Lots of glass, including the big sunroof, brightens the cabin by day. Cool, functional, white-on-black electroluminescent gauges come out at night. Two slightly retro touches add richness for 2005: white faces for the gauges, and genuine metal knobs for accessory controls.
The seats are new for 2005, and have been contoured for a sportier feel. We found them quite comfortable. The driver gets 10-way power adjustments, including lumbar, great for long freeway trips. Eight-way power helps the front-seat passenger get comfortable. Both have a memory function.
The climate-controlled seats (included in the Premium package) have a low-profile fan in the bottom to draw in cabin air. A thermoelectric device in the seat back heats or cools the air before sending it out through distribution channels in the seating surface. Controls for the seat heaters are on the inboard side of the seat bottoms. We found the seat fans nice for running errands on a particularly hot Southern California day; they'd be an even bigger relief on steamy summer days in the South, East Coast or Midwest.
Big plush armrests and two sizes of concealed cup holders complement the firm seats. Infiniti is better than the Germans at cup holders. There's a hatch under the center armrest for flat things, below which lies another, deeper compartment.
The center dash is dominated by the navigation system with a seven-inch LCD screen and climate and audio controls. Infiniti put a lot of effort into making its navigation system more useful. Among its features is a three-dimensional bird's-eye view, like looking down at an illustration of the ground from a hang glider. Like most navigation systems, it offers a choice of routes: shortest time, shortest distance, it can even point you to the nearest ferry, should you prefer to travel by sea. It will also tell you the location of the nearest ATM, hotel, restaurant or rest area. When running low on gas, it will ask you if you want it to find the nearest gas station, a feature we've found useful. A Previous button next to the toggle used to control some of the mapping functions gets you back to the previous screen, a very good feature.
Shift into reverse and the screen displays what's behind the car, eyed by a tiny camera over the license plate. Unlike the video on shuttle buses, it's in living color. The backup lights aren't bright enough for the camera to work at night, and in the sunshine it's hard to see the screen. Still, this gadget can be useful for spotting children on tricycles, short posts and other objects you want to avoid.
The climate controls use the screen as well and we found this to be fussy at times. To lower the fan speed, for example, you must press the Auto A/C button, then look at the screen to determine which of six buttons to press to lower the fan speed. Adjusting the temperature is easy: Simply turn a big knob on the left. Fortunately, there is an Off button to shut the climate control off.
The stereo rocks. Operating it requires a little familiarization, however. The volume control is the big Audio knob on the right (rather than on the traditional left). Tuning stations is accomplished by a toggle in the center. Other functions demand pressing the big Audio button, then pressing the appropriate buttons indicated on the screen. (The map reappears after a few moments of inactivity.) Audio controls on the left side of the steering wheel help here.
The new satellite radio systems can be great companions on long trips, delivering high-quality sound nearly everywhere. Not having to change stations on a cross-country trip has distinct advantages. We enjoy being able to keep up on current events, especially when traveling, by listening to FoxNews and CNN. Finding AM/FM stations is easy with RDS (radio data system), which clearly identifies programming on the radio's display.
The climate control, stereo, and some navigation functions also respond to voice commands. Press a button on the steering wheel, wait for the beep, tell the dashboard what you want, and a woman's voice replies in the perfectly efficient tone of a super-secretary: Climate control temper-a-ture, six-tee seven degrees."
You can program all sorts of things to set themselves when you get in or out. The steering column lifts, the driver's seat adjusts, interior lights illuminate. Also handy is the tire-pressure monitor.
The back seats are roomy and very comfortable. Back-seat passengers are provided with their own center console, plush armrests with cup holders, separate climate controls and sunshades. The Premium Package includes a power sunshade for the rear windscreen and manually pull-down sunshades for the side windows.
Trunk space measures 13.6 cubic feet, a bit small when compared with the 17.5 cubic feet in the Lexus LS 430."
