All Entries Tagged With: "INFINITI"
Engineered to Popular Perception
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler, AG + Infiniti USA
PERCEPTION is a funny thing.
Add a “hybrid” tag to the back of a Cadillac Escalade and what was once a gluttenous, bruttish SUV from the supersize era is transformed into a green, eco-minded angel.
Hey, there are such things as gentle giants!
Same was true in the 1980s for any car that donned the magic “Turbo” moniker. Saab exploited this turbo=fast craze like it was it’s job (which, of course, it was).
And what about performance metrics? Of course the benchmarks have heightened with time and technological progress, but what might we perceive as quick today?
Consider, if you will, the 1970s Mercedes-Benz 280E W123 gen. Bristling with the righteous – ahem – power of 137 hp and 142 lb-ft of torque, the three box Benz weighed in at a then-considerable 3,565 lbs.
Now, if I were to explain that the gas version of the world’s taxi musters 60 mph in 11.4 seconds – you’d yawn and suggest that the driver could get out and sprint faster.
However, if I told you that the same seemingly lazy sedan finds 50 mph in 8.5 seconds, suddenly we can approach the old Benz with a new found respect. Not so lazy, after all. “Decent” you might offer.
Zero to 60 is our current benchmark. Back in the 70s, 55 mph was the US speed limit (as it remains on many highways, grumble, grumble). It meant more for Mercedes to engineer a car that performed well to 50 than it did to 60 due to perception.
Fast forward to today.
The Infiniti G37S posts a respectably quick naught to 60 time of 5.4 seconds. That’s thanks to a 328 hp V6 performing heroically despite a stout curb weight of 3,770 lbs.
Acceleration time is pretty linear to 60, too.
0-30 2.0 seconds
0-40 3.0 seconds
0-50 4.1 seconds
But after?
0-70 7.1 seconds
0-80 9.1 seconds
0-90 11.3 seconds
It seems our entry-level luxury “performance” sedan runs out of some steam at a faster rate on the way to 100 mph.
And herein lies the point. It’s engineering and marketing to perception.
If the benchmark was 0-70 in 5 seconds, Nissan’s boffins would’ve made it happen and cared less for the time it took to find 80 mph.
So, too, for the perceptions of eco-friendliness.
A diesel Mercedes E-Class that gets 650 miles to a tank is perceived far less clean (in these United States and California) than a Lexus RX Hybrid that might manage the average 400 on a tank.
So when it comes to the automobile – perception, truly is a funny thing.
Missing The Infiniti Q45
Infiniti’s G50 gen. Q45
By Gunnar Heinrich
I miss the Q45.
Not the last incarnation, mind you. That car, the F50 generation from 2001-2006, was a googley-eyed poop fish; the freakish answer to the improbable genetic question: what would happen if we mated a Buick LeSabre with a Nissan Altima?
No, I miss the soft, sublime, luxurious curves of the second edit of the G50 generation Q45 that lasted from 1994-1996.
That Q45 was like Japan’s own take on the Jaguar XJ. The sedan featured a flowing chrome grille, buttery leather, and a roofline that made a soft arc to a crisp trunk. It was sporty, without being vulgar, but ultimately luxurious in the purest sense.
And what makes this mid-90s Japanese sedan so special is that the designers managed to mold an automotive shape that was singularly identifiable as an Infiniti. There were no direct thefts of other European car maker’s efforts. At worst, we could call them “hommages” rather than mere copies of this Jaguar or that Audi.
The Q45 really was slick. And that it was reliable, cheaper than a Benz or BMW to maintain, and came with some of the best customer service in the business to back up the ownership experience- Infiniti owners are still a pampered lot at the dealers – made the Q45 a tremendous value.
It’s a shame that the Q45′s grace is lost to the 90s. What’s replaced the most elegant sedan Japan’s ever produced has been anything from street-cred cool (G coupe) to milquetoast-forgettable (M35/M45) to the mastadonian (QX56).
Still, of the few good examples that remain (these cars were used and abused in large part), the cars stand as a testament to a more gracious era in Infiniti design.
