The original Q45, introduced late in 1989, was a truly unique luxury car, combining styling based on Japanese themes, a nimble chassis, and a powerful 4.5 liter V8. I am personally attracted to cars with unique characters, so I really liked Nissan’s first go at the American luxury market. Unfortunately for Nissan, the great majority of luxury car buyers were looking for something more ordinary. Something like Lexus’s LS400. In every way that the Q45 was different, the Lexus was conventional. The Q had no grille and no wood inside. The LS400 had both, in quantity. The Lexus did not handle quite as well as the Q, but it blew the Japanese—and European—competition away in terms of quietness, smoothness, and overall slickness. The Q drove like a large, heavier, more powerful Maxima. The LS400 rode like something from another plane. The result: Nissan lost buckets of money on the original Q, even after they added a grille to the outside and wood to the inside for the 1994 model year.

When the time came to replace the original Q, Nissan took the cheap and easy route. For the 1997 model year they simply took a Japanese home market luxury car and tuned it a bit for American tastes. Japanese home market luxury cars tend to be very conservatively styled, and the second-generation Q45 was no exception. It always reminded me of late 㣪s Buick Century. The design around the wheels was especially dated. I also didn’t care for the “bottom of a pit” driving position. To cap it all off, the second Q45 should have been a Q41. Noticing that Lexus did well with a more fuel efficient 4.0 liter, Nissan used a 4.1 liter V8 in the second Q. This car did appeal a bit more to American luxury car buyers’ tastes, but it still got trounced by the LS400 in the sales race. At least Nissan didn’t lose much this time around, since they didn’t invest nearly as much in the development and tooling of the car.

Infiniti Q45 Reliability

Want better reliability information? Want to more clearly know what difference it will make if you buy a Q45 rather than something else? My website, truedelta.com, will be providing this information in the form of "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats.

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For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

What’s New for 2002

For 2002 Infiniti has once again redesigned its flagship. When the company was about to go under a few years ago, it seems that management decided that its strategy of offering blandly-styled cars at cut-rate prices was not working out. The new strategy: slightly edgier styling combined with class-leading performance. The Pathfinder recently received a boost from 170 to 240 horsepower. The next Altima will come standard with 180 horses, up from 155 today. It will also offer the same 240 horsepower six found in the Pathfinder. This will give it 40 more horses than the benchmark Accord. For the Q, this strategy meant a return of the 4.5 liter V8, this time producing 340 horsepower—up from 266 last year. This is 40 to 65 more horsepower than offered by the competition from Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes. Combined with 200 lbs. less weight—the new Q weighs in at a surprisingly svelte 3800 lbs.—this new engine promises neck-snapping acceleration.

To keep up with Lexus, Infiniti also offers some new gadgets. Options include a cruise control system that automatically maintains a safe distance from the car in front of you, power rear sunshades, power reclining rear seats, and, of course, a navigation system. A unique Q45 option is a rear-view camera that operates when the transmission is in reverse. The standard LCD screen provides the picture. Unfortunately, if you want power closing doors, a power trunk, air conditioned seat cushions, a continuously adjustable amount of seat heat (rather than just low and high), or a fridge for the rear seat you’ll have to go with the Lexus.

Frankly, I personally see little use for any of this stuff. A standard feature I was unable to try out, but would love on my own car, are multi-lens HID xenon headlights, which Infiniti claims are the most powerful in the world. Many cars have left me craving better headlights. Another nice standard feature is a 300 watt Bose system with six-disc CD changer, which includes a center front speaker and a 12-inch subwoofer in the rear. Guess what? It sounds good. But then few luxury car systems aren’t great these days. Voice activation for many functions is also standard. As with the similar system in the Jaguar S-Type, this one is provided by Visteon, which used to be part of Ford.

To find out how well the new Q delivers on all of the hype in the ads, I took one for a very thorough test drive. My now standard test loop included a number of laps around the very curvy road of a conveniently located industrial park (many dealers are less than a mile away), a few miles at 80 MPH or so on a highway, then a few miles driving normally in traffic.

Styling and Accommodations

The styling of the new car is less conservative than the old one, but then it could hardly have been more conservative. It looks pretty good from most angles, neither as ugly as a LS430 or as beautiful as a Mercedes S-Class. And certainly not as distinctive as an Audi A6 4.2. The most objectionable styling feature on the outside is the large grille, which contains bars so thick they look crude to my eye. Many aspects of the styling remind me of other cars, especially the original Lexus GS300 and the current Mercury Sable.

Audiesque feautures include the way the taillamps curve into the sheetmetal and the availability of three different woods inside the car. Yes, there’s plenty of wood in there—they’re not going to make that mistake again. The interior styling resembles that of the new LS400, with a touch screen surrounded by buttons dominating the top center of the dash. Once upon a time this sort of instrument panel, with the center jutting outward to place controls within reach of the driver, was found only in minivans, beginning with the extremely pregnant dash of the Toyota Previa. It seems this theme is now showing up in luxury cars. It’s not especially attractive, but it is functional.

The interior design does continue to include some quirky features, including the oval-shaped analog clock that is to Infiniti what an ignition between the seats is to Saab. Below the clock is a cassette player heavily festooned in chrome. It matches the clock, but the two of them, separately or together, look out of place in this otherwise bland interior. I usually prefer a light-colored interior, but in this car I’d probably opt for the graphite leather. The “willow” (crème) looks too pedestrian given the design and materials.

The overall quality of the materials is very good, on par with those in a Mercedes or BMW. Still, Lexus leads everyone in this area, including the new Q. For the richest looking and feeling materials, nothing I've driven approaches the Lexus LS430 with the Ultra-Luxury Package.

One thing I definitely miss from the first Q is interesting instrument graphics. The first Q’s gauges used an interesting serifed font. The new instruments are just more electro-luminescent Lexus knock-offs, plain Jane sans-serif font and all. Neat in 1990, boring today.

The front seats and rear seats are both quite comfortable for someone my size (5ֽ”). Both provide good support. The driver’s seat’s power lumbar is only adjustable in and out, not up and down, but felt ideal. The rear seat cushion is high enough off the floor to provide good under thigh support. Most seats don’t, so this is a big plus in my book. On the other hand, a much taller person might have to scrunch down a bit to avoid contact with the headliner in the rear, though. And this is pretty much a four passenger car. The center of the rear seat is high and firm. Only a child will fit with anything approaching comfort. Even someone my size needs a few inches more headroom. In terms of roominess, the new Q despite its greater length has a bit less rear legroom than the LS430 (even if on paper they are about the same).

The driving position is very good. The front and side glass feels considerably more expansive than that in the previous Q, affording good visibility. This is very important to me. Based on this criterion, the new Q is better than a BMW 5, Jag S-Type, or Lexus LS430, about equal to a GS430, and not quite as good as an S-Class (or E-Class, for that matter).

Trunk space is a bit disappointing. On paper there are 13.6 cubic feet back there. Though BMWs tend to have even less, the LS430 has 20.2 cubic feet. Also, the Infiniti’s trunk looked like quite a bit smaller than the spec to me. The space is quite shallow front to rear—must make it up in the vertical dimension. Most troubling, there is no pass through to the rear seat of any kind, so forget about carrying long items. It seems the gas tank takes up the space between the trunk and rear seat. While this might be good for safety, it is definitely not good for cargo carrying versatility. Just plan to pay for delivery and you’ll be OK.

On the Road

This is the part I was personally interested in. Does the new Q regain the spirit of the original? With 340 horses, is this a BMW-killer? Well, no. Advertising aside, the new Q remains far more in the luxury camp. Think of it as a Lexus GS400 with a bit more luxury, or a Lexus LS430 with more sport, and you won’t be far wrong. If I had to pick a car this one reminded me of, it would be the former. If you love how German luxury cars drive, though, the Q isn’t going to win you over.

First, that engine. It does accelerate the car well, but it never quite feels energetic, especially not from a rest. In this way it reminded me of the Northstar engine in Cadillacs. Like in that case, I suspect the transmission is to blame. Even though the transmission has five speeds to the Cadillacs’ four, which usually helps in this area, the gearing may be overly tall to get decent fuel economy. In addition, the transmission is very slow to downshift when prodded. I guess that’s what the manual shift capability is for. Utilizing the regular shifter in a parallel slot, this worked fairly well during my aggressive driving, though I never felt directly connected to this powertrain.

Why don’t 340 horses do more, no matter what the gearing? Well, with torque peaking at 4000 RPM at 333 ft.-lbs., in anything but full throttle near the redline driving this engine is actually less powerful than the 4.3 liter in the GS430, which produces 325 ft.-lbs. at 3400 RPM. To get to those 340 horsepower, you have to get to 6400 RPM. The horsepower peak of the Lexus engine, at 5600 RPM, is more accessible, and permits more torque to be produced down low, where you feel it in the small of your back. The engine’s relative low-end weakness contributes to fairly high shift points. Even when accelerating with traffic, the transmission tended to shift between 3,500 and 4.000 RPM. Given the power-to-weight ratio of the new Q, I would expect lower shift points. Fuel economy could suffer.

The quietness of the car is also a factor in the perceived lack of eagerness. This is a very quiet car, approaching the silence of the LS430 at 80 MPH. The car I drove had the performance tires, a variety of Michelin Pilots, and still had very little road noise on any surface I took it over. Quiet cars tend to feel slower than they are.

What really makes BMWs almost worth their ridiculous prices is an excellent blend of ride and handling. The new Q is less successful here. Don’t get me wrong, the handling of this car is very good. It’s just not quite a sports sedan. The car I drove had the optional performance suspension. Set to “auto,” the new Q rolls quite a bit in aggressive turns. Setting the suspension to “sport” cuts down on the amount of roll to a noticeable extent, without making much of a difference to the ride (unlike in a Mercedes S-Class, where the firm suspension settings kill the ride). Even in hard turns the wide 245/45VR18 Michelin Pilots keep the new Q solidly planted. So what’s not to love: Even in “sport” the Q lacks the precise, nimble steering feel of an S-Class or a BMW. The steering is nicely weighted, but it provides little in the way of road feel and doesn’t seem eager to execute turns. It’s very competent, just not much fun. Overall, the new Q’s handling resembles that of a GS430. If you’re comparing it to an LS430 with the non-performance suspension (I haven’t yet driven an LS430 with the performance suspension option), it is sportier, but that’s not much of a benchmark.

I'm not sure how much of a role the new Q's weight distribution plays. With 56% of the car's weight on its front wheels, it's far from balanced. BMWs tend to be nearly 50/50. Still, I've driven car's with an even larger percentage of their weight over the front wheels that handled better, so weight distribution is at most only part of the story.

The car’s true spirit is betrayed by the standard stability control system. This system’s settings are very conservative, causing it to cut in very early. It reduced engine power even in a moderate turn at about 35 MPH. Solution: In even mildly aggressive driving I turned it off.

In general, the Q’s ride is very good. Like many other aspects of the car, ride quality falls somewhere between that of the two large Lexus sedans. The LS430 rides a bit more fluidly, and the GS430 rides a bit more roughly. This couldn’t be because the Q is the only car Infiniti offers over $40,000, so it must cover all the bases, could it? The only faults I noted with the ride was the occasional abrupt reaction to a pothole, which could be a consequence of the very low sidewalls of the performance tire option on this car. If you like the smoothest ride possible, the base tires may be the better choice. If, on the other hand, you like a car that maintains an even keel over any road you throw at it, and you care less about having that fluid, magic carpet feel, an expensive German brand remains the way to go.

Last Words

This is a very good luxury car. If you tend to like the Lexus form of luxury, but want something more luxurious than a GS yet more sporty than an LS (or simply cannot stand to look at the LS), then this is your car. For anyone who has read my GS review, you might know my father bought one after owning an LS400, and now wishes the GS had a quieter, smoother ride. This could very well be the car for him.

On the other hand, if you like the BMW form of luxury, or even the Mercedes form, don’t let the ads mislead you. The new Q may have 340 horsepower, and it may offer 245/45VR18 performance tires, but it remains much more a luxury sedan than a driving machine.

I personally would like sportier handling and a more responsive powertrain. More distinctive styling inside and out would also be welcome. Partly because I came away from the test drive less than excited, I give the new Q four stars. After all, the advertising led me to expect a great driving machine.

But Infiniti already learned the hard way that most sedan buyers in this price range care more about smoothness and quietness, and don’t want anything too unusual. For them, the new Q is a five star car. BMW does not have much to worry about. But Lexus might.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough, up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Amount Paid (US$): 55000
Model and Options: Sport Package, Nav System, heated seats