I am ready to lease my next car and I need some help. My choices:

06 m4506 m35x06 BMW530ix01 Jag XJR (would purchase not lease @ $k30)

I've driven all these cars and love the M45 sport. My reservations are that I live in NY and my wife will be driving this car alot (I have a Honda S2000)and she likes the all wheel drive (we are turning in Audi A6 2.7) in the winter. Also, our Audi is equiped with Perelli P6 high profile tires which I've found to blow up in the pot holes of L.I. NY and I'm sure the M Sport tires will be as bad. What bothers me is..do you have to get the Sport to get the xenon lights and AC seats! If I give up on the M45 because of no all wheel drive how does the M35 stack up against the BMW (now that it has all wheel drive)? The M has many more gadgets but the BMW feels more refined.

The Jag will save me alot of money (yet will be bad in winter) but I wonder how reliable it would be.

Help!

Billy,

Youre going to get some biased opinions in here of course...but here goes.

NO on the Jag. Unless you like spending mucho time at the shop.

I drove the BMW and the M's and it was no comparison. The M just flat out won in every category I was looking for.

I have the M45 sport, and havent had any troubles with the tires. I havent heard of anyone else either. For a sport model, it is amazingly smooth, thanks to a top notch suspension system.

As for the AWD for winter, thats your call. You cant really go wrong with either actually. How many days will you or your wife really need the AWD would be a good question to ask yourself.

This is all advice from those who talk about it though, I dont have this dilemna living in Houston.

M45 sport and the big V8 for me!! No regrets,I love this car more than anything ive driven.

Good luck.

zerothread?id=144455

Read that...

At any rate, if you dont get the AWD version, plan on buying a set of used wheels and tires for winter..... Pretty sure nissan 350Z 17s would fit and they are available cheap... Any nissan/infiniti 17in wheel woudl be good enough for winter, however you may lose the tire pressure sensing ability, youd want to stick with G35 or 350Z wheels to maintain that.....

The choice is up to you... but if you drive the m35, dont drive the M45.. Youll find yourself going with the 45 if you drive it.

You do not have to get the sport model to get the heated cooling seats, xenons and stuff like that You get the journey package which includes the xenon headlights. They come *standard* on the sport models... Same thing wtih the heated and cooling seats... The journey package include pretty much all the goodies that the sport models come with standard.. You can then chose to add the technology package which has the 5.1 surround sound system, the reclining/heated rear seats, sunshades, etc etc......

Hope this helps and if you have any more quesitons feel free to post up!

Hi,

I have the smaller engined version of Jay's M45, the M35 Sport. I never test drove the M35x nor the M45.

I have had my car about 2-months now and love it. I am in the Philly area, so we probally get about as much snow as you do. I figure I will just drive my wife's Acura TL (front wheel drive) when it snows. Maybe we get up to eight snowfalls in the winter.

Anyway, more to the point, I love the car, it's performance is really good for a 6-cylinder. The amazing thing is that even with the 19-rims and low profiles, the car rides as smooth as any luxury car I've owned. Every passenger who has ridden in the back is impressed with the leg-room and ride. The only possible leg-up I can see BMW over Infiniti, is that BMW gives you free scheduled maintenance, but the you're paying for it up front in the car's higher purchase cost.

We have had quite a few nice cars and we both think this car is the best we've ever had. Good luck.

To add to Larrys post...

I guess this is dealer specific, but my dealer (SW Infiniti in Houston) did offer 2 years of scheduled maintenance at no charge. Yes, im sure they built it into the price somewhere, but its nice to have. So...could be where you live offers this...

We have also found that not just some, but ALL who have ridden in our Ms are impressed. Seems like some have never given Infiniti much thought, then when you tell them what it is, you get the "hmmm, wow, this is a great car"

BMW had the leg up on the sedan/sport/luxury market, but Infiniti has caught up and surpassed them with the M. (not including the $80k M5 of course)

Thanks for your replys, I've decided on the M45. I drove it again today,back to back with the BMW, Audi A6 and M35x. I first drove the 35 (after the Bmw and Audi) and I thought to myself I could live with this V6 and was almost ready to take it. But then I drove the 45 and it is just too impressive! My daughter is ready for her first car, so I figure I'll get her an all wheel drive Suburu or something so at least we have one car for the snow. After all, how many days a year is there actually snow in the roads!

HAHA!

Another one who went in for the 35, then drove the 45. Clinched!!

They really dont even need salespeople for these, do they?

if you live on long island as I do, just don't get the car from Millenium, or Atlantic for that matter.

Best price, dealer, service in Nassau is Massapequa.

I have bought 4 cars from them, and they are by far the best.

Btw, I have the m35X and have no problems with the tires regarding potholes....and I'm sure my wife aims for them!

Good pick on the 45. I also figured the V6 was enough but after driving the V8 I just couldn't settle with the M35. M45 all the way.

Also, my dad, a 20yr BMW guy, was very impressed with the M45 and is suggesting that my brother give the M a look before he gets his planned BMW 3 coupe next fall. I was going to go next door to the BMW place and drive a 3 or a 5 but didn't even make it after driving the M45.