Infiniti M Hybrid. This is someone's idea of saving the planet?
The flagship sedan in Nissan's new luxury brand Infiniti – due to open its doors in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in August – is a hybrid like no other.
With a stated 0 to 100km/h time of 5.5 seconds, Infiniti claims its M Hybrid is the fastest hybrid sedan in the world – quicker than both the Porsche and Lexus petrol-electric sedans.
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Infiniti M Hybrid. The Infiniti M is one of the best hybrid drivetrains I've sampled, and feels quicker than the others, although we couldn't match the official 0 to 100km/h claim.
The best repeatable time we could achieve was 6.1 seconds, which would put it just behind the Porsche Panamera hybrid (6.0 seconds) and the Lexus GS450h (5.9 seconds).
Of course, luxury sedans are not supposed to be about straight-line speed. They're about image, comfort and technology. And that's where the Infiniti M starts to lose some of its shine.
For starters, in the metal, the Infiniti M looks like it is meant to be a competitor to the Lexus IS250, BMW 3-Series or Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
But its small and skinny appearance is deceiving.
According to the tape measure, the Infiniti M competes in the next class up, with the Lexus GS, BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
It is longer than its German peers – but also narrower. The distance between the front and rear wheels (an indication of a car's footprint and cabin space) is shorter than a BMW 5-Series but longer than the other rivals.
Styling is subjective, but the consensus on the preview drive in Queenstown New Zealand this week was that the Infiniti M doesn't have the road presence of its peers. The styling could easily be mistaken for an upmarket Hyundai, inside and out.
Then there is the attention to detail, or more importantly the lack of it. Much of the switchgear and touch-points – including the audio and climate controls – are the same as found in Nissans.
The oval shaped sensor key is exactly what you get when you buy a Nissan Maxima (among others), but with a different badge on the back.
Indeed, first impressions are that the Infiniti feels closer to a Nissan than a Lexus does to a Toyota.
Perhaps in an attempt to draw your attention away from the carryover Nissan switches and dials, there is a glossy grey timber panel with sparkles in it. It's intended to be exotic but is about as trend-setting as metal flakes in kitchen bench tops.
All this may sound harsh, but it needs to be put in context. This is a company that intends to charge more for its cars than the Germans (and Lexus) when it sets up shop in two months.
To do this successfully the Infiniti cars need to over-deliver with image, comfort and technology. But alas they do not.
While they have radar cruise control and blind spot warning (available on top-spec Toyota Camrys these days), they don't have digital radio, digital speed display, a heads-up display, an electric park brake (now common in the class), or a frontal-crash avoidance system.
There is a lane-keeping warning beep (a camera keeps an eye on the road ahead and makes sure you don't wander from your lane without indicating) but it gets triggered so readily it becomes routine to switch it off.
The indicators are on the left of the steering wheel (as per most European cars) but Infinitis are made in Japan. Is there really not enough profit margin to switch the indicator stalks to the correct side?
Shoulder space is compromised by the narrow body – there's not even room for pockets in the rear doors – although headroom and kneeroom are passable in the front and rear.
Much of the boot space is taken up by the hybrid's lithium-ion hybrid battery pack – you can only get one set of golf clubs in there.
With a capacity of just 350 litres, the Infiniti M Hybrid has less boot space than a Toyota Corolla sedan – or the Lexus GH450h hybrid (465 litres). And less than its peers (BMW 5 Series 520 litres, Mercedes E Class 540 litres). Even the regular Infiniti M sedan without the battery in the way lags the competition (425 to 450 litres).
Then there's the way it drives. The Infiniti sedan is quiet compared to its FX SUV stablemate – but that is faint praise. The sedan's sibling was one of the noisiest cars I've driven.
The Infiniti M sedan has a Bose 16-speaker sound system that also has two microphones that reportedly help cancel out engine noise at certain frequencies.
Infiniti says the radio must on be for the noise cancelling function to work. So, technically, you could say every car with a radio – no matter how good it is or isn't – has a "noise cancelling" device.
While road roar was on par for the class and the Infiniti M Hybrid sedan was comfortable over bumps, the steering was not as sharp as the Infiniti SUV's. Customarily, the opposite is true of such vehicles.
We suspect this is because the Infiniti hybrid sedan runs on 18-inch wheels and low-friction tyres (read: low grip) to help with fuel efficiency. The SUV rides on taut and grippy 21-inch rubber.
There is a 20-inch wheel option on the regular V6 petrol and V6 diesel Inifiniti sedan models, but they are currently not available on the hybrid for reasons known only to the factory.
At least the Infiniti M Hybrid claws back some kudos with fuel economy. The average consumption is rated at 6.9L/100km, compared to 7.9L/100km for the GS450h hybrid sedan.
However, Infiniti has been less successful with the efficiency of the V6 petrol and diesel models (which we are yet to test).
The V6 petrol average consumption is rated at 10.2L/100km, which is over the odds compared to the six-cylinder German cars with similar power and performance (BMW 7.7L/100km and Mercedes-Benz 8.5L/100km).
The Infiniti sedan diesel consumption is rated at 7.5L/100km, which is more thirsty than the six-cylinder diesel from BMW (5.6L/100km) and the Mercedes-Benz (6.1L/100km).
Infiniti is not announcing prices until the local launch in August. It has named the three dealer networks that will open showrooms but is yet to publicly pinpoint the locations.
For the Infiniti to make the consideration list and make a serious impact on the luxury sedan market, the cars need to be priced close to $60,000 – less than half the cost of the last Infiniti sedan sold here between 1993 and 1996 – given their current level of equipment and lack of differentiation (inside at least) with Nissan cars.
Unfortunately, early indications are that the Infiniti M sedan will be priced in excess of $80,000 which, by current standards, will make it a hard sell indeed.
Fast facts: Infiniti M Hybrid
Price: $80,000-plus
Engine: 3.5 V6 petrol (225kW/360Nm) and an electric motor (50kW/270Nm)
Transmission: 7-speed automatic
Weight: 1835kg
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