We stand at a fundamental crossroads in America. Our paths are diverging in ways our parents and grandparents couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago. Neither side believes the other presents a viable option to continue.
The options couldn’t be cleaner cut: Smaller displacement or hybrid powertrains?
(There’s a third party I suppose, alternative fuel, but that gets less attention than Rocky Anderson at a Utah Republican luncheon.)
For the most part, there are attractive options on both sides. And both present a good argument for what automakers face in coming years of exponentially stricter fuel standards that, like it or not, are lights at the end of a shrinking tunnel.
A set of those headlights should belong to the 2013 Infiniti M Hybrid. I’ll campaign for why I think that’s a good idea in a minute.
For the most part, the Infiniti M is the latest in a long line of mid-size sedans from the luxury automaker. Astute observers of the alphabet will see that the M is more than the G, but less than the Q and somewhere around the J. All of the aforementioned letters are lines built by the Japanese automaker, however only the J and M satisfy both needs for space and speed without compromising agility — thus their Swiss-like occupation of the middle of the alphabet.
Infiniti’s M is technically a mid-sized sedan as far as the EPA is concerned, but space is aplenty inside the M. Four adults can find themselves equally swaddled in Infiniti’s leather appointed seats with more wiggle room than our international trade agreements with Canada.
Passenger volume is at an airy 104 cubic feet with 36.2 inches of rear legroom in the back seats. That’s on par with the BMW 5 series and Mercedes E class, which offer 36.1 and 35.8 inches of rear legroom respectively.
Of course, to haul all of that legroom and cabin space would require an energy independence program that’s as plentiful with power as it is frugal.
That’s where the Infiniti M begins to diverge.
Starting with the 2012 model year, Infiniti has offered the M with a hybrid powertrain coupling a 67-horsepower electric motor with a 3.5-liter V6 engine that produces 302 horsepower. The result of that kind of power sharing agreement is a net 360 horsepower with both motors fully engaged and a 0-60 time of somewhere around 5 seconds. That’s fast for any car, let alone a “green” car.
(There’s actually a bit of tangential point to make here: For a lot of automakers, if you’re looking for the fastest car in the fleet, look at the hybrid. Often the electric motor is simply paired to an existing engine, which effectively just boosts the engine. If you have a need for speed, you probably have a need for green.)
Athletically speaking, the Infiniti M looks the part too. Of all the mid-sized offerings from luxury automakers, the Infiniti carries the most design cache, maybe short of Jaguar. The curvaceous exterior is part of Infiniti’s wave design language that they launched several years ago, and it’s executed brilliantly in the M. Head-on, the M looks piqued without being obnoxious, and the M has a head-turning quality that’s still hard to find in mass-production cars.
The fenders and headlamps wrap and sweep over the front wheels and continue their race undisturbed toward the back wheels, while the low, coupe-like roof arches toward the back through the M’s high belt line, diving at the bitter end to begin the trunk.
(We tab poet laureates in this country to better describe what I just verbally fumbled through for good reason.)
The effect on the outside is sweeping and poetic, even if the inside is a little too orderly and cluttered for my liking.
I will say this: Infiniti’s predisposition for offering ultimate control on every one of the car’s mechanisms has its fans. To some, it’s ideal. To others, it’s cluttered. To me, it’s your decision when it comes time to cast your vote for a new car.
What I was thankful for was the ability to turn off a newly added feature by Infiniti called “eco-pedal.” According to Infiniti, the device teaches drivers how to be frugal with the gas pedal when driving, and can actually result in 10 percent better fuel economy. The pedal works by giving your foot feedback — actually pressing back in some cases — on how you’re driving. Infiniti gives you the option to set the pedal at stun, kill or off, which I chose the latter. Is it perfect? No, but at least you get a choice — how democratic.
The M Hybrid starts at $54,200, $6,000 more than the non-hybridized model. At 29 mpg mixed driving the savings comes at the pump, albeit slowly, but also in content as the base model is apportioned nicely. Our test car came fitted with the book thrown at it, and clocked in $66,245. Standard, the car comes with plenty of kit including a 10-way adjustable power and heated front seats and a 7-inch color display.
Back to the first, fundamental question of smaller displacement or hybrid.
The answer is, there is no answer. While automakers are enjoying success with both solutions the question is ultimately how you drive.
There’s no doubt the hybrid offers savings in stop-and-go traffic, as well as the gut-punching fun of flooring it off the line, but there’s no getting around the undeniable advantage of having miserly mill espousing frugality on the highway like it were running for president.
And thank goodness they’re not. We’ve had enough of that already.
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