Hello,

I would discourage anyone from purchasing an Infinity. I loved my 2010 FX-35 when I first got it. However, the real test of a great vehicle is if you affection for it lasts year after year. My FX-35 has had intermittent problems with the GPS unit freezing or randomly restarting and the passenger seat climate control system working only intermittently. I have had the car in for service three times and have been told that there is nothing Infinit can do to repair my new FX-35 despite my having dozens of iPhone videos documenting the problems. Additionally, I have had to have the radiator replaced due to a leak with less than 2,000 miles on the vehicle.

I cannot fault Infinity or any other car manufacturer for making a bad car every now and then. However, it's how they handle what is clearly their mistake in selling a bad car to an unsuspecting purchaser. I have been frustrated and inconvenienced and made to feel like there was something wrong with me because I expect a new car to work. I have been offered by my dealership the opportunity to sell them back my new FX-35 at a used car price as though they were doing me a favor.

I strongly suspect the there is a system wide flaw in the relationship between Infiniti dealerships and Infiniti USA that punishes Infiniti dealerships for performing needed warranty repairs without meeting inappropriately strict standards as set by Infiniti USA. In essence, despite my having ample video evidence of recurring problems, Infiniti USA will not reimburse the dealerships for their work on intermittent problems and therefore, the dealerships will not perform the work under warranty leaving me with a brand new broken car.

I am very disappointed in Infinity USA and the warranty repair system that they have set up in the US. I sincerely believe that Infiniti USA has no understanding of or any interest in creating a luxury car buying experience for their customers.

At this point, even if Infinit finally fixes my intermittent problems, it has been such a frustrating experience that I can never enjoy this still new FX-35. I have owned BMWs and Acuras. I sincerely regret not purchasing another MDX which is a spectacular SUV from a spectacular company. My last car was a 2002 Acura MDX that had 135,000 miles when I traded it in. It still looked like new inside and out and it drove like it was new. I never had a problem with the MDX until 89,000 miles when the transmission needed replacement. And I should never have traded it for an Infiniti. I made the mistake of believing that Infiniti was in the same class as Acura. I was wrong.

I hope this helps you.

Best of luck with your purchasing decisions.

I hate to hear that you have had a hard time with your FX35.

I am on my 4th Infiniti now and have never had a major problem with any of them. I also have never been treated as badly at an Infiniti dealership as you claim to have been. Perhaps the problem is the dealership you are using and that can be reported to Infiniti Corporate.

If you cannot resolve your problems perhaps the best thing to do is to sell your FX and purchase an MDX.

I can say that I personally will most likely always have an Infiniti in my garage. I just sold a CLS 500 and G35 Coupe and downsized to one car, a 2010 FX myself that I love to drive and have had no problems with at all.

I hope things work out for the best for you. I know hell would freeze over before I would ever be caught dead driving an Acura or BMW but that is just my opinion. Must as your hatred of Infiniti is just that your opinion.

Probably better to voice your concern on an Infiniti forum versus bashing the Brand as a whole on here for what sounds to be a lack luster dealership you have been using. Again, I hope everything works out and you acquire a car you enjoy driving.

Good Luck!

J-Owner,

Thank you for your thoughts. I am very pleased to hear that your experiences with Infiniti have been good.

My FX-35 has been in for service for the same problems four times at three difference Infiniti dealerships. Only one of the dealerships were insulting. The other two dealerships everyone was wonderfully nice. The problem was and continues to be that Infiniti USA will not reimburse local dealerships for intermittent problems until the service technician can reproduce the problem despite numerous videos demonstrating the problem. I strongly suspect but do not know that the local service technicians do not have hours to spend sitting in my car awaiting for my intermittent problems to occur for them to witness.

For the $40,000 plus that I spent on this car, I think they should just swop out the GPS unit and seat climate control unit. I fully understand that these malfunctions are minor and not life threatening. However, Infiniti didn't have any problem taking thousands of dollars of my money for these accessories. I think they should either work or Infinit should refund or replace. If I had purchased the GPS from Best Buy, Costco or Sam's Club and they didn't work those companies would refund or replace...why not Infiniti? I woulnd't even have to show videos of the malfunction to Best Buy, Costco or Sam's Club.

What's your problem with Acura? I thought they had the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any car company. Have you seen the NSX? I have owned a 3.5 RL and an MDX and loved both of them. Why don't you like Acura? Is there something there that I am missing?

If you are getting the run around at three dealerships then I don't know what to tell you except that is highly unusual. I have been driving an Infiniti since 1991 and have never had treatment like that at any of the three dealerships in Dallas, the one in Tulsa and the one in Little Rock so I am at a loss for advice. All five of those dealerships have always been helpful and resolved any problem quickly and accurately and out of that list Sewell and Grubbs would be my top two picks for superior service.

Regarding Acura, my Dad owned an RL and an ex girlfriend had both a TSX and TL and all three rattled like a tin can. Fit and overall form was not tight as you would expect, which likely led to the rattles and while the engine is well made I just did not enjoy driving any of them. Acura to me (and this is my opinion) is not a luxury brand it is one notch above a Honda, which Honda is a great car very reliable but again not fun to drive.

I drove a Lexus ES and RX before getting the FX as I was sorta considering a change of pace car wise. I liked the ES but it had no power and I hate front wheel drive cars so that was out. Then I drove the RX, I am 35 and felt like I age 40 years just sitting in that thing and even wondered if I would have room for an oxygen take in the passenger seat to take a hit from while I drive that boring, slow grandpa mobile. Ugh...Hated it.

I will buy a Mercedes, I do like the Benz's. The CLS I had was awesome but I wasn't driving it much so I sold it. However, BMW....where do I start.....let me just say I have never met a BMW driver that was not a douchebag!! Perhaps others of you have had different experiences but I don't care for BMW's.

Infiniti's are mostly designed around a sports car feel with a dash of luxury. Other brands, including Acura to me, just aren't as fast, tight and rigid as an Infiniti, which is why I keep buying them.

To me owning an Infiniti is like comparing a Breitling to a Rolex, it is just as good but without all of that pretentious bulls*** that goes along with having a Rolex on your arm. It puts a smile on my face that toyota is having such problems because it knocks all of the snooty Lexus owners off their high horse for a bit.

Overall, a car is a car. You like some you dislike others. It is all subjective to the one buying the car to begin with. Everyone's opinions will be different, the above are just my own thoughts, which I am sure others will disagree with but I am ok with that because I don't care.

I am not sure of what the Lemon Laws are but perhaps you got a Lemon. I have heard it happening to a few Infiniti owners before but that is very very rare. This also happens with every other car manufacturer out there so it is not just "An Infiniti Issue". Maybe you can try that route and Infiniti Corporate can't resolve your problems. I would report whatever dealership treated you badly to Corporate as there is no excuse for that.

J-Owner,

Thank you for your reply.

I have already filed a lemon law complaint which has made Infiniti USA finally take my minor but annoying car problems seriously.

My experiences with Acura have been better than your father's and ex girlfriend's. My cars did not rattle at all. I will agree that there were not as much fun to drive as my BMW 535 is with a racing cam shaft and high performance computer chip. I used to take the BMW to Seabring Race Track which was a blast. However, my Acuras had no rattles, were extremely reliable, and showed no signs of aging.

I still love BMWs but I hate their business model. It seems to me they insist on charging extra for things that are standard in most cars. They are just a little too proud of themselves.

I owned a G37 which was a pleasure to drive. That car had no problems.

I am just venting my frustrations with Infiniti doing nothing to fix a problems that I can show them on video and instead forcing me to either live with these annoying minor problems or bring my FX back numerous times. It's not my fault that Infiniti built a bad FX why should I be so inconvenienced. They have the car now. I will keep my fingers crossed that they can get the problems fixed this visit.

Former douchebag,Spike2000

I believe there is a new TSB for your gps freezing issue that involves a navigation software upgrade (ITB09-052). I saw it within the last week or two. I also had a similar issue with my drivers side seat climate control which turned out to be a scraped wire that had gotten into a spot that freyed it slightly when the seat was moved back and forth. It was intermittant, but my dealership found it right away. Other than that the only other issue I have had with my 09 FX50s in 8 months and 9500 miles is the transmission hesitation issue which was corrected with a TCU reflash, also through a TSB. Not that I would recommend other sites regularly, but infinitihelp.com has an easy to search listing of all current TSB out for various model years. I would take a look. I do understand your frustration though as I had a similiar issue with the 08 EX I purchased special order and ended up trading for the FX. The day I drove it home from the dealership the sunroof had a slight leak which was most noticable in a touchfree car wash. The dealership tried several times to fix it, but I was eventally told it was "normal" and Infiniti consumer affairs also washed their hands of it even though I had documented several other owners complaining of the same or similar leaks. I too never was really completly satisfied with my brand new infiniti after that, even though I actually liked the vehicle and had no other major issues. But rather than going with another manufacturer I decided to give Infiniti another shot and I am glad that I did. I traded up to the FX50s which I saw on the dealership lot when I was in for my one year service. They gave me an incredible deal and it was the best choice I could have made. I have owned good cars and bad from the same manufacturers and I think sometimes it is just random occurences and "luck" that determine the experience an owner has. I do agree that Infiniti consumer affairs could be a LOT better, but if you happen to get a vehicle that you have no trouble with, you probably would not have to deal with them anyway.

Ron

Ron

Modified by rontek at 6:52 AM 2/26/2010
Modified by rontek at 4:11 AM 2/27/2010

Hi Ron,

Thank you for your information. The dealership phoned me yesterday to say that they had fixed the GPS problem with a software upgrade so that must be the upgrade you are referring to. I am impressed by your knowledge of Infiniti's TSBs.

I would be outraged if my new sunroof leaked in my new car and Infiniti told me to live with it. Why didn't you file a lemon law claim? It sounds like you are happy with the final result...they gave you a good deal on a new car that you love.

I love good customer service and I am disappointed in Infini's. Until I filed a lemon law claim the two Tampa area dealerships were happy to tell me that they would not make any attempts to repair my faulty GPS until they could reproduce the problem or they, the dealerships, would get stuck with the bill. I do not fault the dealerships for that...I don't want to get stuck with the bill either. In my opinion, GOOD customer service would have swopped out the GPS and it's wiring, replacing them with new parts and sending the faulty GPS back to their supplier rather than force me to bring the new FX back 4 times for the same problem or telling me to live with it. GREAT customer service would have supplied me with a replacement vehicle that would delight me while they took all the time in the world for them to take care of everything without inconveniencing me. I had a 1985 SAAB 900 turbo. Three years after buying the car it developed a problem in the manual transmission. The SAAB dealership in Tampa sent someone to my home to pick up my car and drop off a brand new SAAB 9000 turbo as my loaner. SAAB kept my car for 2 to 3 months and I was a happy camper. As far as I was concerned, they could keep my car forever because they gave me a spectacular loaner and because I wasn't being inconvenienced in any way. I didn't even have to drive to the dealership...and that was a three year old car...not new.

I know the economy is bad for everyone and that is unfortunate. I do not think it is smart for Infiniti to cut back on customer service or maintain poor customer service.

Infiniti told me the GPS is repaired but they are still working on the seat climate controls. I will let you know what happens.

Thanks again for your help.

Glad at least part of your problem is solved. Good luck with the seat climate control issue and let us know how you make out.

Ron

rontek wrote: Not that I would recommend other sites regularly, but infinitihelp.com has an easy to search listing of all current TSB out for various model years.

Thanks for posting this link/info. I'm a potential owner and it's nice to be able to look at the TSBs to see what's been going on, so far.