When I first got behind the wheel of a Nissan SUV with the great new 3.5-litre V6 last fall in Japan, I knew the engine was going to do wonders for the models it would power in Canada.
Clearly it was going to transform both the Nissan Pathfinder and the Infiniti QX4, but it would have an especially salutatory effect on the pricier QX4. After all, paying north of $45,000 for a vehicle as underpowered as the previous QX4 was must have been hard for its buyer.
Well, now there's no need for the buyer to pretend he didn't care the other SUVs were faster, since the new engine puts the even pricier ($48,000) QX4 at the front of the SUV performance pack.
By the way, that's the letter "X" in the middle of QX4, not a "by" symbol. So it's Q-X-4, not Q-by-4. Apparently, lots of people think the latter pronunciation is correct. Go figure.
Anyway, whatever you call this vehicle, it is considerably improved from the model it replaces. Mostly this is the result of the extremely more powerful engine, but there are also a whole bunch of things about the QX4 that are improved and welcome for that.
But that stuff's window-dressing, since nothing comes close to the change wrought by the bigger engine. Heck, if it was exactly the same old model with this new engine, I would still be excited about it.
After all, any time a vehicle stays at about the same curbweight and gets 70 more horsepower and 65 extra pound-feet of torque it is worth getting excited about. For those keeping exact score, the new numbers are 240 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 265 pound-feet of torque at 3200 rpm.
If enough torque weren't enough to talk about, the new engine actually reaches its peak number at lower revs. This results in a 0 to 100 km/h time of just over 9 seconds, down a full two seconds from the previous model's leisurely mark.
This will be great news for people interested specifically in a QX4, but in a broader sense this model signals the start of a full-fledged effort to turn the Infiniti line into a full-fledged performance brand.
When the brand first launched about a decade ago, the original Q45 sports sedan kind of had that reputation. It's drifted considerably from there in recent years, but Infiniti insiders promise that the Q45 will return to that image with a vengeance when it gets done over later this year. Set to debut in mid-April at the New York auto show, the 2001 Q45 will be a no excuses sports sedan capable of running with The Big Dogs (or rather Die Grossen Hund) when it returns. That would be the BMW 540 and the Mercedes-Benz E420.
The QX4 will surely leave most SUVs in its dust and a considerable number of sedans and coupes and what have you as well. It's okay over the first few metres of its launch, but when it hits the torque sweetspot just beyond 2000 rpm it really starts to hum. So getting up an onramp or getting around a transport truck on some two-lane shouldn't be a problem.
The power is sent through a re-engineered 4-speed automatic transmission and it goes to all four wheels, if the driver desires, as only the 4WD model is available in Canada.
I meant what I said about the new engine being enough to make me reconsider the QX4, but I have to admit I was also glad that they fixed up the exterior and interior styling at well.
On the outside, that meant a new grille and bumper, a new rear fascia and bumper, high intensity discharge (HID) Xenon headlights (which have an automatic on/off feature), new fog lights with integrated turn signals, 3-spoke 16-inch or 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, and body-colour side body cladding with continuous integrated fender flares and body-colour step rails.
It's still not my favorite SUV exterior, but it's less irritating than it was before so that's good.
On the inside, the new Q gets leather seating surfaces and colour-coordinated Bird's Eye Maple woodtone trim, a Bose 150-watt, 6-speaker audio system with AM/FM/cassette and a 6-disc in-dash CD player, an 8-way power driver seat and a 4-way power passenger seat, a new micro-filtration unit in the climate control system, and a revised instrument panel design with electro-fluorescent gauge illumination, sports-style analog "sports" clock, new wood/leather steering wheel.
This is a much nicer place to sit now, thanks to the revised bits and the extra goodies, but that could be because you're not sitting there staring at the dash wondering why this thing won't go any faster.
It also helps that more than 100 modifications were made to the QX4 to reduce noise, vibration and harshness. As well, front liquid-filled and rear double-cushion engine mounts further reduce vibration.
Mechanical bits of consequence would include power-assisted anti-lock brakes that are vented discs up front and drums in the rear, power-assisted engine-speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering, and independent front strut suspension and 5-link coil-spring rear beam suspension.On the safety and security front, there are front and side airbags for both occupants in the front seats, active head restraints for the front seats to cut down on the chance of whiplash, and a remote keyless entry with a vehicle immobilizer device.
In all, the QX4 is probably worth the extra few grand Nissan Canada is asking for it, especially if you like driving a hot SUV.
