Test drive Infiniti M45 2003 - 2005 Sedan

All photos Infiniti M45 2003 - 2005

It looks different

The rear -wheel drive, powerful eights under the hood, Japanese origin with an eye on the American market. It was difficult to imagine before this test that these cars similar in many respects would actually turn out to be so different

Daulians of the Slovenny were preparing for a duel from the moment of birth. Appeared at about the same time, and not so long ago, they passed restyling. Their appearance after the rejuvenation procedure has changed slightly exactly so much as to differ from the original version while maintaining the pristine appearance. New bumpers, detonated lighting equipment standard set. Yes, it got better.
In the dispute for the title of the most beautiful, we could not give preference to anyone. Infiniti has an assertive appearance, the car is large, the design is sweeping. The fact that the Japanese parted in earnest, drawing Emku, you can understand, looking at the stern, giant headlights with diode circles inside became a hallmark of the model and illustrate the designer approach as a whole. Lexus sophisticated. A proportional silhouette, a sloping roof, a short trunk. And even the fact that the GS has less for an inches, does not make it less stubborn 19th Infiniti discs in certain angles in the monstrous arches of the sedan small and also in the external design of Lexus a slightly better assembly quality and attention to the details are visible. This car looks complete.

In the salon of GS, the driver will be crowded. Landing is low, a roof hangs over your head. It's good that there is no hatch. I remember that the prerestyled test GS was just with the hatch. Then I had to occupy a bobsleist's pose. Planting in GS, like external data, appeals to sports. You sit almost like in a compartment. But how beautiful is it! Design, materials, assembly quality, the L-Fancy Concept seemed to be not a purely marketing trick, but an exquisite salon really works became even more impeccable. And even a watch such as electronics in the central console, and the cassette player for that grandfather from the states manages to look appropriate here.
Polished metal plates are touched again, and the sheathing of doors with a wave -shaped pattern seems like a brilliant designer find. Attention to the details disarms the buttons, the buttons are pressed verbally and pleasant, in the cabin there are no elements that, against the background of general splendor, would look modestly like a Soviet tourist in Las Vegas. Heavy doors are removed from the noise of the street, and the engine at idle can neither feel nor hear.
Infiniti is easier inside. Plastic is not so expensive, the assembly is not so high -quality, there are cheap details. The doors are generally made in some kind of off-road style, with an unpretentious horizontal handle. But how spacious! The roof is high above the head (and there is also a hatch), the area of \u200b\u200bglazing is greater, and therefore, visibility is better. As soon as we are talking about business classes, it will be useful to ride on the second row of seats. In Infiniti, even a tall person will sit without problems. A wide door opens almost at a right angle, landing above, a wheelbase is 5 cm longer. Sit free. But only in our sports version there was no adjustable rear seats pillow. It is clear that it's time to return. This is a car for the driver. But first you need to sit behind in Lexus.

Here, on the contrary, the door is smaller, the roof below, and the extra centimeters at the feet were chosen without ceremony. From almost 190 cm, it was not very convenient for me. Although if you move the passenger chair forward, slide down a little and take a relaxed pose, everything will not be so bad. Nevertheless, the advantage of the supply of internal space from Infiniti is obvious. Lexus may partially compensate for the best smoothness of the EMKA in sufficient detail the road profile. GS loves speed! Well, how else with an almost five -liter engine about eight cylinders? Shock absorbers are in a sports mode, traction control is disconnected, and I begin to conquer the night spaces of the city. The engine wakes up after three and a half thousand. In the sense that it brutches and turns a beautiful song with a delicate baritone, which has the arrogance of breaking through soundproofing. However, I think that it wasn’t she made it out, but the engineers allowed her. Give them free rein, the driver would not have heard the sound of the motor at all.
The pearl-white sedan is accelerated, as if he had received a kick from Hankok under the ass. Silent running turns of the third GS transport ring passes as a super -speed monorail train. Eh, to remove all the few cars from here and send all traffic inspectorate employees on early leave. I think most of the highway could fly almost on the maximum wipes. But while this has not happened magically, you have to rebuild and alternate the delightful accelerations with good slowdowns. And then GS behaves not so confident. Perhaps someone burned the pads on multi-liter monsters like this like this is not difficult to do in inexperience. Be that as it may, but the transparency of the brakes GS was not enough. It was necessary to push the pedal strongly, and there was no deceleration, adequate pressing.
Later I had a chance to experience GS on the winding roads of the Moscow Region. And then the sedan did not demonstrate sports. The steering is equipped with too blurry feedback to completely feel the car. In Lexus stilettos, he frankly lost his nose out, no matter how he tucked it inside. Well, tormented by brakes. But as soon as it was a little drop in speed, get out of the limiting modes and just go dynamically, the car immediately became more friendly. At the same time, the white sedan holds the road perfectly, is minimal, and when working with a steering wheel to small degrees, it gives pleasure with quick reactions. It is good on wide, high -speed roads, and on complex ligaments of steep turns, he urges the driver to reduce speed. By the way, the lack of sane side support of the seats, too.

Perhaps we would not have paid such a close attention to some slowness GS, if he were in a solitary test. But when there is Infiniti M45 S nearby, opponents have hard! But can it be otherwise if it is a particularly prepared EMKA with the steering wheel drives? I remember that the same prerestyling machine confidently beat the Volvo S80 V8 AWD in our comparative test (motor, No. 12, 2006). Today the opponent is not weaker, but this did not prevent Infiniti from falling in love with us again.
In statics, the M45 S looks more massive and heavier than the GS 460. Yes, even in equipped mass surpasses the opponent, but it is worth driving this car and driving even a kilometer, but although one hundred meters, as in the eyes of the driver of the car, change roles. Almost five -meter Emka seems like a yurka, agile and obedient, and Lexus seems to swim with fat and is heavier before our eyes. A lightning -otic response of the motor, accompanied by a vigorous iron voice, is followed by pressing the gas pedal. The steering wheel is light enough, but equipped with a transparent feedback. I feel the position of the front wheels both with very large corners and with small. Under the juicy roar of a tuned exhaust, the car goes forward, and even in terms of acceleration to a hundred, Emka loses to Lexus, it leaves behind the pleasure that delivers the process behind.
By the way, the loss in dynamics is not only a passport up to 100 km/h in a full -time bet the first to come Lexus and brings a competitor about the corps. Yes, and then does not allow himself to be caught up. The Toyotovites made their car easier for as much as 153 kg, and with almost the same power power, this, perhaps, played a decisive role. In general, it will be strongly impossible to go calmly on a large Infiniti hot driver. I just want to constantly spur it. And the stabilization system can be completely turned off, left alone with almost 350 horses and rear-wheel drive. This is done with a simple press on a round key in the lower part of the front panel. And GS will not provide such a joy with such a joy, nicknamed VDIM (which not only slows down, blocks gasoline and distributes brake efforts on the wheels, but also steers) does not turn off. In Lexus, it is allowed to indulge only with the reeding of traction control.
In general, the responsiveness of Infiniti can be partially explained by the fact that it is structurally easier than Lexus. From the systems helping the driver to control the machine, there is only one rear wheels, turning to an angle up to one degree. And GS has a steering with a variable gear ratio and active shock absorbers. Moreover, the amplifier is electric. But why is the feedback so synthetic and viscous that it prevented the company's engineers from setting it differently? Most likely, ideology is not a special sports series, but a top version of the business class sedan with V8. There is dynamics from sports, and everything else is for life. True, in order not to be a stranger at this festival, it would be nice not to be born a basketball player. These guys are a direct road for LS.
Well, who came out the first of this duel? The calculation of points derives the total advantages of Infiniti, and first of all this is a consequence of the fact that under our test conditions the problem of controllability and internal size was most acute. Both cars are magnificent representatives of their class. And I must say, they came close to the Germans, and Lexus on the elaboration of the salon and the quality of the assembly for a long time for a long time. Infiniti will easily argue with any, including with BMW, in handling. And it is not clear who will take. Such an obedient car with such sizes and mass is a rare success. Well, Lexus is primarily a comfort that was clothed in a dynamic and rapid form.