Infiniti M45 Sport Atlanta GA

Infiniti is clearly serious about this whole sports luxury thing. After a shaky start some 15 years ago, when the upstart division seemed more about new age music and waterfalls than automobiles, Nissan's premium brand is making its mark on the luxury-car establishment with a well-executed selection of quick, comfortable and stylish vehicles. The past couple of years have seen a dramatic upturn with the introduction of the G35 sedan/coupe and the FX35/45 crossovers. Blending performance with personality and style, this quartet of vehicles has helped vault Infiniti into the thick of the luxury market.

Central to the success of these recent models is Nissan's versatile FM (front mid-ship) platform. Introduced with the 350Z sports car in 2003, the FM has enabled Infiniti to produce a variety of front-engine/rear/all-wheel-drive vehicles with V-6 and V-8 powerplants. The all-new M45 is the latest model to receive the FM treatment and it's easily the most evolved application to date. Forget what you know about the current M45 because its replacement is a completely different (and much more satisfying) luxury sports sedan.

This new, larger FM variant sports significant enhancements to over 60 percent of its rear-wheel-drive G35-based chassis. It's 6.0 in. longer overall, 1.7 in wider, has a 2.0-in.-longer wheelbase and wider tracks (1.1 in. front, 1.5 in. rear). More important for sports sedan fans, the M45's chassis is 30 percent stiffer torsionally and, unlike its little brother the G, is available with the same 4.5-liter V-8 as the FX45, Q45 and outgoing M45. Pumping out 335 bhp and 340 lb.-ft. of torque through a 5-speed automatic transmission with manual shift mode, this smooth-revving gem endows the new M with performance suitably matched to its improved chassis.

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