mrdeeno

Ok, on my way home from work, I went to the infiniti dealership (actually pretty out of my way) 'cuz I got an email from the internet sales manager that they just received their M's for test driving, even though they wont' be on sale until March.

I drove a black/black M45 sport (w/ alum interior). I don't know all the options because the window sticker wasn't attached yet, but the options that I could tell it had were the journey and tech packages (lane departure warning, navi, xenons w/ swiveling headlights, backup camera, 5.1 stereo, and other stuff). No aero package though.

It looks as it does in the pictures, swoopy and more put together than the g35. The rear doesn't look bad at all. Overall, the profile looks boring but the front is very attractive. The brakelights are LED but the turn signals are regular ambers.

The interior wasn't bad, but I wasn't too impressed. THe carpeting is pretty mid-quality, and the control center is all plastic. I honestly wasn't too impressed with the layout because the buttons are as infiniti says, in a "piano" fashion. The headliner is a pretty nice webbing material though. The aluminum trim is ok and not overdone or tacky. The gauges are pretty cool and stay lit all the time, but aren't bright like the new acura gauges and are orange in color. The "eclipse" thing only lights up when you enter and start the car but wasn't on the whole time. I don't know if you can change this as I didn't spend too much time playing with the car. Overall, the fit/finish and quality is ok, but I wouldn't say it's outstanding. It's better than the qx56 interior though.

I spent little time in the backseat, but it's alright. When the center armest is down, it looks cheap. The rear seat room was decent.

About the drive: I drove from the west end of allentown to the east end near bethlehem, over both city streets and highway. This car is fast. The brakes were touchy but very confident feeling, especially compared to the cl-s I had. I didnt get much of a chance to test the handling during rush hour traffic, but normal driving is good. The car drives smaller than my cl-s too. There's more noise into the cabin than I would've though, but that's probalby because the 19" rims. But it's much quieter than my cl-s too. The ride was on the sporty side also, moreso than the cl-s.

The lane departure works ok. From what I can tell, it beeps when the wheel is on the line and only works over 45mph. So unless the car in the adjacent lane is hugging the line, it would probably save you in repairs.

The tranny shifts are very smooth, evne in sportshift mode. I guess the tranny blips the throttle on downshifts in sport mode, but I didn't notice. I didn't use it much in sport mode though.

That's the extent of the test drive. I was more or less unprepared for it because it was an impulsive thing to go there for the ride during rush hour.

I haven't test driven too many other cars lately so I can't make any other comparisons, but overall, I was modestly impressed. Would I pay roughty $56k for it (with all the current options), not until I spend more time with it.

phile

Good write up. Have you tried the new RL yet? If so, what can you say in regards to comparing the two?

heyitsme

Honestly, I can't see any car under a 100k(money isn't an option) where a control panel like the m-series would be inlaid wood. 2nd the layout has to be learned as any other car whatever Infiniti says.

phile

That's not inlaid wood. All Infiniti did was make sure the surface underneath was recessed enough so that when the wood veneer was applied, the surface would match up with the rest of the dash. Same as what everyone else does.

heyitsme

Think you misunderstood me, I was saying for the control panel not to be plastic, it would have to be an over 100k car where inlaid wood around the buttons would be present. I don't think even MB can apply wood around the buttons for even close to under 100k. Look at the CLS, plastic buttons throughout...

phile

Oh , I did misunderstand you.

mrdeeno

I haven't driven or even seen a new rl yet, so I can't make any comparisons.

As for the layout, it just doesn't seem attractive to me because of the "piano" style.

cusdaddy

At the Detroit car show, I sat in the RL and M45... The RL has a slightly nicer interior, but the downside was that it felt a bit cramped and the center stack stuck out too far. The M's interior isn't as attractive in pictures but feels nice and the quality of the materials is very good.

Overall, I was very impressed with the M's interior. You realize how many strides they made when sitting in a G35 right afterwards.

I also sat in the 5-series (too weird, angular and cold feeling, STS (very disappointed with the quality of the materials), E-class (nice looking but interior material does not feel as good as it looks).

I think the M45 competes quite nicely.