M45 Exterior + GS430 Interior + 550i suspension, engine, and overall driving experience = Winner

 

The leather makes the interior feel typical Lexus plush. GS interior > M interior. The gauges alone are far better than the orange ones from the M.

 

I really like the looks of it... It's very tastefully done, and very aggressive.

 

Though I don't like the orange gauges, and the placement of the seat controls, I still ove this interior. It' beautiful and very functional. The way the buttons are placed doesn't make them hard to reach at all. When I test drove one, everything was in reach, and I'm 6'1, so i was sitting pretty far back.

 

the seat controls are actually on the traditional outboard side of the seats on the production model.

the seat controls shown in the above pic are just in the concept model.

And i'm 5'8", and sit with a semi-ghetto lean, and have no trouble reaching the far buttons on the right side.

Although I do prefer the blu-ish gauges of the GS and RL, that's a small sacrifice.

 

"Semi-ghetto lean?" LOL, I laughed for five minutes straight, I swear. Yeah, the buttons are in a good position.

 

The lower part of the console is not leather it's vinyl a.k.a. "leatherette" along with the door trim inserts, the side and back part of the front seats are also vinyl.

Also not a fan of the faux aluminum outlining the nav screen.

 

I think the M's gauges have a more interesting design then the GS’s gauges. Only thing that I don't like is the orange lighting. IMO if the "solar eclipse" backlights of the gauges were illuminated in bright blue and the numbers illuminated in white it would look much better then the GS’s.

 

I prefer the Acura RL. Few people actually buy the 8-cylinder M45 or GS430 anyway.

 

I think the solare eclipse thing is more of a gimmick than anything else, but you can turn it on or off.

I think the orange is because of the sporty intentions of the car, the same reason why bmw's are orangish and pontiacs are red-orangish. they're also easier on the eyes at night...when I had the cl-s I had to turn down the gauge lights on long night-time drives (2+ hrs). Never had to do that on the M yet.

 

M45 > GS

 

BTW we should start a M45 vs GS poll.

 

Yeah...but this is why you get the GS450h

 

We've already had one although with other cars into the mix.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=gs430

 

I definately agree.

 

Found one more pic

 

Looks like the M45 was the clear winner.

 

Maybe they will intro it for the 07 model. It does looks great in that finish

 

The interior just looks and feels so classy in the M. Ive sat in and driven both and the GS's is nice, but looks very plain.

I mean the pictures do the M interior enough justice

 

I think the GS's weakness is that the gauges are housed in plain black plastic whereas the M is housed in a classier metal finish. But the GS gauges have a metal backing (a la Aston Martin DB9) that gives it more reflection. If you can imagine the M's gauges in white/blue instead of orange, while its design is more interesting with the solar eclipse effect, the lighting still doesn't match the GS's.

I used this pic of the GS's gauges for comparison because it was already here and convenient to use. But there are pics of the GS's gauges at night where you can really see its full effect.

 

Now if Infiniti decides to upgrade the M's gauges with those from the G3X concept, then I'd sing a different tune, in Infiniti's favor...