Infiniti M37 Test Drive

We have all seen the M37. It’s not new.
I drove the V8 version a while ago. And actually came out pretty impressed. Such a fast car. But it was also about $75 000. A price range with some amazing competition.

This time, the V6 version is of course a lot less. Starting at around $48 000.
Which could seem attractive compared a $54 000 BMW 535, or a $51 000 Mercedes E350, the $51 000 Audi A6 V6 and the $50 000 Jaguar XF V6.

But the M design, although just about 3 years old, looks invisible.
Nobody knows what it is. It could pass for a Lexus, Acura or even a big Nissan.
The other cars mentioned earlier are obvious. With a strong and clear image.

The Infiniti M has a sort of generic big Japanese car design.
Although I must say, the white pearl color on my test car didn’t help in that regard .

Inside, things are very, very nice. Everything feels very solid. Plastics are of the best quality everywhere.
The car is very roomy front and back. Everything feels very solid and upscale.

The Bose stereo sounds great.
Although it is very hard to tell which version was in my test car. Since it had both the “Deluxe Touring package”, which comes with a 16 speaker system.
And the “Premium Package”, which comes with a 10 speaker system….
Really weird…

In my opinion, the big “faux pas” in the interior is the horrible airbrushed looking wood trim.
No matter how real the “Japanese ash wood trim” is (it even has “Genuine silver powder accents”!), it looks really tacky.

Another thing is the sunroof. Not only it is pretty small. But it is too far back. There is no way the front passengers will ever enjoy the benefits of it. This is a common  Nissan mistake.

I was actually surprised how fast and sporty the car was. Not much slower than the V8.

The M37 is rated at 18MPG City and 26 HWY.
No matter how slow I was driving, I was never able to get 18 in the city. the best I got was 16.
Which is actually OK for a big V6 with 330HP.
But I did get 30 MPG on the freeway. Without any problems.
Which is good news.

The bad news is that the ride quality, which is very, very stiff. My car came with the “performance tire and wheel package” which included really good looking 20 inch wheels.  For $1600.
They look great, but the ride does suffer. A lot…
Other brands seem to be able to use wheels that big and keep a nice ride. Somehow, Infiniti has not figured that out.
Which, on a luxury car, is a problem.

These wheels also disturb the steering. Which is affected by every single bump on the road. Driving on bad surfaces can be quite a handful…
Which again, might be OK in a Nissan Z, but not in a $62 000 luxury car.

Which brings us to the price again.
Yes, with all these packages, (Safety, Technology, Deluxe, Premium, Performance), the car was
$61 845.

Sure, you can get away with not ordering a couple of options and keep the price in the mid 50s.
But the point is, the Infiniti M is pretty much the same price as its European competition.
There is only about $2000 to $3000 difference.
Which is not good

As Infiniti does not have the same image as all the other brands mentioned earlier. At these prices, right or wrong, image does matter. It should still be much cheaper…