Infiniti Wisdom

Auto writers. have come to expect innovations from prestigious German automakers, but leave it to the Japanese to examine the best new developments, copy and improve them, and then incorporate them in a single vehicle. 

That vehicle is the 2009 Infiniti M45. 

Infiniti is the luxury car division of parent Nissan. Its chief competitors come from Lexus and Acura, offspring of Toyota and Honda. In the Infiniti M45, I found every major safety, comfort and convenience item I would want. Some highlights:

 • ScratchShield. A process that fills in small surface scratches to the M45’s paint should the car be damaged by, say, a bush. Or an errant shopping cart. Or a vandal dragging a key down the side. The repair takes a few days to complete, but the paint “melts” into scratches until they are filled in.

 • Built-in GPS with a rear-view camera image displayed on the map screen when the car is in reverse. This can be a lifesaver and can also prevent minor accidents when backing up in unfamiliar terrain.

 • Intelligent cruise control. Set the desired cruise speed and the M45 will maintain that speed by braking and accelerating as needed to keep pace and distance with traffic in your lane.

 • Lane departure notification. “Bong” goes the alarm if the car begins to drift out of its lane. Frankly, I found this more annoying than useful.

 • Rear Active Steer. In a curve, sensors on the rear suspension send information to a central processing unit, and the suspension adjusts itself to make the car adhere better during turning; it lowers on the side into which the car is turning. 

The 325-horsepower V8 makes for lively performance, and a plethora of features are standard on this $52,000 car. Two packages of technology options brought the as-tested price to $60,765. The only feature not on the test M45 was all-wheel drive, available for an additional $2,000.