Infiniti QX4

Infiniti QX4 Models

The 2001 Infiniti QX4 is available with either four-wheel drive or two-wheel drive. Previously, buyers had but one choice, a four-wheel drive. For 2001, a two-wheel-drive model is being added.

Base MSRP for the 2WD is $34,675, including a destination charge of $525. The 4WD, which Infiniti says will comprise 80 percent of QX4 sales, starts at an MSRP, including destination, of $36,075. The two models differ only in whether the engine drives just the rear wheels or all four wheels.

And the only option limited to one model is the $900 Sport Package offered on the 4WD (but to get this, buyers must also pop for the $600 Premium Package or for the $950 sunroof). The Sport Package comprises heated front and rear seats and a limited-slip rear differential, helpful in low-traction situations. The Premium Package replaces standard 16-inch wheels with 17-inch wheels and comes with a driver memory seat and a pseudo-fancy steering wheel covered in wood-tone plastic and leather.

Other options are a nifty navigation system, two-tone paint, a rear wind deflector and a towing package. The 2WD model is available with the heated seats, but they must be ordered in combination with the Premium Package.

Also available is the Infiniti Communicator, which uses global positioning satellite and cellular telephone technology to provide around-the-clock roadside assistance and travel directions. Infiniti operators can unlock the QX4's door if you've locked the keys inside and track it if it is stolen. Most important, the system notifies the Infiniti Response Center in the event of an airbag deployment. If contact cannot be made with the QX4's occupants, the IRC calls the 911 dispatcher closest to the QX4's location to summon help.

Checking all the option boxes on order form can push the total cost to $41,404 on a 2WD and $43,104 on a 4WD.

Driving the Infiniti QX4

Despite all its luxury features and adornments, the 2001 Infiniti QX4 is still a sport-utility vehicle. Although much of the roughness normally associated with truck-based utility vehicles has been squelched and upholstered over, the QX4's center of gravity is immutably higher than a car's. So it leans more when turning, no matter the speed or road surface.

But otherwise, the Infiniti QX4 delivers a comfortable ride. It absorbs potholes and other bumps well. Very little wind noise intrudes, although the standard roof rack generates a modicum of whistle.

It's also capable, if not overwhelmingly competent, when driven off-road. It has an ultra-low transfer gear, essential not only for safe descents of unpaved tracks but also for walking-speed ascents of rock-strewn trails, which attests at least to an intent by its designers and engineers that the QX4 be perceived as more than merely a pretending dirt-tracker.

The Infiniti QX4 comes with disc brakes in front and drum brakes in the rear, rather than the superior four-wheel disc brakes.

The new 24-valve 3.5-liter V6 is far more sophisticated than last year's 12-valve 3.3-liter V6 and power is up dramatically. This year's QX4 boasts a whopping 240 horsepower, compared with 170 last year. Torque has been raised from 200 foot-pounds to 265 foot-pounds at 3,200 rpm. This gives the QX4 the best horsepower in its class, and only the Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.7-liter engine tops the QX4's torque rating (with 295 foot-pounds). Anybody who drove an earlier QX4 will appreciate the improvement.

Buyers choosing the 2001 Infiniti QX4 4WD model get the same power-distribution system as in the 2000. Adapted from a high-performance sport coupe available only in Japan, the QX4's four-wheel-drive system is fully automatic; when road conditions change the driver doesn't have to do a thing except drive. A collection of electronic sensors monitor what's happening at each axle and direct power where it can best be used. For the miniscule percentage of owners who dare to try something truly radical, as in treading where vehicles aren't intended to go, there's a manually selected, ultra-low set of gears permitting the optimal application of horsepower and torque at walking speeds. The 2WD model boasts the same ground clearance as the 4WD model, a quite respectable 8.3 inches (unchanged from the 2000 model).

With an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated 15/19 miles per gallon city/highway, fuel economy is on a par with or better than the competition, equaling the Grand Cherokee V8 model's and exceeding the Discovery's 13/17 mpg.