The "other" M car(s)....

Recently, I noticed an Infiniti sedan that popped up for sale in one of the local free newspapers. As the 1 time owner of a G20, I wouldn't mind replacing it with another Infiniti, at some point. This one is one of the 2nd gen.(?) M cars, an M45, a 2003. When I tried to do some research on this particular model, I came up a bit lighter than usual. Edmunds doesn't have anything on the M series cars until the 2008-2009 model. An old Consumer Research New Car Guide has a little bit on this car, but boils it down to just 2 or 3 sentences.

Soooo, basically, anyone here have any experience(s) with the 2002-2004 M45? Need not be first hand, but I am curious as to how difficult to keep running, cost of insurance compared to say...a comparable M-B or BMW, parts availability (tho Nissan is usually pretty good on that point, just not sure of how good the upscale arm is with lower volume models) things like that.

The article in Wikipedia is fairly good, but doesn't really tell you anything about how this car drives down the road. I also found out that while 2003 was a "high point", sales wise,(a whole 4K were sold) this gen. of M sold in the range of 9K to 10K over a combined 3 years.

Basically, all I know is that it uses the same engine and transmission as the Q45 and it (supposedly?) is NOT all that roomy inside for what is a fairly large car.

This one is Japanese luxury at Crown Vic / Grand Marquis prices.

Personally, I've always liked that car, especially in the maroon color. Looks are polarizing, but there is some info on a couple of the Infiniti Boards. If memory serves, the last year would be the one to get.

I love the looks. I don't know a ton about them other than it was adapted from the Y34 Nissan Cedric out of Japan.... and was available with an RB25DET and AWD in Japan...... I know squat about Nissan v8's though.

try www.vipstylecars.com or whatever that forum is, they love those.

As do I. DO. WANT.

I've got a buddy that has a next gen M56. It's ermm.... fast.

I love the 1st gen M45s.

I've now found 3 of them locally, 1 silver, one a sort of green, and 1 a sort of burgundy / red. Wiki did say that this gen of M has a 300+ horsepower engine, so I guess not really Crown Vic speed, just Crown Vic sort of prices. (All 3 have prices JUST under $10K, with miles hovering around 100K.)

I just image searched that car. That is a sweet-looking automobile.

The early cars are cool looking in a retro Japanese sort of car styling way.

Did I butcher that sentence or what LOL.

I thought these were interesting, but every review and comparison I read said the M45 was slower than the comparable Lexus LS 430, plus I've seen the next generation M45s are just a few grand more.

If you are seeing these under $10k, that's probably a good deal. Those that I could find locally were at least $14k, and I didn't find that many.

I agree that the body styling on these is much cooler than the "overweight G35" styling on the later cars. But they didn't sell well, and unless they find enough cult following I would expect prices to keep going down.