INFINITI FX 4x4 2009 on

I think the professional reviewers of this car live on a different planet to me, because they all said the car was average or worse. So, listening to them, I drove a Cayenne, a Toureg, an X5 and a Q7 before I decided. And I bought this car.

Simple summary is Boxster performance and handling with Jeep practicality and Ford pricing (if you buy nearly new). Equipment levels are stunning, handling and performance glorious and over 27 to the gallon on a long run. What's not to like (compared to the 'follow the herd' bunch above)?

So it's definitely not as cheap to run as a VW diesel, or as quiet on rough surfaces as an X5. But that's not why you like driving is it?

Drive it 1700 miles to the South of France and back, like I did last week, and get out fresh as a daisy, with an ear-to-ear grin all the way.

And just occasionally, foot to the floor and revel in the glorious engine sound.

Infiniti have not attracted a big following, probably down to the duff reviewers, and that's just fine by me because this car WILL get noticed among all the German blandness, and for all the right reasons. And Infiniti customer service is as good as any Porsche dealer and better than BMW or Audi by a country mile.

Buy second hand and smile!

Had to change my wife car due to lack of boot space on current car and decided to go for aa 4x4.

Unfortunately when it comes down to choice there is not much variety. Therre are of course the Range Rover's Bmw and other Mercs but when you are spending £40K + on a car do you really want to be driving the same thing as everybody else.

So we decided to have a look at the FX and bought it immediately. First of the looks are fantastic, if you want to stay away fron the stigma of family car and still own a 4x4 this is perfect. Second it is very well apointed, nearly every option in the book comes as standard with intuitive controls and the detailed leather seats are something I have only seen in a few high end supercars. the back seats do not have huge leg space but still enough to easily fit a bulky baby seat without your child shoes hitting and dirting the back of the front seat.

Now although I find the FX is one of the best 4x4 out there there are still some things that could have been better.

My two main complaints stand with the boot space and the finishing on some of the items. Cleary some items are directly taken from the Nissan/renault cars and feel quite cheap. As an example the petrol opening lid and the sunroof sliding protection feel very light and are not really representative of a high end car and the finishing around the window opening switches which should be in the same venneer wood as the main console rather then some sort of harderened plastic.

the boot space although still being quite big is not as big as other 4*4. I mean you can easily fit a pram + shopping but due to the design of the back loses in height space. the back seat can of course go down flat so any extra space you need is available but it still would have been nice to have some immediate extra room.

concerning running cost, let's be honest you are not buying a fiat 500 so yes it does drink and insurance is quite high. if you are looking for a cheap car to run stay away. But then you would miss out on a fantastic engine that really makes the car a pleasure to drive, and the way it holds the road reminds me more of a GT or a small coupe then a 3 ton 4x4.

This is the most complete i have ever driven , it is very quick when needed, but sedate if you wish . It has fantastic looks and i always have people asking me what it is.