Infiniti is the luxury arm of Japanese automaker Nissan, sold primarily in America since 1989. Its first sport-utility vehicle debuted in 1997, in the midst of the SUV craze.
The Infiniti QX4 was, they said, "Harmony between luxury and versatility." Like the Range Rover, the QX4 promised that you could have it all: "the thrill of a sport sedan, the serenity of a luxury sedan, capabilities beyond any sedan."
Infiniti was late to the SUV party. It had planned to use Nissan's Pathfinder as the basis for its entry, but judged the 1987 original too truck-like for a luxury vehicle and chose to wait for the second generation (1996).
While the QX4 ran the risk of being considered a Pathfinder carrying around $9,900 worth of leather, imitation wood, and electronics, the new Nissan was actually a good place to start.
Many sport utilities featured a body that was (as Infiniti put it) "held to a frame by just ten bolts." By contrast, the construction of the Pathfinder and QX4 was—similar to that of the Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee—a single, solid "MonoFrame" structure, held together "by over 4,200 precision welds."
The QX4 boasted two key differences over the Pathfinder. First, the suspension was comprehensively recalibrated for what Car and Driver called "arguably the most comfortable, most compliant, most refined, and yes, most luxurious ride of any sport-utility in the world." MotorWeek agreed that, apart from a lack of lateral support in the seats, the QX4 was among the best highway cruisers it had ever experienced—even as it had more ground clearance than, say, a Ford Explorer.
Secondly, the QX4's driveline was more sophisticated than Pathfinder's. The Infiniti's four-wheel-drive hardware came from neither Pathfinder nor pick-up truck, but was in fact derived from the sophisticated system used in Japan's legendary Nissan Skyline GT-R. The application of torque was seamless without sacrificing the low-range gear necessary for driving off road. Infiniti promised that the "All-Mode 4WD" was the "most technologically advanced system ever engineered in an SUV.
"Without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road (or your mind off the Vivaldi CD you're playing), the QX4 instantly and effortlessly adjusts for changing conditions with exquisite accuracy."
Despite its clear relation to the Pathfinder, the QX4 took its lesser sibling further in demonstrating that suspension tuning and a superior four-wheel-drive system could turn a solid SUV into a world beater in both comfort and accessible ability.
The 3.3-liter single-overhead cam V-6, shared with the Pathfinder, was the QX4's weakest link. 168 horsepower hauled the Infiniti to 60 miles per hour in a middling 11.5 seconds, roughly a second slower than the lighter Nissan. Still, both the Nissan and the Infiniti could tow 5,000 pounds.
The power deficit was rectified in 2001, with a dual-overhead-cam 3.5-liter V-6 offering 240 horsepower—the most in the class. 0-60-mph times improved by almost three seconds. Xenon headlamps, still a rarity among SUVs, were also made available that year, along with Genuine Bird's Eye Maple wood trim from the flagship Q45.
The QX4 really was "a world-class bodybuilder in black tie and tails." The market was changing, however. Few SUV drivers ever ventured off road, and they were increasingly willing to trade the compromises of fearsome abilities they never used for a more carlike experience.
The QX4's replacement, the FX35/ 45, would be based not on the Pathfinder, but the Nissan 350Z sports car. Designer Mamoru Aoki dubbed it the "bionic cheetah." What it lacked in off-road prowess, it made up in voluptuousness, visual tension, and quicker reflexes.