Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Sixth Place: Infiniti M35x

Michael Freed
by Michael Freed

Luxury sport sedans have a lot of boxes to tick. In a segment where high price points have not prevented a a crowd of competitors from gathering, every contender must develop a unique identity that sets it apart from the pack. This means a combination of performance, character, quality and feel that makes the car’s priorities evident, and speaks to the tastes of its well-heeled driver. Instead of picking a specific formula, the M35x tried too hard to check all the boxes, leaving it almost completely without distinguishing characteristics. The upside is an almost utilitarian soullessness, an anonymous competence that defines much of the front-drive luxury market. In this group though, we’re looking for more than that. The Infiniti’s driving experience comes across as a pastiche of other, more memorable cars, and this lack of identity drops the M to last place.

At first glance, there’s little to disappoint, but little to excite, either. The M was clearly styled in the Mercedes idiom: more impressive than alluring, particularly dressed in black metallic. The basic shape is blocky and slab-sided, with a pronounced wedge shape and more chrome bling than you’d find on a whole fleet of 5-series BMWs. Overall, the look is aggressive and imposing, and the workmanship impresses, but the M’s styling just doesn’t leave a lasting impression – curious, given that other Infiniti products, particularly the sleek G sedan and coupe, are stylish and overflowing with design personality.

Once inside, the M again makes a decent impression. The dashboard is a two-tiered affair: a dark upper panel and light-colored lower panel separated by a dash-wide swath of unique-looking African rosewood. Entry and exit are the best in this test, aided by the M’s tall roof line and a system that moves the seat and steering wheel in and out of the driver’s way for ingress and egress. The seats themselves are wide and comfortable, if not terribly supportive. The workmanship is good, but the materials are a mixed bag – the leather and wood trim is of obviously high quality, but many interior materials, such as the door padding, look slightly downmarket at this price.

The driver interfaces with a nicely padded wheel, and instrumentation is beautifully rendered and highly legible. Like its German competitors, the M has a multifunction wheel (think iDrive) to control, well, just about everything. These controls can be finicky to use, but at least Infiniti places the controls high on the dashboard, in the driver’s line of sight, mitigating the ergonomic impact of the system. The aesthetics are another matter – all those buttons under the LCD navigation / radio screen make it look as if a miniature laptop computer has been grafted into the dashboard. It’s not a look for all tastes, and this writer found it decidedly awkward.

The equipment level is hard to argue with – the M came fully stocked with toys, including ventilated front seats, a hard drive-based multimedia system, voice-activated audio and climate controls, an excellent Bose sound system, and a DVD audio and video system. Other gadgets were a bit too gimmicky, such as the lane-departure warning system, which beeps at you when you’re straying too far out of your lane. Frustratingly, it can’t be turned off.

Keeping with its utilitarian theme, the M35 excels as a people mover. It offers the largest and most comfortable back seat in this test, and a massive, well-shaped trunk. But then so does an Avalon.

The M35 is powered by the latest iteration of Infiniti’s ever-present 3.5 liter V-6, putting out a class-acceptable 303 horsepower. Like the Lexus, this engine loves to rev, and puts out a fairly aggressive howl, but the M’s curb weight – over 4,000 pounds – and willing but cog-limited 5-speed automatic mean you have to truly flog the engine to drive enthusiastically. Subjectively, the M felt slower than the Mercedes, but the engine felt more eager and made more encouraging noises. The 7-speed transmission, available in the rear-drive M, would help, but what would really make the difference here is the 324-horsepower, direct injected V-6 in the G37 sedan.

Handling-wise, the M35 fares better. Among the Japanese luxury brands, Infinti has been chasing BMW for quite some time, and this car shows they’ve been learning along the way. The M is not as overtly sporting as the BMW in this test, but a lot of the ingredients are there: direct, communicative steering, solid structure, and a firm but compliant chassis. As a result, the M35 responds eagerly to hard driving, and rewards the driver with an open line of communication with the road. But here’s where the underpowered V-6 undercuts the M35 yet again – as eager and competent as this car is over the road, it never feels effortlessly fast, and that’s a deal killer in this class.

This car is also available with a 325-horsepower V-8 – the M45 – and with that engine, it would have been a better match for the BMW and Audi, but thus equipped, the M was far from revelatory to drive, and wouldn’t have placed any higher than fourth in this test. And if the BMW stretches the price envelope here, the M45 would have blown it away with a sticker pushing $63,000. As tested, the M35 came in at a far more reasonable $54,965, and that seems the more sensible way to go.

And that sensibility explains why the M35 finishes last here. While the Infiniti is undeniably well-rounded, competent, and a solid value, those are common-sense attributes, and when you’re dropping this kind of money on a car, it shouldn’t be a sensible purchase – it should be an extravagance, a treat. A car that, in one way or another, simply blows you away. Each of the cars in this test offer that in their own fashion, each is a unique melange of performance and character that give shape to an identifiable personality. Except the M35, which other than geeky streak, shows almost no personality at all. In this segment, that’s an unforgivable sin.

Performance: 2/5


Engine is willing, but it feels underpowered, and the transmission needs more cogs

Ride: 3/5


Comfortable without being too mushy

Handling: 4/5


Feels eager, with quick, direct steering; too bad the engine intrudes on the fun

Exterior: 3/5


Impressive, but doesn’t really have its own style

Interior: 3/5


Roomiest in test, with some unique stylistic touches, but some subpar materials and the odd center stack do not impress

Fit and Finish: 3/5


Notably well made, but some interior materials are not up to snuff

Toys: 5/5


It’s hard to think of a gadget this car doesn’t have

Desirability: 1/5


Just not much to get excited about here.

Michael Freed
Michael Freed

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  • Rhomp2002 Rhomp2002 on Mar 18, 2010

    The cars may not be rational purchases but if they are unreliable, then what use are they. It s like the old Jags where you put up with a car that needed almost constant repairs for the few times you could drive them. The difference now is the price of the repairs. Personally I would prefer a car that came close to best handling, performance, etc and also is reliable. Then it would be not only a sports sedan but also a rational purchase - win/win. I have heard all too many reports of just how bad the Audis are at staying out of the repair shops and the insane prices of repairs on BMW's to even consider them. Mercedes has not exactly been a paragon of reliability in the past few years either. Give me a sports sedan that can be depended on to work over one that is just too fragile to depend on anytime. I want one that I know I can get into and go play games with.

  • Bcain12 Bcain12 on Nov 09, 2011

    I would just like to say that I am a PROUD Infiniti M35x owner and everything that I've read is all negative. I would like to point out that the car is NOT loud at all. Engine fits the pull great. I've NEVER had an issue with it. Are any of you actual owners of the car or just going off of one little test drive. I'll admit that all the buttons on the dash are a little frustrating, but you get used to them. To the guy who is "SCARED" we are using the buttons while driving, the car is so good that it won't allow you to use majority of them while in drive. Also, as for that "beeping" noise when you cross lines, it can be turned off. If you look above the button to pop your trunk you'll see a button that has a little diagram of a car with two lines on either side, push it when you turn it on and whala! no more beeping, however it does turn back on once vehicle is shut off so you have to turn it off every time you drive. I don't know where everyone is getting their opinions but I love this car! Greatest luxury sport sedan I've ever own/driven. Personally it tops a Beamer or Audi! But that's just my opinion.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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