One Fast Sedan - Infiniti G35

Sedans shouldn't be this fast. Especially sedans that carmakers and editors like to label as "compact executive vehicles" or "entry-level luxury cars." Sedans like Infiniti's G35. When you take the wheel of an Acura TL, for instance, or a Mercedes Benz C350, or a Volvo S60, you aren't exactly entering tire-smoldering, torque-steer territory. No, cars like these generally place a significant emphasis on other quasi-important things like hand-polished Burl wood trim, climate-controlled seats, and carpeting that's plusher than your living room's. It wouldn't be fair to say things like power output and torque production aren't considered here, but they're also not numbers likely to bolster your ego at the next bench race.

The G35 isn't much different. Off the Infiniti lot, early sedans make a somewhat well-regarded 260 hp and 260 lb-ft torque to the flywheel (this is often disputed; many stock G35s make this power to the wheels), but when you consider the four door's portly curb-weight, it really isn't all that impressive. Bolt a turbocharger kit like Turbonetics offers to the G35's VQ35DE six-cylinder and it's a different story. A story that concludes with one afterthought: Sedans shouldn't be this fast.

Nissan's 3.5L V-6 is popular. Wait. That is such an understatement. The VQ35DE is so popular in fact, Nissan's whored it out to more than twelve different chassis, and that's just here in the U.S. You can find it in one form or another under a Pathfinder's hood, inside the frame of a Maxima, or bolted to a gearbox on a Murano. The powerplant varies across the board, but its core remains the same. It begins with the same engine block as the older VQ30DE but with differences in engine geometry resulting in the extra half liter. The all-aluminum 3.5L also has smart things like variable valve timing, forged connecting rods and a couple of DOHC heads with four valves per cylinder. The ingredients for lots of horsepower are there. The VQ just needs some persuading.

Cooking up scary horsepower in the G35 is easy. It begins with a Turbonetics 60-1 turbocharger, which is really the heart of the company's 350Z/G35 kit. Yes, the kit is the same for the 350Z, which has already been covered in the pages of Turbo, as well as the G35 coupe and the G35 sedan; but when it comes to the four door, there are a few discrepancies. Unlike other vehicles that achieve family car status merely by stretching a coupe's chassis to accommodate two or three kids and some sacks of groceries in the back, the differences between the G35 sedan and two-door are more complicated and, as such, affect how the turbo kit ultimately fits. For one, the sedan's front shock towers are located closer to the front of the vehicle when compared to the coupe. The AC lines exclusive to the sedan are also routed differently, and the slightly different front bumper support makes the cramped quarters under the hood a bit worse. All this means is that the aluminum AC lines on the driver side need to be persuaded away from the turbo components, and then wrapped with some sort of heat shield. The four-door's bumper support also needs to be notched a bit to clear the air filter. Prepare the air grinder. Stop cringing at the thought of cutting up your newly purchased Infinity though, the cut is minor and is made below the driver side headlight area where you'll never even notice it. In short, these are pretty easy modifications considering the differences between the two vehicles. But skip these two steps and you'll end up with an R-134 mess, and a smashed intake that can't be good for performance. We should mention that the only option Turbonetics offers with their kit is a catalytic converter. Either way, the factory cat needs to be removed for the crossover pipe to work properly, so an aftermarket one needs to be positioned after the turbo. Turbonetics offers a three-inch cat that hooks up right to the three-inch downpipe. Convenient.