Gadgetory

it's mother appears to have been at all sports car and its father an SUV that didn't hold much let's try the 2012 Infiniti fx35 all-wheel drive in check the test now the first thing I love about this FX is that it's a limited edition they only gonna make like 500 of these I think but it's probably the first infinity I've seen in a long time that isn't gaudy that doesn't have like blonde beechwood and too much polished metal it's just got piano black or some super dark wood I can't tell what that is and black it's actually grown up beyond that that we've seen this whole tech load a hundred times and it's very good my main gripe as you probably know if you've watched my reviews of infinities before is that childish display of map I don't like the colors I'm not really cool on the rendering I mean what is that Street name doing over that building if I wasn't from here I'd have no idea what that is it does have 3d rendering of buildings it has Lane Guidance when you get right to a turn and that's traffic it has weather pretty much all the bells and whistles here I just find the aesthetic and to some degree the informational execution of the maps is a little childish you can go touchscreen if you want as you see that's an 8 inch LCD you get when you go to the nav system that is not standard by the way it's part of a pricey package otherwise you get a 7 inch screen to control other vehicle systems and good but not completely comprehensive voice control for navigation and media would you like to access navigation navigation address address was state California California now all this stuff is part of the premium package that I'm in the middle of right now like 39 50 chunky also brings you a DVD ability in the optical slot no 6 here because among your sources you've got a hard drive to rip to we're getting real cool on that idea around here but the automakers are still thinking it's kind of hip it ain't the last Bell and whistle in that Premium Package that helps to make it worth the fact that it's about three house payments is the camera technology it bumps you up from rear cam to a round view so I can look at the back I can look all around because I have a front a pair of side and a rear camera of course or I can change that to a side view if I'm doing some curb nibbling or go back to top if I want to pretend like I'm God now if you really want to take that powertrain seen that style get the tech package it brings you adaptive cruise control lane departure warning and prevention thanks to your braking distance assist using laser sensing it'll even pull back on the accelerator and auto brake if you're about to run into someone and the related brake assist with forward collision tech lots of ways to keep you from rear-ending something or someone now fx35 means 3.5 under the hood one of these outstanding three and a half liter v6 is that Nissan Infiniti do so well it built the company around it this guy's gonna give you a 303 horsepower 262 foot-pounds of torque good numbers except this is a 4,200 pound vehicle so 0 to 60 happens in a little under 6 seconds nothing slouchy about it you'll get 16 23 mpg on the rear-wheel drive base configuration go for all-wheel drive and that drops down to 21 on the highway you have one choice only on the gearbox 7-speed automatic that comes back to drive over for sport back and forth for intended shifts but no paddles on the wheel they're underway there is nothing about this fx35 I don't like the ride is very good sporting but not harsh powered deliveries great that's a great motor and through this 7-speed automatic it does all the right things a very smart gearbox I find for everyday driving on up to athletic driving basically this car is the expensive sneaker of SUVs it's not real practical it's never going to be used in a hard serious deeply vertical way it's kind of sporty but not a sports car kind of an SUV but doesn't carry a damn thing give a second row in a tiny cargo bay it's for looks it's for style it's something that makes you feel good about yourself when you give your murano driving friend a lift home so here's the bottom line on this guy I like the fx35 a lot it's about 44 in changebase by the time I had Premium Package for 4 grand and the tech package for 3000 and those really are all pretty tasty to go CNET style I'm at around 51 52 and now I'm thinking I should have gotten a Murano with a lot of the same tech and the same engine though a very different transmission so if you reach for this guy because you love the look so much and the tech payload you're gonna be paying a decent amount of money but the nice thing is they've got a rear hatch tint option for under 300 bucks so if you go broke you can live in it