It's amazing how headlights can thoroughly transform the look of a car. The relatively plain, rectangular units featured on the M45 have been replaced with far more stylish, modern L-shaped polycarbonate units. Here, a display of Nissan's engineering creativity is expressed in gatling-gun-style high-intensity discharge beams, similar to those featured on the Infiniti Q45/Nissan Cima, but one-upped by a dual-beam system that shines a luminous bright blue. With accent rings, and a design that would emulate the ideal 'death ray' for a space science-fiction film, the Fuga's beams simply stun driver and passengers amazed with their forward projection. Orange stripes of LED lights stretch from the base out to the headlamp's edge, forming the turn signal lights: very clever, nicely detailed and oh-so cool. If, as the saying goes, the eyes are the windows to the soul, its headlamp clusters are a pretty good indication as to what's deep inside the Fuga.
 |
| The Fuga's luminous bright blue headlights are very clever, nicely detailed and oh-so cool. (Photo: Nissan Motors) |
The soul would be Nissan/Infiniti's superb 340-hp 4.5-L 32-valve DOHC V8, ample for propelling the rear-wheel drive sedan to hyper speeds in the blink of a... headlight? The motor is one of the most powerful V8s in current production, and easily the most powerful standard engine in the midsize luxury class.
 |
| The Fuga is built on a chassis that's racked up quite a list of awards while endearing a clear-cut following in its short existence. (Photo: Nissan Motors) |
Controlling the power and torque is a chassis that's racked up quite a list of awards while endearing a clear-cut following in its short existence. Using FM-L architecture, which stands for Front-Midship-Large, the actual engine location has been pushed back as far as possible to create greater overall balanced. Stretched to 4,930 mm (194.1 in) in length, the FM-L is more or less an extended version of the platform shared with the Infiniti G35/FX35/45/Nissan 350 Z.