EX35: Stylish Details Meet High-Tech Sensuality

Discussion of Infiniti's amazing (and underrated) sport-luxury crossovers, the EX35 and EX37. For 2014, the EX series will be renamed QX50, in line with Ininfiit's new naming conventions.
User avatar
AZhitman
Administrator
Posts: 71061
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:04 am
Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
Location: Surprise, Arizona
Contact:

Post

The all-new EX35 is a gorgeous, luxurious yet comfortable vehicle that was inspired by high-performance sports cars. It's superior steering response and balance through curves makes for an intense connection between the driver and the road. But that's not all.. it's just the beginning.

If you are Infiniti, you call it the 2008 EX35, a crossover utility vehicle that thinks it is a sport sedan. There’s really no pretense of CUV in the sense of “Mom’s wagon.” Infiniti tells us that it's personalizing the sport-utility concept, creating a practical vehicle that has a fine sense of luxury and goes about its business like a personal coupe. There’s no talk of crossovers or station wagons at Infiniti. Pricing isn’t official at this writing, but estimates are in the $35-40,000 range.

But the EX35 fits the crossover definition: a car-based sport utility vehicle. It’s just that the car, in this case, is an Infiniti G35 sport sedan. The wheelbase of the G35 platform has been stretched two inches to 112.2 inches while the body, at 187.0 inches, is 4.7 inches longer than a G35 sedan. The EX's sculptured form looks substantial next to the G35 mostly due to an increase in height of 4.7 inches over the sedan although 1.2 inches of this comes from the EX's higher ride height.

Yes, the dimensions have been changed, but the serious stuff is all G35. There is the familiar 3.5-liter V6 tuned for a potent 297 horsepower and blueprinted to max out at 6,800 rpm. There is 253 lb/ft of torque available at 4,800 rpm, but you’d swear it was all under your right foot at launch. Zero-to-60 mph takes 6.3 seconds; the quarter-mile comes up at 14.6 seconds. The five-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly, and the V6 is reasonably frugal at 17 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. All-wheel drive is available; rear-wheel drive is standard and clearly the sportier setup.

Handling is pure pleasure with body motion controlled by the front suspension from a G35 and a rear suspension contributed by the FX, mostly in the interest of creating cargo room. They managed to squeeze out 16.8 cubic feet of stowage behind the rear seats. It’s a worthy trade, however, since the EX35 enters corners on rails and wails out of apexes with authority. The EX35 stops as well as it accelerates with a 60-to-zero panic stop in just 118 feet, a tribute to the G35-spec brakes and Dunlop SP Sport 7000 tires. Those P225/55VR18 all-season tires help deliver 0.82g of cornering grip on the skid pad with a fine balance that can be adjusted with throttle input. The speed-sensitive steering is precise and offers good feedback. The automatic transmission offers well-spaced ratios and performs shifts cleanly and quickly, rev-matching on the downshifts.

Fortunately, there is a utilitarian side to the EX35. The power-operated 60/40-split-back folding rear seat can be operated from the cargo area as well as from the front. The hatch lifts up nicely and the lift-over is height is low. The EX provides 107.1 cubic feet of passenger volume, an increase of 8.1 cubic feet over the G35 sedan.

Infiniti has installed a luxurious interior that further confuses the utility issue. Four interior colors are available trimmed in black-lacquer plastic, textured aluminum or real maple. The seats are ultra-comfy and bolstered for hip-grip during maneuvers. An 11-speaker Bose sound system fills the cabin with fidelity and power. An optional navigation system includes a 9.3-gigabyte hard drive for music storage.

There are two notable and optional techno touches. Infiniti’s lane-departure warning system lightly activates the stability control to urge you back into your lane. Second, the EX35 is the first to use Infiniti’s "Around View Monitor," a system of four small cameras that give you an overhead view of the whole vehicle on the nav screen in order to simplify parking.

Since you’ll be tooling around at a rapid pace in your EX35, Infiniti has your back with a full array of safety electronics, including stability control, brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution. In case of the unthinkable, the advanced airbag coverage is complete with passenger sensing in the right front seat.


Return to “Infiniti EX35 / EX37 and QX50 / QX55 Forum”