tmds

Very well-balanced review of the M, and worth reading even though I already own the car.

I would agree that the paint is less than ideal and that the hood is remarkably thin. I'm not all that worried about the hood--it locks in place nicely and I'm not planning on standing on it any time soon.

But the paint is certainly something that would bother me if I weren't leasing the car. Since I am nearing the end of the first year of my lease on this particular car and the paint is still holding up as well as can be expected, I think I'm in the clear. I do wish the orange peel were less pronounced, but on the plus side, it's really not noticeable until you're essentially right next to the car.



It's funny that you mention the rosewood. Infiniti has taken a lot of heat from a lot of people over the matte-finished wood. I think that the majority of folks are conditioned to expect glossy wood in cars and are instinctively suspicious of the matte finish.

In fact, when I ordered my M45 Sport, I asked for the aluminum trim. But I was pre-ordering and was in for a wait. An M45 Sport with all features plus rosewood became available and I quickly warmed up to the wood trim.



Now, I'm extremely happy that I ended up with the wood. It really warms up the interior and gives a superb contrast to the graphite leather. Like you said, it has to be seen to be appreciated. And even then, I feel that you have to sit for a while and fully absorb the appearance of the wood.

Both the exterior and interior appeal to me. But I agree, the interior is really what tipped the scales. I really like that Infiniti is trying some new ideas with the interior design but at the same time not doing so too aggressively such as in the case of the 5-series. I am perhaps among the minority in that I think the 3GS's interior is too much of the same old thing, making it less appealing overall. (My opinion: 3GS's exterior beats its interior. This is probably the inverse of most people here.)

The **** controller is one of my favorite aspects of the M's interior. In execution, it's not much like the i-Drive. It's not a joystick; it's a **** with eight directional buttons on top. I love how you can quickly navigate through almost every menu by just flinging the ****. That is, if you're not using voice commands.

Two minor disagreements: First, don't underestimate the appeal of the V8. I encourage you to test drive an M45 Sport and enjoy the difference. Second, I am particularly fond of the black. But then again, I always am.



Thanks again for the well-balanced review!

KrazyLexus

The hood is just as thick as metal models. The reason why you guys think its so light or cheap or weak is because its made of ALUMINUM. To save some weight. The trunk might even be Alum as well. Our Altima has a Alum truck lid as well and it got hit by a lifted truck (pictures shown) and it protected them (missed the bumper completely. The guy was doing 40-50 mph when impact happened and the Altima was at around 15 mph.







I hate lifted trucks.

flipside909

Great review Mike.

tmds, I gotta admit, your M45 in the color/trim is the most appealing M45 in my opinion. Classy and Luxurious looking is what sets the package off.

LexFather

Look fellas, the last MMarshall review got hi-jacked and now this one is too with totally irrelevant questions to his review.

Please pay MUCH respect to someone who takes their time to go test-drive the car and review it, we are fortunate to have him do this for us. It takes tons of time to test drive cars and then as much time writing a detailed review about it.

Thanks