Costa Mesa, CA – As luxury SUV’s go the brands that come to mind first are Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Porsche and Cadillac with their respective models.  All are large and some have seating for up to 8 passengers, others not so much.  Some have plenty of room to pack your gear, and again others not so much, but all could be considered luxury vehicles regardless of the actual “utility” they offer.  On the smaller scale you have offerings from Toyota, VW, Ford, Nissan, Subaru, Volvo and other brands that have less space for you, your passengers and everyone’s gear, and none of these would be considered overtly luxurious.  As we all know the SUV and Cross-Over (car based) segment is very competitive and some are getting more luxurious.

                Enter Infiniti with its offering, and a good one it is.  Based on the already outstanding chassis underneath the G35 Sedan the EX35 inherits a lot of the sportiness found in the G.  Slightly stretched and most noticeably taller than the G the EX offers some of the utility of its competitors in this class and equals them in the luxurious column and spanks them in the performance category.

                The 2008 EX35 RWD Journey is packed full of luxury appointments such as leather seating, sunroof, and unique power folding rear seats, all this on top of a very long list of standard equipment.  Add the optional Technology Package and you get intelligent cruise control, lane departure warning and prevention system and the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while, the Around View Monitor (AVM).  The AVM is 4 small cameras that offer you, via the navigation screen, a birds-eye 360-degree view of what’s around you and is a huge help for those parallel parking challenged folks out there. 

 Indulge a little more and add the Premium package and you get such goodies as dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth, iPod interface, heated front seats and mirrors, power tilt/telescoping steering wheel, memory settings for the driver seat, side mirrors and steering wheel,  11-Speaker Bose sound system with 2 subwoofers, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff.

Continue to indulge with the Wood Trim Package (Maple wood on the console and door trim) and the Luxe Elite package which adds leather to the door panels and armrests, a headrest mounted coat hanger behind the driver, 18 Inch Wheels, Xenon auto-leveling and adaptive front  headlights.

                At this point you’ve now got yourself one hell of a ride and you ought to because you’ve just plunked down a little over $44,000 bucks!
                The motivation to carve up corners, yes you can in this SUV, comes from the venerable 3.5 Liter DOHC V6 also found in the G35 Sedan, tuned to 297 Horsepower in this application and 253 Lb-Ft Torque bolted to a 5-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels or all-wheel drive is an option.  Acceleration is brisk and the handling exceptional.   This is accomplished by also sharing the double-wishbone suspension pieces of the G35 sedan up front and a multilink design for the rear similar to that found on the larger FX.  Find a twisty road, better yet seek one out, and enjoy the sharp and responsive handling.  At all times ride quality is exceptional, even over some of the worst sections of roads here in SoCal.
                Don’t expect to take 8 people with you as you search out a twisty road to enjoy.  Whereas this is a very sporty and luxurious SUV it is not a people mover.  With a tall driver and passenger and the front seats all the way back there is just enough room in the back seat for kids, and unless they are in a car seat they will not be very happy for long.  The back seat is best used as a parcel shelf or fold down the 60/40 split rear seat (at the touch of a button) and leave it down.  Also leave any extraneous items at home because there is no place to put them other than inside the armrest.  While the wood trimmed console is awesome to look at, it offers no cubby holes to put things like a cell phone or the fob for the keyless entry with start button, although there is a slot down by your knees where you can store the fob, it is not in a very convenient location.
                The EX35 offers distinctive styling, luxury interior, a smidge of utility, decent mileage (17 City/24 Highway) and enough performance to bring a grin to your face on the daily schlep to the office or on the weekend when you head down your favorite twisty road.  What’s not to like? 

Column and photos provided by Rich Branch, EVP of Race Central TV and Radio Network Partners.