One of my favorite Colorado journeys consists of a diagonal slash across the state from Denver to Telluride. This trip takes five to six hours and asks a lot of the vehicle, especially during the winter, when the weather and road conditions can change almost instantaneously.

A sportscar—or anything that isn’t quiet and refined—is tiring on the open, high-valley sections of US-285 that comprises half the miles. Yet anything that doesn’t have sufficient chassis control or power is frustrating on the demanding switchbacks of US-50, which includes the brilliantly fun twists and turns of Monarch pass.

Infiniti’s M35 has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle of late; it’s now the oldest car in their lineup, and a mild freshening done last year did nothing to alter its fundamentals. Thankfully, those were great to begin with, and four days and 800 miles of there and back again reaffirmed for me how well wrought this premium sedan is.

To start with, it’s incredibly inviting inside: all four seats are spacious and long-haul supportive (and the optional cooled and heated front row work wonderfully). The customizable memory system allows the powered reach/rake adjustment on the steering wheel and easy ingress/exit seat movement to be tailored to the driver’s wishes. Fifteen years ago I owned Infiniti’s Q45 flagship, which had that feature, spoiling me forever, as it allows one to set the driving environment to optimal without the usual penalty of having to squeeze oneself in or out.

My travel companions commented on how comfortable the rear seats were as well, and the trunk was large enough for four people’s weekend gear. Folding rear seats (instead of just a ski pass through) might have helped though. Perceived quality was excellent: the Infiniti’s cockpit is tightly assembled of soft-touch moldings, aluminum, and real wood veneers, which drew unanimous praise.

The M35’s controls are supremely logical in layout and function. They’ve come in for some criticism for looking a bit busy, but I’ll take them over less intuitive but more ascetically pleasing (i.e. German) setups. They offer multiple ways to accomplish inputs (steering wheel, touch screen, voice, or center-stack buttons), and the navigation and interface graphics are clean and pleasing to the eye. The Bose surround sound system seemed a bit artificial to me, but my friends all loved it. Oddly, though, there is no CD changer or conventional iPod hookup.

The Infiniti’s worst feature, though, is its horrible active cruise control system, which felt about two generations behind as it varied our road speed based on cars in other lanes and even surrounding hills. And the lane departure warning system needs a permanent off button—it’s alarm is too quite to do much good in any case.

The M35 dispatched the strait sections of the trip with commendable ease, reeling in the miles while still averaging 20mpg, excellent for something so large, especially as ours was the all-wheel drive ‘x’ model with its inherent drivetrain frictional losses. This system also coped with the packed snow and ice conditions present for most of the trip out with disdain.

What really made the difference was the fitment of winter tires, as AWD cars brake and turn no better than their two-wheel driven counterparts—but do tend to fool the driver into going faster than conditions might warrant, since they accelerate so well in foul weather. The killer combination of appropriate tires, four powered wheels, and a center of gravity much lower than an SUV gave me a very high level of confidence.

The ability to turn off the stability control and shift manually was also appreciated, as I could have some fun in the twistiest turns and use engine braking on the steepest downhill sections. In fact, though the lower end Infiniti G-series is now built with a seven-speed auto, the M35’s five-speed worked so admirably—invisibly smooth cog swaps in auto, perfect throttle-blipped downshifts in manual or sport modes—that I never felt we were missing out. But this is a big car, and fully loaded, its 3.5-liter’s 303hp was a bit overwhelmed at higher altitudes. As compensation, this is one of the best sounding installations of this VQ-series anywhere across Nissan’s or Infiniti’s product line, with a mellifluous burble at part throttle that turns into a sweet snarl under the whip.

The M35x chassis calibrations where nigh on perfect; the car is never less than cosseting in ride motions; in particular, the way it dealt with transverse ridges, a ubiquitous part of the state’s road system, was exemplarity. There was very little penalty for this in composure, either. Even driven aggressively, things never felt loose or haphazard. Thanks to strict roll control and good fore/aft balance it was incredibly biddable and fun. The steering was linear and precise, if not up to the level of detail feedback served up by the best from Europe.

Also, the Infiniti was very neutral, never washing into flaccid understeer or unpredictable tail-wagging. The quietness and refinement of the cabin helped disguise the velocities we were running; those in back felt as if our velocity was 20mph or so lower than it was in reality. The brakes were more than up to their task, with commendable firmness underfoot and unwilting nature.

Conspicuous value is also obvious in the M35x. While it can in no way be considered inexpensive, it is thousands less than a comparable midsize sedan from the Fatherland (while probably being less problematic), and as well built and thoughtfully equipped as any of archrival Lexus’ offerings. Of the huge number of cars, trucks, and SUVs I’ve employed to tackle this cross-state journey, the Infiniti M35x goes into the top few.

PRICE AS TESTED: $54,915

Send article as PDF to