If Infiniti chooses to go with a 7 year life cycle for some of their models, my gripe is that they should at least make the mid-cycle refresh a bit more exciting. The 2nd Gen mid-cycle refresh was so mild and didnt really breathe new life into it compared to what the competition does.
Fritz, you keep mentioning you were to buy another FX, do you mean buy to own or lease? Because if it is buy to own, I would definitely wait till the 3rd Gen, or you will just have the same feeling of been there done that. I own my 2nd Gen FX and plan to keep it long term, like 10 years or so, so I'm content with my 2010, but just would like Infiniti to step it up a bit and not just stay stagnant, at least for their mid-cycle refreshes.
Wow - I knew Infiniti Scene Forum was active, but never expected so much feedback on my posts. All are very helpful and appreciative - Thank you very much. I fully understand that Infiniti is not going to start giving us other options in paints or interiors and/or other very reasonable updates as mentioned by ryus. My main reasons for my posts was (hopefully) to try to motivate Infiniti to do the following, (provided they monitor this forum, which I hope is the case):
1) Keep the FX in production, as it is by far the best handling SUV of all, with possibly some exceptions that are not normally within most buyer's price range. The FX is no longer even mentioned on their TV ads and mail brochures.
2) Make gradual updates such as listed by ryus - especially the blind spot monitoring, heated steering wheel and other enhancements.
3) More colors of exteriors and interiors (my main complaint in most of my posts). If a buyer doesn't want black or white or most other colors with graphite interior, the number of available FXs is very limited, especially now with low dealer inventory everywhere.
4) I don't like the "Q" model numbering either, but that is another issue. (BMW, Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes and others all do the same - big mistake).
A little about myself - I do not lease - always write a check for the difference. My first experience with Infiniti was at the annual Naples, Florida Ferrari Club Car Show in February of 2003. For this show, the entire main street (5th Avenue South) is blocked off and antique and special interest cars are on display. Although the show is sponsored by the Ferrari Club, other cars are welcome. Infiniti had some cars on display on one of the side streets, just off of 5th Ave. There were so many people around the cars that my wife and I had to take a look. We worked through the crowd and there sat a Beryllium FX45 with 20" wheels. A 10 or 12 year-old boy worked into the crowd next to us, and loudly remarked, "Awesome!". I had been buying Ford Explorers and Expeditions from our local Ford dealer (who was only 2 blocks from work) and could not believe that such a car could be produced. Our business is in Canfield, Ohio, which is near the big Lordstown GM plant, so we are in GM territory - in our area they haven't even accepted Ford yet! At the time my wife had a 1997 Mercedes E320 V-8 that she bought new (our only previous imported car). While I was reluctant to buy another import, when we got back from Florida, my wife and I stopped at the Infiniti dealer in Cleveland to take another look, and on the floor was the exact same FX45 in the same Beryllum color with the big wheels and outstanding orange and black leather interior. To say it was striking was an understatement.
At the time, a salesman (noticing we were senior citizens) started showing us lower priced Infinitis and started pushing the FX35, as they had a huge stock of 35s. I kept looking at the FX45, but noticed the price difference for an FX35 was substantial, so started looking at the 35's. My wife knows me very well and kept telling me "buy the FX45 - I now how you are" and we kept going back to the FX45 in the showroom. We finally made the purchase after the usual haggling with the trade. After giving the salesman our check, he remarked, "You do not fit the profile of an FX buyer". He then mentioned that most guys want the FX45 V-8 and their wives always keep pushing the FX35 V-6, but that my wife kept pushing the FX! He truly could not understand this but of course was glad to make the sale.
I then told him that I was an antique car collector, and also was big into drag racing in the 50s, 60s and early 70s until I was in my forties. I guess he finally understood and we picked up the car the following week. Since that time, I have traded to a new FX each time a new color came out (have owned at least 4) and once had an EX, which was nice, but just a little too small at the time (maybe now, but not then). My wife finally traded in her Mercedes on a G35 coupe, later moving up to several M37X sedans, as wanted the all-wheel drive for our Ohio winters. She recently traded in her 15,000 mile 2011 M37X on a new Lincoln MKZ, since again there were no major upgrades or improvements with the new M, and she wanted something new, along with the "buy American" thing. Actually I really like the MKZ, which is very powerful - not at all what you would expect - has a really hot supercharged 4 cylinder Eco-Boost engine, and gets 30 mpg on regular gas (34-35 on a trip), and has every possible feature that Infiniti does not offer (plus on the dash push button transmission which is very handy) and a new metallic cream color with brown leather interior and no moon roof! You can sometimes actually buy a car without a moon roof, but they are hard to find. Since we never use a moon roof, why pay $1200 or more premium.
My 2011 FX35 has 38K miles, and to stall for time I recently installed a set of new tires and front brakes, along with a new battery. Since then, kept hoping for something new with Infiniti. Besides the love of the brand, over a 10-year period of owning Infinitis, never had even one reason to take a car back to the dealer for anything - period! So far I have looked at several GM Suvs, and drove three Jeeps: A 4 cylinder, (which is nothing like the peppy Lincoln Eco-Boost), a Jeep V6 which is barely OK and a Jeep V6 diesel, which is fine, but sits too high. One Jeep has a switch to lower the car to get in and out, but this is too much trouble to deal with, as you have to do this each time you get out of the car. Then it goes up next time it is driven. If you forget to lower the car, it is as long way down on the way out. I drove a Cadillac CTX and compared to my FX, had a heavy feel - hard to describe, but not what I was hoping for. I even drove a Cadillac CTS coupe with fold down rear seats, a sharp car with concealed door handles, but no thanks.
Mlvrn97 has been pushing the Jeep SRT8 ($70K range), which is really sharp, but I no longer am looking for a 500 HP car - I like power, but if I bought a SRT8, I might get interested in drag-racing again so will not be going that route at age 82- Sorry Mlvrn97. Also because of my age, I do not feel like waiting on a new Infiniti change in 2017. In the meantime, I took a good look at BMW & Mercedes Suvs (didn't like). Both BMW and Mercedes have Navigation that has a knob to turn and push - not at all like the user-friendly navigation in our Infinitis. Audi- dealer is too far away. So because of Infiniti's failure to upgrade at least the paint and interior colors, I am now taking a good look elsewhere. I am waiting to test drive the 2015 smaller SUV Lincoln MKC, which is just coming out, and it has a 285 hp turbo-charged 2.3L 300 HP Eco-Boost 4 cylinder, with push-button shift on the dash. My backup plan now if I do not like the MKC is to consider an EX again, as at least they have a color combination that I like (maroon exterior with wheat interior), provided I can find one. My wife liked the EX that we had for a short time, but it was too small for me then, but now might be OK. Then if and when the 2017 FX comes out, and provided some changes and enhancements are made, it won't be hard to trade up at that time.
Our immediate family collects antique and classic cars, and along with our son we have over 40 such vehicles, including 60s muscle cars, originals, street rods, modifieds, 50s Buicks, Cadillacs and LaSalle convertibles, Pontiac Safaris and other wagons, 2 fire trucks, 3 Model A Fords, and more. All are on display in our car museum in Canfield, Ohio (southwest of Youngstown near the Ohio Turnpike). You can check out our collection at
www.tipcars.us or
www.tpcarcollection.com Click on "Latest Additions" at top right-hand of Home Page for some of our better cars.
Thanks again for all of the feedback and support, Fritz