Cars Worth Noting – 2004 Infiniti M45

I slid into an Infiniti chat room to see what the camp thought of the M45. It seems that we don’t agree on one thing. They feel that Nissan and Infiniti lag behind in the styling department. I tend to disagree. Nissan understands design better than its Japanese counterparts and most others, for that matter.

The M45 looks great. This rear-drive luxury sports sedan looks like it was carved out of a single solid piece of granite. Firm aplanted on the road, it’s a very masculine looking car (if I can say that without being labelled sexist).

The design of the M45 harks back to the American muscle cars of the late ’50 and early ’60s, without looking too retro. It reminds me a little of one of my favorite super cars, the 1964 Hemi-powered Facel Vega 2 coupe, considered by some to be one of the best sports tourers of its time.

Inside are all of the amenities expected of a car in this segment. Lots of leather interior and birdseye maple trim. It also picks up the DVDbased navigation system and voice-recognition system from the Q-45.

The M45 also shares most of the Q’s powertrain, including the 4.5L DOHC V-8. At 340 hp and 333 lbs.-ft. of torque the M doesn’t have any trouble getting out of its way, or anyone elses. The five-speed automatic is a smoothshifter. Thankfully, the M45, unlike some of the above mentioned vehicles, also handles and stops just as good as it goes.

I may have to get back into that Infiniti board and set those guys straight. Look at what’s coming from Chrysler. They’re reinventing their rear-drive large sedan from the 1950s. The M45 also harks back to that era, when performance didn’t just come in two-seat sports cars.