Ferrari Mailing List: Replacing the BMW - result: Infiniti M45 (2 of 2)

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

[Howdy, all!  Please include me directly on any replies, as I'm not
receiving any list-only postings... Thanks!]



(continued from prior email)

Yup, I bought an Infiniti M45.

A used 2006 example, to be exact, with 31k miles.  Fully loaded, with
everything Infiniti offered, except for the rear seat heaters/power
recline/rear DVD, which I specifically did not want, given my daughters
proclivities to adjust anything and everything they can get their little 3
and 5 year old fingers on.  

It's a frakkin' great car.  335 hp V8, RWD, sports package.  It also has the
optional Aero package, which does make the car more aggressive (though the
low front spoiler will suffer from front-curb over-runs like our BMW
5-series Sportwagon did, ahem).  Navigation, rear back-up camera (my wife
fell in love with this feature, and said "I want this").  Bose 14 speaker
stereo, with DVD player (plays movies in the nav screen).  Traction control,
plays MP3 discs, Bluetooth phone integration, keyless-entry and start.
Active bi-xenon headlights - automatically steers the lights in the
direction of the steering wheel.  Speed sensitive wipers.  Full voice
recognition, useful for dialing the phone and setting navigation
destinations, among other things (you can adjust the climate control and
tune the radio as well, though it's easier just hitting the buttons).
Heated AND COOLED front seats.

And a couple of other nifty-or-not-so-nifty features.

The sport package comes with 19" wheels, and, curiously,
Rear-active-steering.  At slow speed, the rear wheels turn in the opposite
direction, to decrease the turning radius.  At higher speeds, the rear
wheels adjust in phase with the front, to make for easier lane changes.
Can't say as I feel the difference, but will say that the car does corner
very well, even at ridiculous speed.  It handles easily as well as an E39 M5
(without the extra 65hp grunt, of course), even with 200 extra pounds.  

LDW - lane departure warning, which pings you if it senses a lane change
without the turn signal being on.  Played with it once, actually works, but
turned it off permanently.  

Laser-cruise.  Thought I'd HATE this, as my Valentine 1 detects laser
warnings from other Infinitis, but apparently they've wised up and adjusted
the frequency so that it no longer triggers it.  Can adjust the following
distance, from ridiculously far to
still-too-far-for-Massachusetts-so-that-everyone-will-still-cut-in-front-of-
you.  But it works surprisingly well!  I can set the cruise at 75mph or 90
mph or whatever, and when it senses a car in front, it will not only release
the throttle, but it will even hit the brakes if need be, to maintain the
proper following distance.  Not that I ever use cruise control, but the wife
likes it.

So, while I thought of myself as not being into "gadgets" - actually, I
thought I was actively AGAINST gadgets, why did I end up with all this
"stuff"?  Mostly because I really wanted the DVD player, and partly because
most V8 versions came fully loaded.  If you want the DVD player, you have to
get the advanced technology package, which has the LDW, the laser cruise,
the 14 speaker Bose, etc.  The nav and backup camera were on every M45 I
found, and the remainder is all standard.  So, yes, it's loaded, BUT it
avoids some of the "foo-fah" that BMW and Mercedes and even Audi have loaded
up on their cars.

The Infiniti does have a circular, iDrive resembling controller, but it's
only visual.  There are plenty of buttons too - a little cluttered, but
makes it very easy to get to the controls you want, immediately.  And the
climate controls have their own dedicated buttons, while you can change
radio stations/discs/volume with the lower audio buttons, or use the
steering wheel controls.

What's cool about this car, and E38/E39 owners will appreciate this, is that
all of the settings are available to the OWNER through the computer, instead
of paying $$ to the dealer to adjust.  Want to set it so that one click on
the remote unlocks ALL the doors?  Turn on/off "entry comfort" (seat slides
back and wheel tilts up)?  Just do it yourself; fancy dealer-only computer
not needed!

And, of course, it's Japanese.  Which means I'm fairly optimistic about
long-term reliability and service costs.  Infiniti costs are much less; AND,
I'm told that a Nissan dealer can do most of the regular maintenance too, at
a decent discount.  I bought an Armada 4 years ago for my tow vehicle, and
have loved the 68k+ miles without any maladies.  From reading some online
reports, expected reliability is a whole lot better than the Germans.  AND,
BEST OF ALL, Infiniti offers a 4-year, 50k mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.
Holy cow!  So I'm covered under the original warranty for another year!

Yeah, I see some of the family resemblance in things like the power window
switches, but who cares?  It has more room than the 5-series (though not
nearly as much as the 7-series).  The trunk is decently large, though you
can really see the cost difference here; the Infiniti first aid kit is a
vinyl pouch with Velcro on the back that I guess you're supposed to Velcro
down to the cheap, semi-unfinished trunk carpeting.  If you look hard
enough, you can see where the money is saved, vis a vis Audi or BMW.  But I
certainly don't care.  

The M35/M45 has won all or almost all of the comparisons it's been included
in since it's debut in 2006, and Consumer Reports has picked it a few times
as the best value in the luxury sedan class.  

What about its performance?  I'll start by saying that it's faster than the
Ferrari 348 I used to have.  Really!  Imagine that.  R&T showed 0 to 60 mph
taking 5.3 sec. and the quarter mile 13.8 sec. (at 101.4 mph).  No, it's not
an M5, but it'll run with most of the V8 German sedans.  The 4.5 liter V8 is
plenty torquey, and flies when I step on it.  The biggest weakness is that
the steering wheel is numb by comparison to BMW, which is a black mark
indeed, but it corners very flat and never puts a wheel wrong.  Kudos to the
automatic transmission too; it will automatically rev the motor on a
downshift.  It does have a Steptronic/Tiptronic mode, but after playing with
it once, I've never used it - the auto tranny's computer is THAT GOOD.
We've gotten about 21 mpg on trips, and 19 mpg around town, with a decently
heavy foot.  Can't complain.

What do I wish for?  Not much.  Maybe for the center console to be narrower,
to allow more leg-splaying width (same criticism of the 996, which blocks my
knee).  More steering feel through the steering wheel.  A bigger trunk
opening, and automatic trunk-lid pull down (you have to give it a good slam,
which I know is a wussy complaint, but after 198k miles on the BMW...).  I
might re--write the destination input logic on the nav screen, but that's
probably true for 90% of all nav systems out there.  Definitely wish there
was more storage space up front; the BMW (and the Armada) have lots of
useful cubbies for storage, and the M45 is sorely lacking in this regard.
The cooled seats are kinda, well, cool, but I prefer electrically heated
seats (as opposed to these, heated by redirected hot air from the climate
control), as they will heat up much faster.  Might have preferred the wood
interior, instead of the (real) aluminum that comes with the Sport package.
And I don't love the 4,000 lb as-tested weight, but what DOESN'T weigh that
much these days?

When Lexus and Infiniti first debuted, it was apparent that Toyota was
targeting MB, with luxury and quality at a then-bargain price.  Performance
was low on the checklist.  Infiniti, even with its horrible marketing
roll-out, seemed to aim instead for BMW.  Not with the original fancied-up
Sentra, but the Q45 was a legitimate sports sedan in the minds of many.  And
since then, the G35/G37 has emerged as the most serious competitor to the
vaunted BMW 3-series.  With this car, Infiniti offers up a very realistic
alternative to the 5-series (and A6 and E-Class), at about 80% of the price.
But even price aside, I prefer the M45.  :-)

Overall, I'm still in the honeymoon period, so it could change.  But it met
all of my criteria, and then some.  And the price?  They paid me $2300 for
the 198k mile 1995 BMW 740iL (with leaky rear self-leveling suspension no
less).  And I paid...  $22,700, cash.  Considering that this car stickered
at over $60k, I think I got a screaming deal.  Feeling decently good about
that.  :-)

I don't have any pics myself, but the car is identical to these:

http://tinyurl.com/ct2gkm

http://tinyurl.com/dzrrpn

http://tinyurl.com/dd362x

http://tinyurl.com/dhvg8g

Vty,

--Dennis