The 2004 Infiniti G305x. A Surprisingly High-Tech Buy Even Eight Years Later

Eight years ago, if you wanted to buy a new midsize sedan that was a foot in in the luxury category, if you wanted the handling stability of an all-wheel-drive car, you had one choice. One choice exactly. It was the Audi Quattro. When the Quattro brand name first came out in the late 80s, Audi was a struggling carmaker that had no way of setting apart among the titans of the German auto industry. The Quattro certainly put them on the map. But then, it was so successful that other people began to take the idea up themselves. The 2004 Infiniti G35x was one of the first.

Infiniti back then had just begun a policy of totally stuffing every car they had with every safety feature they could find. The 2004 Infiniti G35x was certainly no different. If you're a sucker for safety, you'll find this a very satisfying buy. It comes with very fast acting brakes, crumple zones, ridiculously comprehensive airbags all over the place – including side airbags specifically meant to protect the driver's head – and ABS disc brakes on all four wheels.

So Audi calls it Quattro. What does Infiniti call it? Surely they have an over-the-top tech name for it, don't they? Just so you're not disappointed, they call it the ATTESA E-TS. This system uses a computer-controlled clutch to automatically vary from moment to moment how much power is to be delivered to each wheel of the car. You don't notice what the system does when it's a wide-open road in good weather.  If the road get slippery or uneven or something though, the system works spectacularly hard to find out which wheels are slipping so that it can cut power to those wheels.

To merely called the 2004 Infiniti G35x an all-wheel-drive car wouldn't do it justice. Sometimes, it's a rear-wheel drive car when that's appropriate. Other times, it's a front-wheel-drive car. Or it's a one-wheel drive car if all three other wheels are slipping. It's a system that every car should have. The fact that you can get it at an affordable price when you buy the 2004 Infiniti G35x just makes it irresistible as a possibility.

The system isn't for you though if you really worry about vehicle weight. It's a good 300 pounds extra the whole system is. But with the 260 HP delivered from the engine, you'll really not notice the difference. And then there are all kinds of other safety features too. There is Electronic Brake Force Distribution that senses how quickly you are crowding the brakes in an emergency stop and does what you want. There is the Vehicle Dynamic Control and so on.

On average, the X model sells for about $17,000 in the used market. And it's really worth it.