2005 Infiniti Q45 Test Drive

Upping the Q Factor

Infiniti's redesigned flagship is fast, roomy and luxurious. So why isn't it selling better?

From The Driver's Seat

When Infiniti launched the Q45 back in the spring of 2001, it had one big advantage: size. The car was more spacious inside, and out, than even some of the $70,000-$80,000 luxury sedans on the market, and yet they were selling the Q for just a hair over $50,000.

Then along came the new 2002 Lexus LS430, a much bigger car than the LS400 had been, and Infiniti's size advantage vanished. The LS430 has a larger overall cabin size, especially in terms of rear seat room. And then Mercedes-Benz debuted its new E-Class this past autumn, which isn't as large as the Q -- with less overall rear seat room -- but the Benz has excellent fit and finish, and looks splendid both inside and out.

Now you know why the Q has seen fewer takers in 2002 than 2001.

But there are still reasons to find the Q appealing. Climb behind the wheel, and you'll find an eminently logical center console, with buttons for navigation, audio and climate all mounted at eye level and smartly integrated into the flat-panel display. (I'm the guy who hates it when they integrate displays with switches, because usually it involves five extra steps to do something one button ordinarily could do.)

Not here. Rather, Infiniti wisely allows six buttons below the screen to serve many functions, so you can change the fan speed, or adjust the scale of the Global Positioning System (GPS) map using the same two buttons by simply varying menus. It's far simpler than Mercedes' Command system, for instance. Also, Infiniti continues to be the only manufacturer that makes a voice-controlled system in which obvious statements create the desired outcome. Just name a radio station frequency, and the tuner switches to it, for instance. (Why can't other carmakers do this as well as Infiniti?)

Granted, systems in tester cars that the media get to fiddle with have to readjust to different voices on an ongoing basis, which probably makes such testing somewhat unfair, but I'm not talking about recognition software. It's about the voice commands themselves -- and how doctrinaire they tend to be, especially on German cars.

Does this matter? We think it does. If you just spent $50,000 (or $75,000) on a car wouldn't you want to be able to use all the controls easily, without referring to the manual just to be able to get the CD player to run?

On that front, we also think the Q45 seat switches are wisely situated, not on the side of the seat where, almost inevitably, you'll scuff the face of your watch as you fiddle for lumbar or rake adjustments, but up high, right next to your leg, so you can both see the control and not have to reach awkwardly for it. (Mercedes does this even better, by putting seat controls on the door in a 3-D relief of the actual seat parts, so you don't even have to think about what you're adjusting.)

Driving the Q, by the way, is very, very enjoyable. The 4.5-liter V-8 spits out 340hp but also 333 ft.-lbs. of torque at 4,000rpm. But because the torque curve is quite flat, most of that energy arrives to the wheels by 2500rpm, which translates as very quick acceleration. Horsepower is much better than that of either the LS430 or the E500 Mercedes (although the E500 produces more torque).

Power delivery is also very smooth: The five-speed automatic gearbox shifts very cleanly, and can also be shifted via buttons on the wheel, giving the driver excellent control.

The fully independent suspension is much firmer than that of the Lexus, so road feel is strong and secure. Cornering, too, is surprisingly agile. You don't expect a 4,000 lb. car to feel this light on its feet, but thanks to reduced unsprung weight (literally everything that lies below the suspension), accurate and quick response is the norm.

That can, however, translate as slight jitteriness. On broken pavement, especially, the big Q feels darty, and although the steering is very precise -- great for arcs of freshly paved blacktop -- it gets jumpy when road conditions degrade.

Also, our tester did not have Infiniti's excellent driver-adjustable suspension system, since that's now only available on the $62,000 premium model. That's a shame, because we can well imagine wanting a softer ride for freeway travel, and a firmer one for back roads. As it is, the interim compromise feels not quite ideal for either circumstance (then again, we test cars in the Northeast, where roads have never been anything but perpetually mediocre).