First Drive Review
The line between car and truck has been so blurred it's really not a line at all, more just a wide, foggy field bordered by simple low-slung cars on one side and vehicles for which "sport" is a laughable pipe dream and utility is a gluttonous indulgence on the other. This field is filled with similarly shaped vehicles each claiming to be the ideal balance between carlike ride and trucklike utility, but the reality is that some are 80-percent car and 20-percent truck, while others are 9-percent car and 91-percent truck, and still more are 50-percent each. (And yet most are called crossovers. Weird.)
Into this murk, Infiniti launches the EX35, based heavily on its G35 sedan with a dash of FX crossover. Infiniti calls it "a fusion of coupe and sport-utility vehicle." We call it about 93-percent car and 7- maybe 8-percent truck, since it's really a tall G35 hatchback.
Looks Like a G35 With a Hatch
With the rear hatch opening just behind the C-pillar, that's certainly more appropriate than calling it a wagon. But it would look better as a wagon, a longer roof balancing the EX's long nose and height. As it is, the EX has two fewer inches in its wheelbase than does the G35, it's shorter overall by almost five inches, and it stands about five inches taller. The resulting vehicle loses the grace of the G35's shape and gains only a fraction of an inch of headroom in the rear and less than three feet of cargo volume.
As awkward as the EX may look from some angles on the outside, though, the interior is hard to fault. Cloth is available, but what sort of monster would have such a thing when four shades of leather are available and all of them so tasty? Black, gray, tan, and brown, the uninspired might call them, but in Infiniti-speak they are Graphite, Stone, Wheat, and Chestnut. A dual-cockpit layout grants both driver and front passenger an isolated traveling pod, but greed with front-seat fore-and-aft travel will incite a burning scorn in those trapped in the rather tight and cozy rear seat.
Drives Like a G35 With a Hatch
From behind the wheel, the difference between the EX35 and G35 is slim, because if you think of the EX35 as a G with the rear suspension from an FX, you're pretty much dead on.
The taller EX feels a little tippier, dipping only slightly more in aggressive cornering, but drives very much like its G sibling, with a solid, stable, athletic feel. Steering is well weighted and accurate, although we felt that the lighter wheel in rear-drive models was a bit too airy. The brakes are confident and react snappily, although somewhat too quickly for heavier feet. All-wheel-drive models default to devoted understeer in aggressive conditions; rear-drive EXs remain more neutral.
The 3.5-liter V-6 makes nine fewer horsepower in this application than in the G sedan, with 297 versus 306. Torque is similarly down 15 pound-feet, and combined with a higher curb weight than the G sedan, the slightly lower output means a slower car. Figure 0 to 60 around 5.8 seconds for all-wheel-drive EXs, with rear-drivers making the mark a 10th or two sooner.
The most noticeable difference is in the exhaust note, which sings a much softer tune in the EX, a concession to its more mainstream commuter target customer than that of the G family. The same five-speed automatic that pairs with this engine in other Infinitis is also tapped for duty in the EX. There is no full manual transmission option, but the five-speed's manual mode does a good impression, holding gears at redline and matching revs on downshifts.
