G14 AUTOMOTIVE THE CAR PAGES Drowning in ‘immersive luxury’
profitable to do so. That explains the 2011 Infiniti QX56 sport-utility vehicle, among the last of the truck-based, space- gobbling, gas-guzzling, personal- transport leviathans still available in the U.S. automobile market. It competes with the likes of the Cadillac Escalade, Lexus GS 570 and Lincoln Navigator, luxury SUVs that nowadays are likely to bring as much opprobrium as praise.
T
But public sentiment is subser- vient to reality. People decry pros- titution and oil pollution, yet one has flourished through the ages and the other is poisoning the Gulf of Mexico. Both are the re- sult, directly or indirectly, of con- sumer demand. Infiniti, the luxury division of
Japan’s Nissan Motor, thinks enough consumer demand re- mains in the United States to profitably support sales of its most in-your-face SUV, yet — the 2011 QX56 with all-wheel-drive. As it happened, my sample of the QX56 arrived just as undersea cameras began documenting how our insatiable demand for oil, and the hustle of companies such as BP to supply it, could lead to dis- aster. That SUV could not have come at a more inappropriate time. The QX56 stretches 17.3 feet, stands 6.3 feet high and has a width of 6.7 feet. It weighs nearly three tons and swallows premium gasoline at the rate of 14 miles per gallon in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. Driving it on the streets of Baltimore and the Dis- trict of Columbia, I felt as wel- come as a BP executive at a Loui- siana crayfish boil. Nissan and Infiniti executives had no way of knowing that their latest iteration of the QX56, a ve- hicle line that began in 1997, would appear in the midst of America’s most devastating oil spill. But they must have assumed that the new QX56 would be fighting an uphill battle in public
COURTESY OF INFINITI
WARREN BROWN On Wheels
acceptability in a recessionary economy, which would explain why they went over the top with luxury appointments in this one. It is a successful strategy used in the best and worst of times. To wit: Outrageousness attracts at- tention, favorable and unfavor- able. Enough outrageousness yields sales. Infiniti’s marketing people de- scribe that strategy with the term “immersive luxury.” The objective is to drown you in luxury, to dead- en your sensitivity to societal ob- jections via pleasure and seduc- tion.
So what if you’re driving a three-ton beast? It doesn’t feel beastly with a 5.6-liter V-8 engine
(400-horsepower, 413 foot- pounds of torque) pulling it with the ease and feel of a sports se- dan. What about handling? In the QX56, it has been made remark- ably easy with what Infiniti calls its “hydraulic motion control sys- tem.”
I looked at the size and plush appointments of the Q56 and thought I’d be driving just an- other overweight land yacht. But Infiniti used computer-assisted engineering and design to con- found that expectation. The Q56’s four-wheel-independent suspen- sion allowed me to turn corners and take curves with complete confidence and competence. In that and other ways, there was so much to love about the Q56, including the ability to move its middle seats back and forth, using a button conveniently adja- cent to the driver’s seat. “Immer- sive luxury” might be a fancy term for selfishness, but I was falling in love with it. I believe people who have the
intelligence to earn lots of money should have the right to spend it
as they see fit. But I lack a liberat- ing sense of entitlement, which is essential to become rich. Do I really need a vehicle as
large as the QX56 to carry one person through these streets? Ex- actly how comfortable and cod- dled should I be in congested traf- fic, where rapt attention and at least a little edginess is needed to avoid collisions? And that oily mess in the Gulf
of Mexico, that petro-soaked wild- life and ruined tourist industry — is that really just BP’s fault? The genius of Infiniti and its ri-
vals in the car business is that they know how to overcome such doubts with what the industry calls “content.” Automatically close the windows of the QX56. Turn on the three-zone (front, middle, rear) cabin cooling sys- tem. Inhale the fragrance of that supple interior leather; step on the accelerator. Varrr-ooo- mmmmmm . . . I don’t know where the Q56 is taking me. But it sure as hell feels good getting there.
brownw@washpost.com
he automobile industry is amoral in accommoda- tion. It goes where invited and stays as long as it is
2011 Infiniti QX56 NUTS ANDBOLTS
Bottom line: Luxury is the celebration of the nonessential. The Infiniti QX56 fits the bill in an era of economic and energy insecurity. Such vehicles nowadays should come with increased federal fuel taxes and other fees.
Ride, acceleration and handling: It gets excellent marks in all three.
Head-turning quotient: I hereby forgive all of you for your Ignoble Digital Salutes and nasty curses. I knew and loved both of my late parents as they knew and loved me. And I never, ever did any of those things with my mother.
Body style/layout: The QX56 is a full-size, front-engine luxury sport-utility vehicle available with rear-wheel and four-wheel drive. It is built body-on-frame in the traditional manner of light trucks.
Engine/transmission: It is equipped with a 5.6-liter, 32-valve, V-8 engine delivering amaximum 400 horsepower and 413 foot-pounds of torque. Electronic valve lift and timing helps to improve fuel economy, but not by much. The engine is linked to a seven-speed transmission that can be shifted automatically or manually.
Capacities: Seats for eight people. Cargo capacity is 112 cubic feet with middle and rear seats folded, and 16.6 cubic feet with middle and rear seats up. The Q56 can be equipped to carry a trailer weighing 8,500 pounds. The fuel tank holds 26 gallons of gasoline (premium recommended “for best performance”).
Mileage: Barely 16 miles per gallon combined. It cost me $83 to fill the tank with premium after a 397-mile city-highway run.
Safety: Standard equipment includes four-wheel disc brakes (ventilated front and rear), emergency braking assistance (automatic load-balancing in panic stops), electronic stability and traction control; also front, rear and third-row head air bags, and xenon high-intensity discharge headlamps.
Price: The base price of the 2011 Infiniti QX56 with four-wheel drive is $59,800. Dealer’s invoice price on that model is $55,151. Price as tested is $72,240, including $11,490 in options (onboard navigation with backup camera, lane-departure and blind-side monitoring systems recommended by this column; middle/rear-seat audio visual theater package, Hydraulic Body Motion Control System, and others) and a $950 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $66,066.
on
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11 a.m. Fridays at
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www.wmet1160.com.
3Next week: 2011 VW Jetta TDi — proof that "fun-to-drive" and fuel economy can coexist.
6washingtonpost.com/cars Search a database of past reviews, plus the latest auto news.
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