2001 Infiniti Q45

Automotive Industries, August, 2001 by Lindsay Brooke

Nissan's flagship sedan has finally found itself. Eleven years after the Infiniti division was born and three generations of sheet metal later, the Q45 has become the car it should have been at its inception.

For a decade the Q suffered an identity crisis. The original 1990 car was uniquely styled and quite Teutonic in its performance. But on the sales front, the Q45 was trounced by the far more conservative Lexus LS400, Enter the second Q: roomier, more refined, but now looking like a Japanese Lincoln Town Car. And still not a sales threat.

Can the '01 Q turn this picture around?

Its fresh styling is both eye-catching and classy without being alienating. There's a lot more zip, courtesy of an all-new, titanium-valved V-8 packing 74 more ponies and 55 more pounds-feet of torque from the same 4.5L displacement Every panel joint, every button and switch, every tactile surface oozes S-Class levels of refinement My favorite toy: an electronically-operated rear-window sun screen ($500 option) that really helps keep the thermal load in check on a hot day.

I wanted to like the Q's most hyped feature: its $2,100 voice-recognition-based Nay system. Unfortunately, I found it aggravating to learn and easy to fool -- my best imitation of actor Peter Lorre scrambled its brain.

It's now up to Nissan to get the Q back on the public's radar screen. For 56 large ones (including the Nay and active-damping suspension), it's a lot of car. And hopefully, not too late to matter.