Anyone know anything about Infiniti G20's?
 

I've been considering buying an Infiniti G20, since I'm trying to stay within the 4-door sedan bracket and it gets better gas mileage than what I'm driving now. In particular, I've been looking at the first-generation G20, since there's a lot of inexpensive ones kicking around. I don't know much about the car, outside of the fact that it's got the SR20DE.

Anyone have any insight in the G20 in terms of interior room, common issues, performance of the car in general, and possible upgrade options? I've looked around a couple of the G20-specific forums, but I wanna see if any RS'ers have any info.

Thanks in advance.

I looked at these way back when, pretty decent cars.

The '94-96 touring models had VLSD and the pre-'93.5 ones have a slightly more aggressive intake cam which makes a little more power. For more power you can advance the timing and replace the headers, or anything that's done to the Sentra SE-R.

Common problems I remember were the 5th gear popout for the stick and hard shifting auto due to failed resistor, blower motor resistor for the HVAC and motor mounts.

Considering that the newer P11 G20's share a lot of the same drivetrain I'd opt for a newer one if money allows.

you can get headers and stuff for them, stay away from anything listed for the "2002+ SER SPEC-V" Wrong Motor, if your looking for closer, the 2000 - 2001 Nissan Sentra SE has the SR20 and the same VLSD Transmissions

i just got rid of my 2002 G20 sport 5 speed (pearl white). i had no troubles with the car. had some wear and tear issues with suspension and that was about it. the 2002 was the last year of the G20 ..

i liked the style, i liked the color. that was about it.

interior:
interior is pretty outdated . soft vinyl on the dashes and a climate control similar to the maxima. had the silver sport gauges, sport seats. decent stereo, bose with amp.
cup holders- p10 has NONE, p11 has ONE that is so shallow, it cannot hold anything. there is also a pair in rear center arm console.

performance.
for a 2002 car, the SR20DE is really outdated. i have an 2002 EP3 Civic Sir. the K20 is NIGHT and DAY compared to it. same year, same CC. . mild hwy/city driving. i get around 530km a tank. uses regular fuel. it is actually better economy than my SIR.
it shift easily, but the my EP3 shifts better and shorter.

i wasnt so attached to this car compared to my Ep3. for 2002 car and if i was to buy a new car.. g20 will never be on my list, but it is a good entry luxury car.

i would even prefer the acura EL over it after writing this :)

Good info oldsnail. I'm not exactly in need of cupholders haha (In the Cressida I have now I use the center console since it's deep enough for a cup), but how was the interior in terms of space? I'm 6'2, and a lot of the cars I've sat in had my head touching the roof, the only exception that I recall being my Cressida.

P10's were sold in Japan so there is quite a bit of aftermarket support.
For mods, basic bolt-ons are readily available as well as turbo kits.

I see lots of early model P10's with rust issues.

Lots of complaints about oil sludge issues from cars with the auto. Possibly because the cars were driven by little old ladies. General conseus anyways.

this car was known as the Nissan Primera in Europe as well. It was successful there.

I remember watching the Primera in the BTCC like 10 years ago. It's one of the reasons I never forgot about the car.

when i bought my G20, i tried to stay away from the P10's. they are the lightest of the bunch with only minor upgrades for the chassis in P11 form but suffered from rust..

i've driven the P10 and P11.. i sometimes feel the P10 is quicker. The last few years of the P11, they featured the SR20DE RR (rocker roller). it pumped 5 more hp from the older engines.

cupholders - i never realized how important they were until i had this car.. i've owned many cars (insight, mr2, miata, civic, jetta etc) and they all had cup holders and took them for granted. the one cup holder is so useless in the car, my coffee would tip over every time i brake. i would have to go to my rear seat , place down the rear center console and place my coffee there.

the center console is also very shallow as well, it can probably fit a few cell phones at most. storage compartments were shallow as well.

homelink is standard and i found parts a bit harder to find even though the sentra shared mechanical parts.. it did not share the chassis parts.


trunk space was much more compared to the same year jetta and civic. and seats fold 60/40.. for a lot of modern infinities cannot fold at all.

i am not a tall guy.. head room was fine for me, and my buddy who is 6'3 sat fine when the seats are reclined to the back... rear space is comparable to the civic.

this infinity also gave me a bit of vanity. when my friends see my keys and asked me what kind of infiniti i have.. i usually tell them.. 02 G-class.. until they find out it is a G20, they would think it was G35..

if i was to buy another g20 , i would buy 99-00 over the 01-02.
99-00 has the older type ecu (16bit), which does not have immobilizer and stuff. the main reason i sold my G20 was my family owned maxima scared me in reliability. i have a thread here about my maxima nightmares and after reading g20 forums: the 01-02 suffered the same problems as the maxima due to the newer design ecu. (blowing ecu's)

it was reliable, it was economical.. it was somewhat fun to drive.. but as i mentioned before.. it is really out dated.. especially when compared to my second car, civic SIR ep3..

for an infiniti ,it was slow.. i thought it was just my car.. had to confirm by driving others.. at its prime, 0-100 was 10.9 secs.. i would say this car is comparable with my honda insight in terms of acceleration.

i'd stick with the p10's personally, p11's are comprimised in alot of ways except style. solid beam axle rear end p11 vs. an excellent multi link rear in the p10, both front suspensions are a nearly identical articulated hub design. p10's are faster hands down, lighter by quite a bit 3-400 lbs lighter depending on model. p11's get alot more difficult for swaps as well in terms of engine management. parts can be a bit of a pita if u try to shop locally, but places like rockauto and everythingg20.net fix that up. a great resource for info is also g20.net u can search it thru google.

best upgrades for either p10 or p11 are swaps either putting in a sr20ve vvl(nissans vtec) which is roughly 200hp 150tq at the flywheel or the sr20det which is fairly easy and well known, putting down around 200hp and 200tq. the stock sr20de puts down 130tq and 140hp putting it even with zero mods well above anything comparably priced from the honda camp for daily driving imo, for p10's that is as p11's get up in price so not so much. it's also a chain driven engine so no timing belt headaches every 90k kms. suspension wise i'd steer towards some coilovers, which are hard to find now for p10's but there are some around on the g20.net site. Best suspension mod has to be the addco 22m rear swaybar. other than that unless the old school styling of the p10's throw u off i'd deffinitely try to find one in good condition, and from what i've come to understand as well now from having to recently change out axles is that the canadian g20's all had vLSD diff regardless of year/model as a winter driving package which was standard for canada.