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SARATOGA, Calif. Time changes meaning. Consider the notion of “luxury.” Here in 1912 in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, James Duval Phelan, a three-term mayor of San Francisco and the first popularly elected U.S. senator from California, built the Villa Montalvo.

It was an ornate summer “cottage” on 175 acres of prime real estate. Local history says the cottage — a mansion by the standards of commoners, was built at a cost of $65,000, barely double the price of the “entry-level luxury” 2007 Infiniti G35 Sport 6MT sedan I drove here.

Nowadays, you’d have to pay more than $65,000 to build a garage to house the G35 in my middle-income neighborhood in Arlington, Va. And no one would dare call the resulting edifice “luxurious.” Or, would they?

It is a matter of perception modified by time and experience.

Consider cars.

From 1926 though 1937, under the auspices of the Auburn Automobile Co., Duesenberg Corp. built cars that were indisputably luxurious. There was, for example, the Duesenberg Model J — the least expensive version of which came with a normally aspirated straight eight-cylinder engine that pumped out a remarkable 265 horsepower.

Depending on the model chosen, you would have been asked to pay from $13,500 to $25,000 for a Duesenberg Model J back then — about $8,000 less at the top end than it would cost you to get into the base 3.5-liter, 306-horsepower V-6 G35 sedan now.

But time changes the meaning of money, too. The Duesenberg Model J, poorly equipped and not terribly safe by modern automotive standards, even for ordinary cars, today could cost you $1 million or higher as a coveted collector’s item.

By that measure — and in comparison with the prices of mid-range luxury cars ($40,000 to $60,000) and premium luxury models ($60,000 to $80,000) currently on sale in the United States — the 2007 G35 is a bona fide bargain. It is the little luxury automobile with everything, including a price that is arguably reasonable.

Choose one of the five G35 sedans — base G35, popularly equipped G35 Journey, G35 x AWD, G35 Sport or the tested G35 Sport 6MT — going on sale in America in November. In terms of interior comfort and presentation, it hardly matters which one you select. All have supple leather seats. All have impeccable fit and finish. For more adventurous buyers, there is the G35 with the “Washi” finish (traditional Japanese rice paper) aluminum-alloy interior accents. For those who favor more traditional luxury touches, there is the model trimmed in rich African rosewood veneer.

It is customary in these discourses to concentrate on the car-ness of the subject car — engine, suspension, acceleration, body construction, ride and handling. We’ll get to those things in the Nuts & Bolts section. But to focus on them now would be to miss the point of the new G35, just as concentrating on the woodwork of the Villa Montalvo would be to misunderstand the real value of that majestic property.

Both the car and the place are celebrations of human potential — the desire and ability to go beyond one’s self, to move beyond the thing-ness of any given thing, beyond the machine of a car, beyond the concept of house into the realm of home, residence, retreat.

Any car company can make a machine that goes fast and handles well. But not any car company can make an automobile that is desirable beyond itself, that is imbued with warmth, beauty, and comfort matching its performance on the road.

Likewise, any builder can put up a mini-mansion, tens of thousands of which now parade across the nation’s suburban and exurban landscapes in a seemingly endless procession to nowhere in particular. But how many of those housing development palaces are memorable? How many, in years to come, will be suitable for the service currently provided by the Villa Montalvo, as a national arts center for writers, painters, sculptors, and performing artists, for people who give value and meaning to our lives?

Nuts & Bolts
Complaints: None. This is one fine compact sedan. Ride, acceleration and handling: Superior ratings in all categories. Considering the total G35 package — equipment, performance, pricing — I’d be less inclined to shop BMW and more willing to shop Infiniti in the entry-level-luxury segment.