, if you are military.


*he sold everything he ever bought for a profit, including 20K on the house when he moved.

ThoriumHotdog

The G20s are pretty nice and even though the WS6 is faster it draws a totally different type of attention. I can see why you made the trade. It's just opposite of 99.9999% of the deals you see.

ImportConvert

My take so-far:

WS6 reliability was so-so.
Thus far, G20 has been about on-par, maybe a touch better.

The G20 handles a lot better, tires not withstanding, when it comes to sweeping corners. The WS6 was better at transitions.

The G20 gets compliments from older/more mature men/women.
The WS6 appealed to highschoolers and gold-diggers.

I lose my G20 in parking-lots often. I like that. I never added a bumper-sticker or anything. It just dissapears. Another silver family car among so many others.

The interior is very nice. Bose 6-disk CD changer, black leather everything, cabin filtration, cliamate control, etc. etc.

It accelerates like a sick 3-legged dog and only gets 2mpg better than my WS6 did on road-trips. Efficiency-fail.

All that being said, I think the G20 makes a great DD and plan on not trading it in on my fun-car next year. (the reason I purchased it--low maintenance cost allows me to save more effectively for a downpayment on another sports car. I got tired of "pony" cars and want to step up to something world-class. Something I probably won't see other people my age rolling around in and acting a fool with).

Coming from a "2 seat" (the back seat in a WS6 is a joke) sports car, I can see why OP made the trade. If I had friends I hung out with often, I would get a 4-seater as well.

The G20 is what got me looking at the 370Z. We know my conclusions from that look, so I won't go into it, but I love this forum and the 370 in it's element is a darn nice car! Maybe when used ones are dirt-cheap in 5-6 years I will buy one as a cheap DD like I did with this G20.

Again, all-that being said, why a NEW Altima 2.5? I have a friend selling her '05 for $5K. Think of how much spare cash you could have had had you gone for one a few years old that was well-kept? That was why I went with the '02. I am curious why the "new" Altima?

*I owned Trans Ams for about 4 years total. I got a total of 3 tickets during that time. I drove fast. Not stupid (in traffic, etc.), just fast (road-trips at 90, etc.).

The G20 has yet to get pulled over, but I have only had it for 4 months.