C&d
1 look at the stylish 2011 Infiniti M56 was enough to whet our appetites. Then the spec sheet—showing the car’s optional V-8 (a 95-hp boost versus its comparo-winning M45 predecessor)—whetted them more. And the performance results in our M56 road test [June 2010] pretty much sealed the deal. We needed to see how this aggressive update on Infiniti’s top-drawer sedan (now that the Q45 has vanished) would stand up to the not-so-tender mercies of Michigan roads for 40,000 miles.
Lots of muscle, head-turning sheetmetal, gorgeous interior, and lots of tech goodies: What could possibly go wrong? We anticipated a communion of unalloyed joy, 40,000 miles of pure driving pleasure. A long-legged thoroughbred created to make miles disappear at wholesale rates, simultaneously making its driver look forward to the next hundred—or thousand—miles with anticipation.
That summarizes our expectations as the M56S joined our long-term test fleet.
The reality was something else. Over the course of almost 16 months and 41,693 miles, the suite of advanced electronics (adaptive cruise, lane-departure warning and prevention, blind-spot warning and intervention, collision warning, brake assist, adaptive headlights,
“eco” mode) bundled into the $3000 Technology package had more hiccups than a champagne aficionado on New Year’s Eve.
Everyone who tried the
“eco” setting, which physically limits gas-pedal travel to save fuel, reported that one try was enough and never used it again. The adaptive cruise control went through cranky episodes when it refused to set—the only way to bring it back online was to stop, shut off the ignition, and start up again; basically, to reboot. It got old. The same can be said for a loss of traction-control function, which, consistent with Murphy’s Law, occurred midwinter.
Dashboard warning lights, with cryptic labels—
“4WAS” and
“IBA”—were frequent and defied interpretation without referring to the owner’s manual. On a couple of occasions, the dashboard lit up like a pinball machine, a digital rebellion that ultimately led to the replacement of the car’s ECU, which took almost a month. This measure diminished—but did not entirely eliminate—the dashboard light show.
Of the Tech-package elements that worked reliably, several proved to be a source of irritation. In addition to the
“eco” mode, the lane-keeping features—lane-departure warning and active departure prevention—were a little too zealous, although at least these could be defeated. The collision-warning system had a similarly low panic threshold, and for once we found ourselves wishing we’d listened to our man
Aaron Robinson, who had warned against ordering this package in our road test. He summed it up as
“anti-fun software,” a characterization that proved to be more accurate than he imagined.
When not ablaze with warning lights, the instrument panel is handsome.
Robinson labeled the $3650 Sport package as a
“maybe,” but that’s another box we wish we hadn’t checked. It includes 20-inch cast aluminum wheels (startlingly expensive at $1539 each; how do we know? Don’t ask), shod with 245/40 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A performance tires, high-performance brake pads, 4-wheel active steering, sporty front trim, bucket seats with more lateral support, and, of course, stiffer suspension tuning.
It’s this last element—the firmer suspension—that we regret. The steering didn’t make everyone happy—quick (2.5 turns lock to lock) to the point of dartiness, not much tactile info—and we expected slightly better grip (0.87 in the final test). But the combination of stiff suspension and low-profile tires added up to ride quality that made just about everyone unhappy. The word
“harsh” appeared regularly in the logbook.
The heavy wheels, unyielding suspension, and patchwork Michigan pavement also combined to put more impact energy into the body shell than it could manage, and as the miles mounted, this produced a small chorus of creaks and rattles that were not at all luxurious. And those weren’t the only unwelcome noises. The M56S had been in our care for only a few months when logbook reports began to include mention of low-grade mechanical sounds—one driver characterized it as
“mooing.” Despite a number of complaints, our dealer’s service department was unable to find a problem, nor were the techies able to diminish the noises, which persisted throughout the rest of the test.
On a splendid late May day, at 3410 miles, the sunroof dutifully opened, then steadfastly refused to close, an irritation amplified in direct proportion to the length of time required to restore function: 27 days. That’s how long it took Infiniti to get a new sunroof motor to our dealer’s service department. All told, it was not exactly a triumphal track record.
The one aspect of the M56S that no one complained about—The gutsy 5.6-liter V-8.
Of course, there were some positive notes. Power, for example. The M56S is propelled—vigorously—by a 5.6-liter, DOHC 32-valve direct-injection V-8: 420 horsepower at 6000 rpm, 417 pound-feet of torque, mated to a 7-speed automatic offering a manual shift mode. Put the pedal to the floor, and the M56S responds with a riptide of torque, a gratifying asset for exploiting tight seams in freeway traffic, even though some found throttle tip-in to be touchy.
Our M56S achieved its best acceleration results in its 1st visit to the test track with 1347 miles on the clock: 0 to 60 in 4.7 seconds, the quarter in 13.2 at 108 mph. That’s unusual; most engines loosen up toward the end of a long-term tour. Then again, 4.9 seconds to 60 and a 13.5-second quarter-mile at 107 mph isn’t likely to produce a ho or a hum.
Braking, augmented by high-friction pads ($370), was strong from the 1st test (165 feet from 70 mph) to the last (161), though there were a couple of complaints about noise, and we had to replace the front pads at 35,713 miles.
Styling was another strong suit, inside and out, although not as widely seductive as the car’s power. But the nav system—a standard feature—won consistent praise, and the 16-speaker Bose premium audio system helped make some of the car’s glitches a little more tolerable. Then again, as part of a $2000 option package that included Infiniti’s Forest Air system, which varies dashboard-vent airflow to remind occupants of woodland breezes (sans bear odors), the performance of the audio system should rival the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall.
The “S” is for sport, an option package we regret having ordered.
Which brings us to costs. The various electronic problems we encountered were covered by warranty, and the tab for 5 routine service visits came to a not-unreasonable $729. But nonwarranty work ran substantially higher. The damaged wheel, a cracked windshield ($1121), various repairs ($920), and replacement tires (Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position XLs for $1435) added $5015 to operating expenses, and fuel added another $6780 (the EPA forecast 16 mpg city and 25 highway; we averaged 20).
We can’t blame the M56S for the costs of the wheel or the windshield. But it’s hard to avoid disappointment with the litany of problems and irritations encountered in a sedan at this price level.
Mr. Robinson was right. We should have voted
“hell, no” on the Technology package. We should have voted no on the Sport package, too. And it’s a good bet that life with the standard 10-speaker Bose audio—as distinct from the super 16-speaker system that goes with the Sport Touring package—would have been tolerable. Even with the absence of Forest Air.
Delete all the extras, and you have a $58,415 M56, a car with the same power, more comfort, and fewer headaches.
Then again, one test driver wondered if we’d have been better off going with the M37 and its 330-hp, 3.7-liter V-6—$47,925 base, $50,075 with 4-wheel drive (2011 prices). At the end of the road with this M56S, we can’t help thinking that would have been the better choice.
We’re guessing that, at the moment the photo was taken, the driver of the M56S was complaining about the car’s ride quality.
Date: June 2011
Months in Fleet: 14 months
Current Mileage: 35,876 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 20 mpg
Range: 400 miles
Service: $622
Normal Wear: $1464
Repair: $1050
Damage and Destruction: $2661
As noted in our Infiniti M56’s introduction report, the surest signs of approval for a long-term test car are how often it’s signed out for lengthy trips and how rapidly it accumulates mileage. Measured against these indicators, and amplified by multiple logbook rants, our long-term Infiniti M56 hasn’t been as popular with horizon-chasing staffers as 1 might expect of a luxed-up sports sedan with 420 horses pushing it down the road.
Even more telling, the long-distance users have disappeared almost entirely, preferring to log the long hauls in other rides. During its 1st 20,000 miles in the fleet, the M56 was recruited for runs from Ann Arbor to such disparate destinations as Winnipeg, Manitoba; upstate New York; and Minneapolis; as well as shorter visits to Michigan’s border states.
Since then, however, it hasn’t seen many lengthy voyages, venturing far from home just twice—to April’s New York auto show and, more recently, to West Virginia. As a consequence, almost 15 months into the test, the M56 is still some 4000 miles short of its 40,000-mile goal.
Electronic Hiccups
Many, if not most, of the M56’s logbook gripes have to do with the car’s electronics, an operating area that began to draw flak in the first 20,000 miles and has drawn even more as we head down the home stretch.
Most egregious under this heading was in January when various warning lights began flashing on the dashboard—warning lights that defy interpretation without consulting the owner’s manual. This went on intermittently for about 1500 miles, and during those miles, the stability control ceased to function—always exciting during a Michigan winter. Ultimately, the electronic hysteria was curbed—although not entirely eliminated—with the installation of a new CPU, replaced at no charge under warranty.
Since then, there have been reports of random electronic weirdness. For example, on occasion, the adaptive cruise control refuses to set, flashing the intelligent brake assist warning light. This can usually be cured by shutting the car off and restarting—the basic reboot approach. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s irritating nonetheless.
Most recently, there have been reports of the right-front power window occasionally failing to respond to the switch and the power-adjustable steering column failing to return to its preset after the driver has belted up and started the car. It responds to its basic controls, but its short-term memory shows lapses. We’ve also seen some peeling and delaminating of the rubbery coating on the steering wheel and door handles.
Uncomfortable Comfort
The other ongoing area of kvetching falls into the comfort category. The ride quality borders on harsh, the seats begin to feel inhospitable after a couple hundred miles, and there’s persistent mechanical noise. Road noise is transmitted by the suspension and is particularly loud in the rear cabin.
Based on our experience to date, we regret checking the Sport package’s option box, which added $3650 to the $67,980 as-tested total. The combination of a stiffer suspension and low-profile rubber (245/40-20 Bridgestone Potenzas) adds up to ride quality that’s simply out of step with this car’s luxury mission, at least on the roads we travel regularly in southeast Michigan.
Our M56 has the suite of passive safety features bundled in the $3000 Technology package: adaptive cruise control, distance-control assist, blind-spot warning and intervention, lane-departure warning and intervention, the aforementioned intelligent brake assist with forward collision warning, precrash front seatbelt response, and adaptive headlights. Reactions to these features have ranged from indifferent to irritated, and drivers quickly identified the functions that could be defeated, leaving them dormant as much as possible.
And then there’s the M56’s eco setting, which manages throttle response and makes it pretty much impossible to summon all the car’s robust horsepower when desired. Reaction to the eco mode has been uniformly hostile. It was switched off at about mid-test and to the best of our knowledge hasn’t seen any use since.
Tallying the Expenses
To date, our out-of-pocket outlay for the Infiniti stands at a hefty $5797, excluding charges for swapping to winter tires and back again. However, we hasten to point out that $2661 of the total was accounted for by costs that were no fault of the car: a cracked windshield ($1121) and an expensive cracked wheel ($1539). We replaced all 4 tires at the same time (31,022 miles), for $1464—less than the cost of that one wheel. There have been 4 routine service visits to date, totaling $622. We’ve had eight unscheduled visits, most of which were for warranty matters, but 3 were not covered and added $1050 to our costs.
Date: November 2010
Months in Fleet: 7 months
Current Mileage: 20,992 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 20 mpg
Range: 400 miles
Service: $149
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $129
Just past the halfway point of its 40,000-mile Car and Driver tenure, our Infiniti M56 Sport is logging plenty of long-distance miles—from Ann Arbor to Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and upstate New York, to name a few destinations. That’s not surprising for a luxury sports sedan packing big V-8 muscle (420 hp), long legs, and a gorgeous interior with lots of features and plenty of room. What is surprising is that the logbook notes emerging from the Infiniti’s travels haven’t been exactly glowing.
Noise Notes
The most common
“What’s up with this?” comments have to do with noise. We have noted a strange chorus of sounds. Low-rpm booming from the exhaust is the most aggravating, but it’s augmented by rattles from the center console and front end and by humming from the HVAC system. With the exception of the exhaust drone, the noises are subdued but out of place for a car in this price category ($58,425 base and $67,980 as tested). These observations have been communicated to our Infiniti dealer during routine service visits, but the service techs have been unable to find any cause.
In addition, a number of logbook comments concern road noise. We attribute this to the car’s 20-inch wheels and low-profile Bridgestone Potenza RE050A performance tires, part of a $3650 Sport package that includes stiffer suspension tuning. The combination of wheels, tires, and suspension gives the M56 a pretty stiff ride—borderline harsh on bumpy pavement—and transmits a substantial amount of noise on almost any surface. Being able to explain the situation doesn’t make it less annoying, though, and other past and present long-termers with large wheels and tires have done a better job of shushing this noise.
Service—Routine and Otherwise
In addition to routine dealer maintenance visits at 7500 miles and 15,000 miles for an oil change, tire rotation, and manufacturer updates for the ECM and nav system, we took the M56 in for an unscheduled stop at 17,899 miles to resolve complaints about brake noise, tramlining, a moderate vibration, and a slight pull to the right in straight-ahead operation. The technicians were unable to find any problem with the brakes but performed a side-to-side tire rotation and four-wheel alignment that restored straight-line stability.
The cost of the unscheduled stop, not covered by the factory warranty, came to $129. The routine visits came to $71 and $78, respectively. We will soon make another visit, this time to replace the windshield, which has developed a crack of unknown origin along its base. In other expenses, we recently had a set of 245/40-20 Bridgestone Blizzak LM60 tires installed ($1124 for the set) to get us through the Michigan winter. We’ll be monitoring them to see if they have any effect on the road-noise complaints.
Positive Postings
Although the M56 has drawn some logbook flak for traits that seem out of place in a luxury sedan, its robust 5.6-liter V-8 continues to score points with the staff’s power junkies—a category that includes just about everyone here. A logbook entry summed it up as a
“great asset for sorting out freeway sheep and/or passing on 2-lane roads.”
As impressive as the engine performance is its accompanying fuel economy. A powertrain such as this, in the hands of a test crew such as ours, tends to provoke a lot of excesses with the throttle, but so far the M56—EPA rated for 16 mpg city, 25 highway, 19 combined—has exceeded the all-around forecast with a test average of more than 20 mpg. If only the M56’s noise suppression were as impressive.
Date: August 2010
Current Mileage: 11,756
Months in Fleet: 3 months
Average Fuel Economy: 20 mpg
Average range: 400 miles
Service: $71
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0
Introduced earlier this year as a 2011 model, the redesigned Infiniti M sedans employ essentially the same platform as the previous generation’s—no bad thing—wrapped in elegant new sheetmetal with a handsome new interior and a big infusion of good ol’ vitamin H under the hood.
The DOHC 24-valve, 3.7-liter direct-injected V-6 propelling the M37 makes 330 hp—up from the old M35’s 303 hp, which is more thrust than the old V-8 in last year’s M45 could summon. The 8-cylinder car, meanwhile, has morphed into a new designation—M56—denoting its 5.6-liter direct-injection V-8 throbbing in the engine bay, generating 420 hp, 95 more than the 2010 M45’s 4.5-liter mill.
The new V-8 is what drew us to the order book. If the M45 was good enough to prevail in comparison tests involving sports sedans with heavy German accents, a more potent version—much more potent—should be an exceptionally compelling companion for the long haul. Fresh out of the box, our M56 managed a 0-to-60-mph time of 4.7 seconds, hitting the quarter-mile in 13.2 at 108 mph.
Goodies Galore
The base price for an M56 is $58,425. That’s $11,300 more than the entry for the M37, $5400 more than the M45. It’s a bit less—$2150—than the base price of a BMW 550i and a bit more than that of a Mercedes-Benz E550, which starts at $57,175.
Although the new base price now includes a nav system—a very good nav system, by the way—that’s still an ambitious increase. And even though the standard M56 includes an extensive inventory of luxury features, we couldn’t resist trying some—make that most—of the options packages.
Naturally, we had to have the $3650 Sport package: firmer suspension components, 20-inch aluminum-alloy wheels wearing 245/40 Bridgestone Potenza high-performance summer rubber, four-wheel active steering, paddle shifters for the 7-speed automatic transmission, a sportier front fascia, sport seats with more lateral support, and a sport steering wheel and shifter. The tires afforded a so-so 0.84 g on the skidpad but contributed—along with the bigger brakes and $370 high-friction brake pads—to a solid 165-foot stop from 70 mph. We also added the $2000 Sport Touring package, whose primary component is a superb Bose premium digital audio system with 16 speakers.
And finally, against the advice of our man Robinson, we felt we ought to experience the numerous advanced passive-safety features of the $3000 Technology package. Included under this heading are adaptive cruise control, distance-control assist, blind-spot warning, blind-spot intervention, lane-departure warning, brake assist, pre-crash front-seatbelt response, forward-collision warning, and adaptive headlights. Although it’s not safety related, the package includes the so-called eco pedal feature, a driver-selectable mode that causes the accelerator to push back against the driver’s foot when he floors the throttle, to stretch fuel economy. There were a few other minor items on the Monroney, bringing the bottom line to $67,980.
Smooth Sailing, Mostly
A sure sign of popularity with our staff is how quickly a long-term test car accumulates miles, and by this standard the M56 appears to rank at least in the all-time upper quartile. It blends agility and a supple ride, its power is seductive, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised so far by its fuel economy—20 mpg, which is pretty good for a two-ton sedan with lots of muscle. Staff responses to the Technology package’s various nanny features have been largely uniform to date: We’re grateful that they can be turned off, eliminating a lot of irritating beeps.
Beyond that, the car’s performance has been marred by only one glitch, which wasn’t exactly minor. At 3410 miles, as a staffer was about to embark on a trip to New Jersey, we encountered a problem with the power sunroof. It opened and then resolutely refused to close. That sidelined the car for the New Jersey junket, which was merely inconvenient. But it became irritating when it took our dealer almost a month to cure the malady: a defective switch. Not good. On the other hand, it highlights the M56’s popularity index. Since the car was off the long-trip list for almost a month, it accumulated the bulk of its miles—almost 12,000—in just over two months.
The only expense has been an oil-and-filter change and multipoint inspection at 7500 miles, which set us back a whole $71.
We’ll continue to try all the gadgets and gizmos found in our long-term M56—and practice turning each of them off—while we move toward the 40,000-mile goal. At this pace, achieving it shouldn’t take too long.
