USA Today M Review
03-18-05, 11:18 AM
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Infiniti M-series merges style and substance
In rare, wonderful moments, a car shows up that is exactly what it's supposed to be, does just what it's supposed to do and delights well beyond expectation.
The Infiniti M35 has a 280-horsepower V-6.
Infiniti
It isn't always a sexy or exotic machine sitting at that confluence of genius, art and luck. The 1990 Mazda Miata two-seater was such a car, and so was the 1992 Toyota Camry four-door sedan. More recently, the 2005 Ford Mustang fits the description.
Now, the 2006 Infiniti M-series sedan joins that exclusive club.
The new M is the best thing Infiniti's done and comes close to making BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Cadillac irrelevant. It offers as much panache and performance as those do with fewer privations, at sometimes-lower prices.
The '06 M replaces a nearly anonymous model called M45 that was meant to plug a hole in Infiniti's lineup and sold in small numbers.
The M is sold with a choice of engines. M35 has a 280-horsepower V-6. M45 has a 335-hp V-8.
Both go with remarkable and joyous dispatch. The manual-shift mode of the automatic transmission can snap down through the gears as if it were wired into your brain, not manipulated by your hand.
The extraordinary way the M stops and steers suffuses the driver with road-rare serenity.
The M is spacious and comfortable. Its controls and features are high-tech fancy without the stupid factor that usually accompanies such. In fact, M seems to be a car designed by people wise enough to know when to quit. Almost nothing is done just because it could be.
What more could you want? How about top-flight all-wheel-drive (AWD) so you needn't leave your nice car whimpering helplessly in bad weather? Got it, albeit only available with the V-6. Infiniti says it won't sell enough V-8s to justify the costs of developing and marketing an M45 AWD model.
Two test cars were driven: M35x, the "x" signifying AWD, and an M45 Sport, the "Sport" designating bigger wheels, different trim, brakes that'll stop on a dime and give you 9 cents change, and a suspension not meant to make the acquaintance of potholes.
Both testers were pre-production models, some of the final cars built to test the fit of parts and the factory's assembly process. Little seemed amiss.
A closer look at some elements that make the M a heartthrob:
• Looks. Reasonable people often disagree on matters of taste, but so what? M's sweep and stance are terrific. The instrument panel's voluptuous cross-car curves invite physically and satisfy visually.
Far from outrageously styled, the M nonetheless is arresting and proved it by yanking plenty of heads around in the kind of double-takes usually reserved for sports cars.
• Drivetrain. Glorious. Even the V-6 AWD — heaviest of all the models — accelerates with snap and snarl. The V-8 is explosively frisky.
Use the manual-shift mode, especially for downshifts. It has what Infiniti calls "rev matching." It feels and sounds the way a car should when you engage a lower gear. The engine speed jumps and — nothing else happens. No stumbling as if the car is falling on its nose, nor jerky moment as the engine tries to match its speed to the transmission's.
The transmission does not work as wonderfully in other modes but shifts crisply enough to suit most.
AWD provides stable footing on both slick and dry pavement without a second thought. It splits power 50/50 front/rear in normal driving, shifts up to 100% to the rears under hard acceleration or when the fronts lose grip.
• Controls. ***** for volume and tuning on the radio. Applause.
A fat **** on the dashboard makes you cringe because you expect it to be a confounding control system like the ones the German makers favor. Instead, it lets you skip through short, simple menus of options. And you needn't use it at all for most settings, because most have their own separate ***** and buttons on the instrument panel. Satisfying for techies, nearly intuitive for Luddites, superfluous for those who'd simply rather not.
Each of the four power windows is one-touch up or down. That's not exclusive to the M, but it isn't a sure thing in every luxury car, and it's a sign that Infiniti considers such seemingly minor matters important. That attention to detail is what separates true luxury cars from the merely expensive ones.
• Décor. Rosewood trim on some models is real. Aluminum on others is, too. No faux. That's a statement of integrity. Both look great, too — unless you get the buckskin-color leather with the rosewood trim. Yuck. Looks as if you tried to match colors and didn't quite.
• Room. Wow. Some big trucks have less for your legs. The front is listed as having 44 inches, about 3 inches more than most cars. The rear seat gives you about 37 inches, more than adequate for most adults, and leverages it by carefully curving the backs of the front seats to keep away from the back-seaters' knees.
The measurement shows that not all legroom is created equal. Cadillac, for example, says the STS — an M rival — has about 38 inches in back, but that seat's legroom isn't even close to the M's, numbers to the contrary notwithstanding. Nobody's fibbing, they're just measuring at different points.
M's middle rear seat is minimal, though. As is typical on rear-drive cars, the big driveshaft tunnel eliminates leg space. And Infiniti inexcusably fails to provide center child-seat latches to make it easy to use that otherwise marginal slot for junior. Instead, you have to wrangle the car's safety belt to hold a child seat in place.
• Tech. If gadgets are your thing, there are enough to satisfy — lane departure warning, for instance. Sensors know if you're about to stray over the lane line and beep at you. It gets old fast. You can turn it off, but the switch is tucked inconveniently near the lower edge of the dashboard.
An optional back-up camera system has the brightest image display on the market and provides two sets of guidelines on the screen. One set runs straight back and the other bends as you steer the car while backing, to show where you're headed. Excellent.
Rear-wheel steering on the Sport models will turn the back wheels 1 degree to help the car round a bend.
And on and on. Giving up the keys to these testers was very, very hard.
2006 Infiniti M-series
• What is it? Midsize, four-door sedan powered by a V-6 (M35) or a V-8 (M45), with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive (M35 only). Manufactured at Tochigi, Japan. It replaces a model called M45 sold in such small numbers you might never have heard of it. Despite sharing names, the new M is entirely unlike the old one.
• How soon? At dealers since late February.
• How much? M35 starts at $40,510, including $610 destination charge. M35x AWD starts at $43,010. M35 Sport starts at $43,310. M45 is $47,360, and M45 Sport is $50,160.
Expect to pay full sticker price, online car-shopping services warn.
• How many? 24,000 a year, Infiniti forecasts, up from 2,000.
• Who'll buy? Bull's-eye buyer: 40-year-old married man with a college degree and $175,000 annual household income.
• What's the drivetrain? M35 has 3.5-liter V-6 rated 280 horsepower 6,200 rpm, 270 pounds feet of torque at 4,800 rpm.
M45 has 4.5-liter V-8 rated 335 hp at 6,400 rpm, 340 lbs.-ft. at 4,000 rpm. Both engines come with five-speed automatic transmissions with manual-shift mode. Traction control is standard on all models.
AWD splits power 50% to each end normally, can shift as much as 100% to rear wheels as conditions dictate. AWD is available only on M35.
• What's the safety gear? The expected bags and belts plus anti-skid control, anti-lock brakes with brake assist and electronic brake-force distribution, front-seat-mounted side-impact air bags, front and rear head-curtain air bags.
• What's the rest? Standard features include leather upholstery; automatic dual-zone climate control; power steering, brakes, windows, mirrors, seats, locks; outside mirror defrosters; sunroof; auto-dimming inside rearview mirror; remote-control locks; cruise control; tilting and telescoping steering column; AM/FM/six-CD stereo with MP3, WVA playback capability.
• How big? Similar to a BMW 5-Series, widely considered the benchmark car in the segment. M is 192.6 inches long, 70.8 inches wide, 59.4 to 60 inches tall (depending on model), on a 114.2-inch wheelbase. Weight ranges from 3,832 to 4.004 pounds.
Passenger space is listed as 105.2 cubic feet (103.1 cubic feet with premium package). Trunk space is listed as 14.9 cubic feet with minispare, 11.4 cubic feet with full-size spare.
• How thirsty? M35 rear-wheel drive is rated 18 miles per gallon in town, 25 on the highway; AWD is 17/24. M45 is 17/23. Premium fuel is required to meet advertised power ratings. Infiniti says both engines run safely on regular, with an unspecified loss of power. Trip computer in M45 test car showed 15.9 mpg in mixed driving.
• Overall: You can spend more, but you can't get much better, just more lavish.
In rare, wonderful moments, a car shows up that is exactly what it's supposed to be, does just what it's supposed to do and delights well beyond expectation.
The Infiniti M35 has a 280-horsepower V-6.
Infiniti
It isn't always a sexy or exotic machine sitting at that confluence of genius, art and luck. The 1990 Mazda Miata two-seater was such a car, and so was the 1992 Toyota Camry four-door sedan. More recently, the 2005 Ford Mustang fits the description.
Now, the 2006 Infiniti M-series sedan joins that exclusive club.
The new M is the best thing Infiniti's done and comes close to making BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Cadillac irrelevant. It offers as much panache and performance as those do with fewer privations, at sometimes-lower prices.
The '06 M replaces a nearly anonymous model called M45 that was meant to plug a hole in Infiniti's lineup and sold in small numbers.
The M is sold with a choice of engines. M35 has a 280-horsepower V-6. M45 has a 335-hp V-8.
Both go with remarkable and joyous dispatch. The manual-shift mode of the automatic transmission can snap down through the gears as if it were wired into your brain, not manipulated by your hand.
The extraordinary way the M stops and steers suffuses the driver with road-rare serenity.
The M is spacious and comfortable. Its controls and features are high-tech fancy without the stupid factor that usually accompanies such. In fact, M seems to be a car designed by people wise enough to know when to quit. Almost nothing is done just because it could be.
What more could you want? How about top-flight all-wheel-drive (AWD) so you needn't leave your nice car whimpering helplessly in bad weather? Got it, albeit only available with the V-6. Infiniti says it won't sell enough V-8s to justify the costs of developing and marketing an M45 AWD model.
Two test cars were driven: M35x, the "x" signifying AWD, and an M45 Sport, the "Sport" designating bigger wheels, different trim, brakes that'll stop on a dime and give you 9 cents change, and a suspension not meant to make the acquaintance of potholes.
Both testers were pre-production models, some of the final cars built to test the fit of parts and the factory's assembly process. Little seemed amiss.
A closer look at some elements that make the M a heartthrob:
• Looks. Reasonable people often disagree on matters of taste, but so what? M's sweep and stance are terrific. The instrument panel's voluptuous cross-car curves invite physically and satisfy visually.
Far from outrageously styled, the M nonetheless is arresting and proved it by yanking plenty of heads around in the kind of double-takes usually reserved for sports cars.
• Drivetrain. Glorious. Even the V-6 AWD — heaviest of all the models — accelerates with snap and snarl. The V-8 is explosively frisky.
Use the manual-shift mode, especially for downshifts. It has what Infiniti calls "rev matching." It feels and sounds the way a car should when you engage a lower gear. The engine speed jumps and — nothing else happens. No stumbling as if the car is falling on its nose, nor jerky moment as the engine tries to match its speed to the transmission's.
The transmission does not work as wonderfully in other modes but shifts crisply enough to suit most.
AWD provides stable footing on both slick and dry pavement without a second thought. It splits power 50/50 front/rear in normal driving, shifts up to 100% to the rears under hard acceleration or when the fronts lose grip.
• Controls. ***** for volume and tuning on the radio. Applause.
A fat **** on the dashboard makes you cringe because you expect it to be a confounding control system like the ones the German makers favor. Instead, it lets you skip through short, simple menus of options. And you needn't use it at all for most settings, because most have their own separate ***** and buttons on the instrument panel. Satisfying for techies, nearly intuitive for Luddites, superfluous for those who'd simply rather not.
Each of the four power windows is one-touch up or down. That's not exclusive to the M, but it isn't a sure thing in every luxury car, and it's a sign that Infiniti considers such seemingly minor matters important. That attention to detail is what separates true luxury cars from the merely expensive ones.
• Décor. Rosewood trim on some models is real. Aluminum on others is, too. No faux. That's a statement of integrity. Both look great, too — unless you get the buckskin-color leather with the rosewood trim. Yuck. Looks as if you tried to match colors and didn't quite.
• Room. Wow. Some big trucks have less for your legs. The front is listed as having 44 inches, about 3 inches more than most cars. The rear seat gives you about 37 inches, more than adequate for most adults, and leverages it by carefully curving the backs of the front seats to keep away from the back-seaters' knees.
The measurement shows that not all legroom is created equal. Cadillac, for example, says the STS — an M rival — has about 38 inches in back, but that seat's legroom isn't even close to the M's, numbers to the contrary notwithstanding. Nobody's fibbing, they're just measuring at different points.
M's middle rear seat is minimal, though. As is typical on rear-drive cars, the big driveshaft tunnel eliminates leg space. And Infiniti inexcusably fails to provide center child-seat latches to make it easy to use that otherwise marginal slot for junior. Instead, you have to wrangle the car's safety belt to hold a child seat in place.
• Tech. If gadgets are your thing, there are enough to satisfy — lane departure warning, for instance. Sensors know if you're about to stray over the lane line and beep at you. It gets old fast. You can turn it off, but the switch is tucked inconveniently near the lower edge of the dashboard.
An optional back-up camera system has the brightest image display on the market and provides two sets of guidelines on the screen. One set runs straight back and the other bends as you steer the car while backing, to show where you're headed. Excellent.
Rear-wheel steering on the Sport models will turn the back wheels 1 degree to help the car round a bend.
And on and on. Giving up the keys to these testers was very, very hard.
2006 Infiniti M-series
• What is it? Midsize, four-door sedan powered by a V-6 (M35) or a V-8 (M45), with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive (M35 only). Manufactured at Tochigi, Japan. It replaces a model called M45 sold in such small numbers you might never have heard of it. Despite sharing names, the new M is entirely unlike the old one.
• How soon? At dealers since late February.
• How much? M35 starts at $40,510, including $610 destination charge. M35x AWD starts at $43,010. M35 Sport starts at $43,310. M45 is $47,360, and M45 Sport is $50,160.
Expect to pay full sticker price, online car-shopping services warn.
• How many? 24,000 a year, Infiniti forecasts, up from 2,000.
• Who'll buy? Bull's-eye buyer: 40-year-old married man with a college degree and $175,000 annual household income.
• What's the drivetrain? M35 has 3.5-liter V-6 rated 280 horsepower 6,200 rpm, 270 pounds feet of torque at 4,800 rpm.
M45 has 4.5-liter V-8 rated 335 hp at 6,400 rpm, 340 lbs.-ft. at 4,000 rpm. Both engines come with five-speed automatic transmissions with manual-shift mode. Traction control is standard on all models.
AWD splits power 50% to each end normally, can shift as much as 100% to rear wheels as conditions dictate. AWD is available only on M35.
• What's the safety gear? The expected bags and belts plus anti-skid control, anti-lock brakes with brake assist and electronic brake-force distribution, front-seat-mounted side-impact air bags, front and rear head-curtain air bags.
• What's the rest? Standard features include leather upholstery; automatic dual-zone climate control; power steering, brakes, windows, mirrors, seats, locks; outside mirror defrosters; sunroof; auto-dimming inside rearview mirror; remote-control locks; cruise control; tilting and telescoping steering column; AM/FM/six-CD stereo with MP3, WVA playback capability.
• How big? Similar to a BMW 5-Series, widely considered the benchmark car in the segment. M is 192.6 inches long, 70.8 inches wide, 59.4 to 60 inches tall (depending on model), on a 114.2-inch wheelbase. Weight ranges from 3,832 to 4.004 pounds.
Passenger space is listed as 105.2 cubic feet (103.1 cubic feet with premium package). Trunk space is listed as 14.9 cubic feet with minispare, 11.4 cubic feet with full-size spare.
• How thirsty? M35 rear-wheel drive is rated 18 miles per gallon in town, 25 on the highway; AWD is 17/24. M45 is 17/23. Premium fuel is required to meet advertised power ratings. Infiniti says both engines run safely on regular, with an unspecified loss of power. Trip computer in M45 test car showed 15.9 mpg in mixed driving.
• Overall: You can spend more, but you can't get much better, just more lavish.
Another great review for a great car.
03-18-05, 11:48 AM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Link to the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...m-series_x.htm
Looks like they're loving just about everything about it. Not my type of car, but I wish the new M the best. They've done a fantastic job.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...m-series_x.htm
Looks like they're loving just about everything about it. Not my type of car, but I wish the new M the best. They've done a fantastic job.
03-18-05, 10:43 PM
#7
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Yup, another awsome review for the Infiniti M.
James is going to test drive the new GS next Friday.
Go to this link:
http://cgi1.usatoday.com/mchat/20050318001/tscript.htm
He basically says he would pick the new M over the RL and 5-Series without hessitation or second thought.
It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the GS vs. M.
James is going to test drive the new GS next Friday.
Go to this link:
http://cgi1.usatoday.com/mchat/20050318001/tscript.htm
He basically says he would pick the new M over the RL and 5-Series without hessitation or second thought.
It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the GS vs. M.
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