My misty eyes had scarcely dried from bidding adieu to the 1997 Mercedes-Benz C280 I reviewed on these pages last month when what should appear in my parking stall but a 1997 Infiniti Q45t.
The Q45 is the totally-new-for-'97 flagship of Nissan Motor Corp.'s upscale division, Infiniti, and a luxo four-door sedan that soon had me saying "Mercedes-Who?"Your suspicions are confirmed. We auto writers are a fickle and faithless lot, whose affections are easily stolen away by something new.
But the C280 needn't feel too dejected; it's a marvelous piece of German engineering and it's priced nearly $10,000 below the Q-ship. Besides, the C-class is Mercedes' entry level model - sort of a $41,000 loss leader - while the Q45t (the "t" designates Touring Model) is the king of Infiniti's hill.
And a marvelous monarch it is. This is the third Q45 I've evaluated here since the first preproduction model rolled through Utah in 1988, and it just keeps getting better.
There are many of my cohorts in auto media land who would disagree with me on that score, carping that the four-door sports sedan that first took to the road nine years ago has lost its firepower under the hood, its performance and handling suspension under the chassis, and its offbeat styling.
They are right about that. The '97 Q is more Cadillac than Fer-rari in its latest incarnation, but the market has made it very clear to Infiniti (in the only way that counts, through dwindling sales) that when laying out 50 big ones, the moneyed folks who buy top-line automobiles usually opt for comfort and elegance over pure performance.
In other words, if someone wants a BMW, they'll buy a BMW. If they want a Lincoln or Lexus, Infiniti will have to give them good reasons to buy a Q45, instead.
Not that the Q is a slug. Its downsized (from 4.5 liters with horsepower down from 278 to 266) 4.1 liter, overhead cam V-8 engine is a wonderful motor and gives away nothing in performance because this year's Q is lighter than last year's. Even better, its 18 mpg city and 24 mpg highway fuel mileage means buyers avoid the dreaded $1,080 gas guzzler tax.
The engine is particularly well matched to its computerized 4-speed automatic transmission. Upshifts and downshifts are virtually seamless as a microchip briefly retards the engine time to eliminate that kick-in-the-back delivered by lesser cars (like mine, for instance.)
And as for performance, I can't imagine anyone of an age and tax-bracket that they opt for a Q45 ever driving it in a manner so aggressive that they exceed the car's limits of speed, handling and adhesion. You can exit freeway offramps at more than double the posted speeds in complete security and nary a chirp from the tires.
Sure, the Z28s and 5-liter Mustangs will beat the Q off the line when the light turns green, but I can't imagine doing much drag racing in this car anyway, so what does it matter? More importantly, it will get you around and past that triple-trailer semi in the center lane in a manner so exhilarating you might be tempted to utter an indiscreet "Yee Haa."
If you're car shopping in the Q45 rarified air, it is presumed that you are a person for whom price is of little consequence. But I'll talk about it anyway.
Happily, the base price of the '97 Q45 has come down about $6,000 from the price of the '96 version, to $47,900. This is apparently a move to price the car at what people were actually paying in the real world and reduce any unseemly haggling or sending in for rebates, both anathema to top-end car buyers.
The base price of my test car, a Touring Model, was $49,900. The $495 destination charge boosted it to $50,395. There were no other options, but none are needed. The Q45 has every conceivable comfort and convenience option you'll ever use, including a motorized steering wheel that moves up and down and telescopes, memory power seating, a state-of-the-art stereo with remote CD changer, automatic headlights, integrated gate/garage openers . . . more than 50 items, all standard.
The new Q45 is the result of a sort of in-house competition. Five different designs were presented to Infiniti project managers and two of them were chosen for full-scale rendering. The iteration in the accompanying photograph was the winner, the best blend, says Infiniti, of sport and luxury they could envision.
Here follows, in no particular order, some thoughts and musings gleaned during my week with the Q45t:
- The "belt buckle" ornament that fronted the original Q45 is long gone and good riddance. It was a major design mistake in a car of this class and got it off on the wrong foot with luxury car buyers.
- The elegant analog timepiece that long graced the center of the Q's instrument panel is gone. In its place is a digital clock just like the one's found in Honda Civics. Too bad. The fancy clock, complete with a dial and hands, was a nice touch that I missed.
- Although the Q has a nice, big dead pedal for the left foot, one of my absolutely necessaries in a car, the parking brake pedal gets in the way big time. (If I owned a pair of Bruno Maglis, they would have gotten dinged up pretty bad by that pedal.)
- The "woodtone" trim that accents the interior isn't really wood but it looks a lot like wood so maybe that's good enough. Still, for 50 big ones, why couldn't they have come up with some real burled walnut veneer?
- The trunk seems pretty small for a full-size luxury car. One set of golf clubs and a pull cart pretty much fills it up. Cadillac Fleetwood owners would not be impressed.
- The massive chrome door handles are a big improvement over the old versions. They give the Q an air of solidity and quality that was previously lacking.
- The four-wheel disc brakes are simply wonderful. You feel that you can be as aggressive as you want to be because those big binders will bail you out of anything. Traction control is standard.
- This is a very quiet car, even when driven hard.
- If I needed proof that the gated transmission handle on the Mercedes-Benz is a balky, hard-to-use design that is as likely to leave you in Neutral or Reverse as drive, the Q45's silky smooth ( and conventional) shifter iced it. The M-B feels like something you'd find on a tractor; the Q's on an airliner.