130 WheelsMag.com.au
Corby concedes that (other) people can settle for ‘nice’
Infinite wisdom
COLLEAGUES can be cruel. I was recently
mocked for driving an Infiniti by a former
Wheels staffer who now works for the print
version of what nerds call “vapourware”.
It’s a magazine that doesn’t seem to exist. I
spend a lot of time in newsagents, hoping to
be recognised by readers, and yet I’ve never
seen his publication, so it was ironic that
he made fun of my car’s branding,
along the lines of it beingamusing that something sold in such finite
numbers is called an Infiniti.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s cruel
humour, but as he was referring to the fact
that the only Q50 he’d ever seen on the road
had turned out to be a press car, with me in it,
it was hard to argue. I’m still not sure whether
to defend my Infiniti or not in these situations,
but I have had more “what the hell are you
driving now?” conversations since acquiring
this vehicle than I can count.
I’ve also had cause to chauffeur a number
of people around in the Q50 and I can report
that they all tend to use the same, slightly
limp complimentary term in relation to the
experience – “nice”. People, non-car people in
particular, think it’s “nicer” than the average
Nissan and “nice” inside, and even that it
looks “nice”.
But I find myself questioning whether it’s
nice enough to be considered a premium player
worthy of sitting beside an established ersatz
German brand, like Lexus or Volvo, let alone the
Big Three themselves.
Even the mighty Toyota corporation struggles
with the problem of perceived luxury, but it’sfair to say the latest Lexuses get closer to
it, in terms of feel, fit and finish, than the
Infiniti does. Perhaps it’s because Nissan’s
brand has been developed to impress
Americans rather than Australians, who are
possibly a little snobbier about cars because
we didn’t grow up driving crappy Chryslers,
Dodges and Cadillacs.
So who is the Infiniti aimed at? Clearly
not me or my colleague. I’m picturing
possibly the kind of older outliers who used
to buy Saabs, who like to be different for the
sake of being different, who want class and
comfort and efficiency from their vehicle
rather than excitement, and who don’t want
to pay too much for it.
And the truth is, I think they’d be very
happy with the Q50, because it does all
the basics well; it rides pleasantly, it’s
comfortable and quiet on long journeys, has
a reasonable back seat, feels a tiny bit more
special than other Japanese cars. And it is,
above all else, quite nice.
The people who will mock you for buying
one, however, are anything but.
STEPHEN CORBYGarage
02909 WEEK 9
URBAN COUNTRY SPORTS FAMILY MOTORWAY
Idling moments
The idle-stop system on the Infiniti is commendably smooth
and probably saves whole millilitres of fuel, every day. I was
determined to find out what difference it would make to my
fuel economy to drive a whole tank with it on, and anotherwith it off. But I just couldn’t manage it. Turns out that
even the best idle-stop systems enrage me, and I just
can’t bring myself to leave the bloody thing on. At least
it’s easy to turn off.UNCONVINCED
I can’t feel the
difference between the
heavy and light steering
settings. They both feel
too light to me
Date acquired:April 2015
Price as tested:$52,400
This month: 1213km @ 10.5L/100km
Overall: 2293km @ 11.3L/100km