Filed under:
Sedan,
Performance,
Infiniti,
First Drive,
Luxury
2011 Infiniti M56S - Click above for high-res image gallery
What is an
Infiniti? That's a pretty harsh question to be asking 20 years after the brand's debut, but sadly, it's pertinent. To be fair, the possible answers to this question got much narrower in 2003 when Infiniti introduced a legitimate
BMW 3 Series competitor, the G35 (now
G37). The situation further clarified that same year when the "Bionic Cheetah," known to the rest of us as the
FX showed its (then) quite handsome face. But it was the 2005 introduction of the second generation
M sedan that announced most loudly Infiniti's luxury-performance aspirations: to kick
BMW in the back of the pants.
When it debuted, the M (specifically M45S) was a better sporting sedan than the BMW 545i. It had more power, it arguably handled better, and the heavily larded-on high-tech gizmos were worlds more user-friendly than BMW's first-generation iDrive (two minutes to tune in a radio station sucks). Only problem was father time, who simply wasn't kind to the ultimately frumpy looking M. While the rest of the world's sporting, mid-size sedans evolved into better, sharper, faster machines (see the astonishingly good
Mercedes-Benz E-Class), the Infiniti M languished on the vine. A good car? Yes, for sure, but by its less-than-notable refresh in 2008, the M had became an also-ran. All it really had going for it was a lower price than the competition, which isn't exactly a strong selling point in such a cachet-conscious segment.
Recently, Infiniti invited the U.S. motoring press down to mostly-sunny San Diego to meet and drive its new 2011 M cars. Lo and behold, we think we may now know what an Infiniti is.
Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Infiniti M56
Photos by Jonny Lieberman / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Infiniti M37S and M56S answer many questions
First Drive: 2011 Infiniti M37S and M56S answer many questions originally appeared on
Autoblog on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our
terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments
أكثر...
02-03-2010, 04:50 AM
