White is a terrible color for this car, IMHO. There are several others I’ve seen it in that are exponentially more flattering on it.

I generally have no beef with Audi interiors. The seats are mostly good, the recaro ones in S products are excellent. The materials are pleasant to the touch and last well in personal use (although if you look at taxis, they are abysmal after 2 or 3 years of use, a characteristic shared by most modern cars, which are not designed for such use).

The M doesn’t handle as well as the G, but that’s the same with all of these cars. The 5 doesn’t handle as well as the 3. Extra size and weight has never led to better handling. It is a great used car though. Lot’s of toys, more luxurious and MUCH better to drive than the RL and GS, reliable, and cheap. What’s not to like?

Nissan is possibly one of the few makers that has a better line up of cars in America than it has in the rest of the world.

Here it goes from Tiida (Versa) to Maxima (the awful looking japanese Teana) with no cars to fill the huge void in between (unless you want a Qashqai/X-Trail). truly sad

(Justin – for your next “YSE Car of the Week” consider my car – a 2005 Pontiac GTO – 400hp Corvette engine, 6 speed Tremec manual transmission, 0-60 in under 5 seconds, top speed of 160 mph, pretty nice interior and a fine Blaupunkt stereo, selling used for around $17,000 since the announced demise of Pontiac!)

I see a while M45 in my local Starbucks periodically, and I can’t help but admire Nissan’s chutzpah in bringing it over.

This model is a better car, but it’s kind of lost that kitsch. Still, it wipes the floor with the GS and RL, and were it me making the payments, would be my choice over the E/5/A6.

Audi leather not durable?

Audi interior – “an upscale VW”.

I’ve been putting up with Audi reliability and repair costs for the last 10 years simply because their interiors are the best. Mercedes – too cold, too hard. BMW – too simple and they cut corners. Volvo – generally on par with BMW. Lexus – very good but no style (well, actually, I would call Lexus the “grandma style”) but quality-wise I have no beef with them. Acura, Infiniti – forget it, looks good, if you look closer it’s cheap crap.

I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one that likes the first gen M45 “Gloria”. A perfect sleeper in black on black with max tint; and shaved badges. Plus, its rarity will leave most wondering what it is. NICOclub.com and FreshAlloy.com have some occasionally show up in their classifieds if you’re looking for one.

The Hyundai Genesis reminds me a lot of this car, and will probably develop a similar reputation as it ages. The Koreans are building some pretty good stuff these days.

With the introduction of the revised G35–now G37–new sales of these have cratered.

These have required few repairs:

http://www.truedelta.com/car-reliability.php?stage=pt&bd=Infiniti&mc=130&email=Guest

Funny, I was just searching for used first-gen M45s yesterday; there aren’t many. I bought a new G35x in 2004. Still a great car (for the wife) and I don’t think I would want to upgrade to an M45. I definitely wouldn’t want an M35.

The nice thing about BMW/Audi/Mercedes is that the leather in their interiors is durable and looks great after years and 100k+ miles even without regular maintenance (far better than other manufacturers, unless German leather has been another victim of recent, sight-unseen cost cutting).

I drove an A6 with the new direct-injected, supercharged 3.0, and I found it to be a brilliant drivetrain in search of a better car.

No matter how you slice it, the A6 is a front-drive platform competing price-wise with BMW, so it’s not going to have class-leading dynamics. The AWD system masks this somewhat, but dynamically, the A6 isn’t a match for the best platforms in this class. It loves fast sweepers and will eat up superhighways, but it’s ponderous in tight corners.

The Volvo S80 and the Lincoln MKS have the same problem – they’re FWD platforms adapted for AWD, so no matter how many horsepower and suspension tweaks are baked in, they’re not going to handle like a proper RWD sports sedan.

I also wasn’t impressed with the interior of the A6 – it was great to look at, but it feels more like a top-line VW than a $55,000 premium sedan.

If Infiniti would drop the same direct-injection V-6 that it introduced in the G-series into the M35, it would be a better car.

The main reason the M35 doesn’t get the respect it should is that it’s bland-looking.

And for you sporty-types interested in the A6, make sure to try the S-Line as the base 3.2’s handling may be too Buicky for your tastes.

The nice thing about BMW/Audi/Mercedes is that the leather in their interiors is durable and looks great after years and 100k+ miles even without regular maintenance (far better than other manufacturers, unless German leather has been another victim of recent, sight-unseen cost cutting).

If you’re catching air, I don’t think you need some electronic gadget to let you know…. ;-)

I just got MY “YSO” sportscar, a 06 Honda S2000 with 35K miles (as a CPO for blue-book + tax).

I’m delightfully happy with it. But it depreciated no where near as fast as this Infinity example.

Steven: I’d nix the audi except as a CPO with a 100K warantee, and sell it when the warantee expires. Too many electrical gremlins.