1997 Luxury Sedans Compared: Different Approaches to Luxury

A new answer to the age-old question: Can anyone top the Germans? The Infiniti Q45t and Lexus LS400 take on the BMW 540i and Mercedes-Benz E420. View PhotosAaron Kiley|Car and DriverFrom the December 1996 issue of Car and Driver. Here's great news for those new car buyers trying to scrape by on 50 large. The ready-to-drive rack is groaning with the season's latest fashions, and most of them are all new within the past few months. Sounds like the call for your obedient servants to slip into their calibrated, thin-seat trousers and head for the secret test roads, doesn't it? The fresh faces here are the BMW 540i, the Mercedes-Benz E420, and the Infiniti Q45t. In the latter case, Nissan has jacked up the familiar Q45 badge and driven an all-new sedan underneath. The original Q, you may remember, came confidently into the luxury market as a 1990 model thinking the customers would be won by horsepower instead of dashboard wood. They weren't. For 1997, a chastened Infiniti's second try for those customers crams an all-you-can-drive smorgasbord of luxury-car cues into a body cautiously styled to avoid offending anyone. See all results for used 1997 Infiniti Q45 for sale near 226010 This retargeted Japanese entry faces two Germans that you might recognize as V-8 versions of the six-cylinder sedans that placed first and second in our "Semiprecious Metal" comparison (C/D, August 1996). These two cars reflect a European approach to midrange luxury that's quite distinct from the Japanese way and from the American way. These are downright compact four-doors with the sort of sinewy chassis muscles that activist drivers enjoy. Those who enter through the three other doors are carried as tourist-class passengers and are encouraged to keep quiet if they can't say something nice. You will notice, though, that this magazine is staffed by test drivers, not test passengers, so the European way usually gathers the most votes. Usually. But readers of above-average RAM may recall our luxury sedan comparison (C/D, February 1995), in which the second-generation Lexus LS400 made its debut by outscoring all comers in a group priced about like this one. That Lexus stands as a luxury-car benchmark—an outstanding combination of comfort, silence, power, fuel economy, and roominess. As it rolls into its third year of sales, the price remains about where it was ($55,141 base for 1997). Can this proven Lexus formula still whup the Europeans? Comparison tests were invented to answer such questions. Any other candidate out there? The Cadillac STS has just enjoyed a substantial price cut for 1997, dropping it well below the 50-large mark. And we see no other possibilities. So let the ratings begin. After a few seasons at their craft, car testers, like wine tasters, learn to read their subjects very quickly—the first 10 miles fills in most of the picture. But not in this Infiniti. The flavors are too subtle, they build too slowly. It's more delicious on the second day, and better still on the third. What seems at first to be a big, silent, indecisive saloon turns into, after some hours, a self-effacing machine with an inherent poise that lets you cover the miles in comfort, and with little effort. See all results for used 1997 Infiniti Q45 for sale near 226010 Certainly, some of the credit for this goes to the Touring option, the source of the "t" in Q45t, which includes a sport-tuned suspension (stiffer rear shocks and springs, softer rear anti-roll bar). Gone is the firm ride and rear-steering suspension of the earlier Q45t, leaving only poise. Isolation from the road is too great to please the Euro enthusiasts—and that costs points in our balloting—but the result is admirable nonetheless. The flavor here is definitely poise rather than verve. In quarter-mile speed, which is a very good indicator of a car's power feel, the Q is far behind the others, 10 mph slower than the BMW 540i, 7 mph behind the M-B, 4 mph behind the Lexus. The others feel like fast cars, the Q never does. Yet it's no less capable than the others in road-gripping ability, as the group's tight envelope of braking and skidpad results clearly shows. Never mind that the Q has been modestly downsized for 1997, it's still the biggest (nearly a foot longer than the BMW) and heaviest (about 250 pounds heavier than the Mercedes) car here. Interior space is more generous than in the German cars, although it can't quite match that of the clever Lexus. The Q45's trunk beat them all for ease of use. It's wide rather than long, so there'll never be that long reach for objects that have worked their way toward the front. The driver sits high in this cabin, on the seat rather than in it. And he's surrounded by furniture—shiny woodlike trim, big pieces of it, on the dash, the doors, and the console. How did they miss the ceiling? The leather has a soft, smooth surface texture, and the seats have plush padding over a reasonably supportive foundation. The mood inside

1997 Luxury Sedans Compared: Different Approaches to Luxury

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