Infiniti M30d S Premium 2013 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory & delivery charges): $99,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Nil
Crash rating: Untested
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 7.5 (combined cycle)
CO2 emissions (g/km): 199
Also consider:  Audi A6 3.0 DT (from $107,500); Mercedes-Benz E350 CDI (from $136,485); Jaguar XF S diesel (from $93,900)

Nissan’s answer to Lexus has relaunched. This time, it hopes, with product distinctive enough to put a compelling case to Jag-German-Lexus buyers.

The rep who delivered our test car said that Infiniti is to Lexus what BMW is to Mercedes-Benz, a claim not without merit. Even in diesel form, this is a car more overtly sporting in its intentions than Lexus’s GS. And like some BMWs, the M gets the love-it-or-hate-it visual treatment, inside and out.

Indoors, the brand shows its parent’s DNA more overtly than Lexus. You can see Nissan in the scalloped instrument binnacle redolent of Z-cars past, and the multifunction switch parked on a ledge atop the broad centre stack. As with the exterior panelwork, the busy aesthetics might not be to everyone’s taste, but the ergonomics are good and it’s faultlessly screwed and stitched together.

The diesel M30d sits in the middle of a line up also offering a choice of petrol (M37) and hybrid (M35h) drivetrains. While it starts at $87,900 for the GT spec, our top-shelf S Premium variant goes to $99,900 plus on-roads. For that, you get the lot: full leather, electric everything, 20-inch alloys, bi-Xenon headlights, parking beepers all round, sports front seats with heating and cooling, heated steering wheel, sunroof, reversing camera, shift paddles, a power rear blind, 16-speaker BOSE audio with USB, iPod, auxiliary and DVD inputs, sat-nav, sports-tuned suspension and brakes, four-wheel steering, adaptive cruise and a 'forcefield' of driver assist, warning and intervention systems covering blind spots, lane departure and forward collision.

As a result, the options list is limited to a no-cost palette of paint colours

There’s no shortage of novelty amid all the kit, either, with tweeters set either side of the headrests in the front seats, paddles made of magnesium and a “Forest Air” HVAC system designed to distribute air around the cabin in breezes rather than draughts.

Those parking and blind-spot sensors are more necessity than luxury, by the way. With the help of a decent pair of wing mirrors, they mitigate the major visibility shortage caused by big fat A pillars and a high rear window line.

Boot up the 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6, pedal it away and the characteristic oiler rattle and chug quickly gives way to sonorous V6 growl. But not before this otherwise well-rounded package displays its major achilles heel: turbo lag. It’s enough to have you hesitating about pulling out into traffic in a way I wouldn’t with many other cars.

It’s a pity, because once the engine spools up, it packs a real whack making up for lost time. Infiniti’s official figure for the 0-100km/h sprint is 6.9 seconds. Without the wake-up time it’d be in there with Audi’s A6 3.0 TDI (6.1) and Benz’s E350 CDI (6.2).

The Renault Nissan sourced V6 seems happier in the M30d than its FX30d stablemate. The newer sedan platform seems to temper the turbodiesel's noise and vibration better. And our test M30d didn't seem to have the recalcitrance to hold its momentum like the big crossover.

The mill is a good enough match with the seven-speed auto transmission to render the paddles largely redundant, except for overtaking on freeways and turning a bit fun on back roads. Left to its own devices it’s not always silky smooth, but it’s got the reflexes to almost never be caught in the wrong cog.

The engine is quite revvy for a diesel; even though it offers up its peak twist of 550Nm at 1750rpm, it pours on the momentum up to and past its 175kW peak power at 3750rpm with ease. Especially in Sport mode...

Switch the engine to Eco and it loses its performance edge, unfortunately without huge benefit in fuel consumption. Putting in plenty of spirited pedal work, mostly in Sport, we achieved 9.6L/100km around Sydney and Melbourne. Longer freeway runs, where Eco is useful in maintaining velocity, produced high sevens and low eights. This is a touch thirstier than we'd expect from the diesel Euros.

Part of the reason for the skew towards Sport lies in the M’s chassis settings. Four-wheel steering and the S-spec’s sportier suspension see it changing tack with surprising agility. The variable-ratio steering is well weighted and sharp, but that long nose and less road feel deny it the pinpoint accuracy of a 5 Series at speed.

Other grumbles are few. The adaptive cruise gets confused taking bends on the inside, cutting in when it detects another vehicle ahead that’s actually in the other lane. It gets irritating on long drives, and I’ve not encountered such problems with other brands.

A 0.27 Cd helps keeps wind noise negligible; our car’s big wheels contributed to some road rumble on coarse tar, but the cabin benefits from an electronic noise cancellation system integrated into the audio package. It’s a very nice place to be, even at speed and even in the rear, where leg, foot, shoulder and headroom are decent.

Bootspace is adequate at 450 litres – that’s 90 litres less than an E Class, but for the price difference you can almost buy yourself an A Class to take whatever won’t fit. It's worth noting, however, that unlike the Euro's the M does not feature a splitfold rear seat.

In the US, Infiniti sales in 2012 were up more than 20 per cent year on year -- to 120,000 units. Nevertheless, the brand has its work cut out establishing itself Down Under.

While the marque doesn’t yet distance itself from its parent with the clarity that Lexus does, the M30d does bring something new to the prestige segment.

If the engine lets it down against oilers from Audi, Benz and Jag, it’s still swift, smooth, relatively economical and gets around corners with grace under pressure. It’s a fundamentally well balanced package, with a great standard equipment list to sweeten the deal.

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