Friday, February 13, 2009

2008 Infiniti M45S

The FM platform, like the perennial Ward’s 10-Best-winning VQ engine, has been one of Nissan’s true hits. Supporting innumerable models from crossovers to sports coupes to sedans and more, the front-midship chassis has proven a winner in nearly every vehicle it touched. But it’s going on seven years old now, and that’s beginning to show through. The Infiniti M45 is the largest of the sedans based on the platform, and the Sport variant, badged with a red ‘S’, is the most driver-focused version of the M45, so it’d be reasonable to think this was the best car you could buy on the FM platform. But you’d be wrong.
Styling and Exterior
The car’s exterior aesthetics aren’t all that impressive, though it is certainly not ugly. It’s beginning to look a bit dated in addition to its plainness, however. Despite the aging looks, the overall first impression the car makes is good, especially upon slipping inside, but whether it’s nearly-sixty-grand-good is another question. We’ll withhold judgment on the price, however, until we’ve dealt with the substantive issues.
Equipment and Features
The M45 has a range of fairly basic equipment that other cars should, but often don’t, have. The backup camera with the animated overlay that shows not just where the car is, but where it’s going to be based on steering input, is a tremendous aid. The simple navigation system that shares the same screen is itself really quite good, despite a display of only average resolution. It finds locations quickly, recalculating routes without a significant wait and generally doing what it’s supposed to without error - something that certainly can’t be said for some highly over-complicated offerings from the competition.
The quality of the leather is a standout element of the interior, and there are literally yards of it. The seats ensconced by this soft and attractive material are as comfortable as they are attractive, and thanks to the sport package, well-enough-bolstered for the aggressive driving the car is likely to see. With four people in each roomy seat and leg room to spare, the M45 is one of those cars with a space-bending effect - it seems bigger inside than out.
In contrast to the high-quality leather and carpets, the plastics are only decent - that carbon-fiber-like trim on the dash looks great for about 10 minutes, then you start to feel and hear its slick and hollow nature. The majority of the primary plastics - those the hands are intended to come into regular contact with - feel solid and robust, but like the high-tech trim, secondary areas could use an upgrade.
The functional elements of the interior also make a great first impression, but closer inspection reveals some cheap-feeling materials, and the large print on most of the too-smooth center console buttons also begins to look cheap after a while, though it’s surely easy to read.
One thing Nissan/Infiniti knows how to do as well as anyone except maybe Honda/Acura and the super-luxury brands is build a steering wheel that Just Feels Right. The weight, balance and motion all feel great in the hand, and though this car isn’t as connected as its 350Z or G35 FM-platform mates, it offers enough feel of what’s happening on the road to prevent that disconnected ‘floating’ sensation larger luxury sedans can be prone to.
The audio system is what you’d expect in a car of this stature, but it’s nothing extraordinary, which is an unfortunate realization to come to considering this is a Bose 5.1-channel surround sound system with a full 14 speakers. It doesn’t present the absorbing, lifelike sound you get from the MKS’s THX-certified (but unbranded) system or Acura’s fabulous DVD-Audio barrage, for example, but it does make full use of the built-in hard drive and MP3/WMA music capabilities. Whether that’s worth the advanced technology package’s $2,800 premium on top of the optional $3,350 standard technology package is a good question, but the majority of the advanced package’s value undoubtedly comes from its set of driving aids.

Advanced features like radar-adaptive cruise control and lane departure prevention system team up to nearly make for an autopilot system. Of course you still wouldn’t want to take a nap or read the morning news, but it could be a lifesaver for those unwilling to stop eating, shaving and texting while driving, and even more so for those around them.
Technical
The powerful 325hp/336lb-ft V8 engine makes freeway mergers, red-light take-offs and the odd country road a blast. It sounds throaty and powerful, too. The way the car takes off when the go-pedal is leveled makes me think it may well be somewhat underrated in terms of power. It feels significantly more powerful than the G35 or even the Mustang GT, for instance, even though those cars are rated within 20hp or so of the M45.
[INLINE1]Fuel economy, however, is not so great. Our week-long trek with the car through the wilds of suburbia revealed a consistent pattern: 12-15mpg in typical driving, with low 20s on the highway, for an average of about 16mpg. That’s about 22 cents per mile in fuel costs, or three times the cost of a 50mpg Prius - not that the Prius could ever lay claim to the comfort or style of the M45. It’s actually about average or better than a lot of the V6 luxury sedans we’ve tested lately, however, so the V8 offers a lot of good (low-end torque and pulling power) for no real downside. It is, however, somewhat below the 16/21mpg city/highway and 18mpg combined rating the EPA gives the car.
Part of the V8’s fuel economy issue could be linked to its archaic-for-the-segment five-speed automatic transmission. The unit’s gears are spaced fairly broadly, but at cruising speed the engine feels a bit more wound-up that you’d expect from a big V8, hinting that the final drive ratio is a compromise between in-town and highway driving. Six or more speeds might offer enough room to solve this problem, and could also smooth out around-town shifts, though they are really only noticeable under fairly brisk acceleration.
The five-speed slushbox also has a manual-shift feature, but like most of its contemporaries, the relatively low-tech unit is sluggish to respond and doesn’t feel connected enough to use it in place of a firm boot to the accelerator, which will accomplish the same thing.
On the road
Our car, outfitted with the sport suspension and large 19” alloys that compose the most important part of the ‘S’ sport package, provided impressive levels of grip and a beautiful ride - on very smooth surfaces. Newly rolled asphalt is the M45S’s nirvana-inducing wheelhouse. The firm suspension trades off a lot of ride quality when driving over a real-world mix of potholes, rumples and expansion joints. Moving to either dynamic or driver-adjustable suspension settings would be ideal, but would probably tack at least another several thousand dollars to the already high $57,865 sticker price.
It’s not that the car will jar your fillings from your teeth or aggravate an old back injury - it won’t. It will, however, make your passengers tell you to slow down, and that’s the last thing you want to hear in a car like this. In the end it’s too stiff for a pure luxury family sedan, and too large and soft for a true sports sedan - the G35 would drive loops around its big brother, despite sharing the excellent FM platform. The big wheels and low-profile tires probably exacerbate the ride issues, so reverting to some 18” wheels and more compliant sidewall heights might help, but in the end, it’s a compromise car that chooses sport over comfort, but lacks enough sport to win over the enthusiast.
The brakes offer a similar scenario - initially impressive, and they need to be given the car’s heft. Emergency stops are completed in a controlled and quick manner, with almost no wander or crabbing noticeable. Pushing the limits corner after corner can, however, get the big car’s brakes hot in a hurry, so keep back-road sessions short, throw in plenty of high-speed straightaways, or begin looking for upgraded hardware.
Final Verdict
At the end of the week with the Infiniti M45S, we were left feeling somewhat disappointed - for a car that delivered such a great first impression, read like a dream on paper, and promised to be all things to all people, it just ended up failing to follow through. Nearly sporty enough to justify its fairly harsh ride and nearly high-tech enough to justify its expensive options packages, the M45S falls short of the high benchmark set by the latest crop of large luxury sedans, and without a significant price advantage, it’s just not quite good enough to make our list of recommended cars in the segment.

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