If you’re in the market for a serious personal luxury sedan that isn’t your run of the mill Mercedes, Jaguar, Lexus, BMW or Audi (is there such a thing?) the new Infiniti Q45 just might be just the ticket.
   I recently had the opportunity to drive the luxurious 2003 Infiniti Q45 and the sportier M45 for a week at a time, back-to-back. In my view, Nissan’s Infiniti division has finally captured the right essence of both performance and luxury in its flagship Q45 sedan.
   The Japanese-built Q45 debuted in 1990 as your basic upscale, European-style, rear wheel-drive hot rod sports sedan. It was an absolutely great, forward-thinking car for its time, with somewhat offbeat and daring sans grille styling. But an extremely weird, big bucks advertising campaign featuring a somewhat effeminate British stage actor, didn’t even show the car. It focused instead on the analog clock rather than the superb performance aspects and bold styling, crippling sales before it ever got a fair shot at the market.
   Never mind the fact the Q45 went very fast and handled extremely well. The totally inept advertising unintentionally positioned it as too much of an oddball car for anyone except very strong personalities — or serious car buffs.
   Meanwhile, disappointed by the lack of sales, Nissan, which was already in financial trouble, wouldn’t stop messing with the Q45 until it became a way too soft and underpowered Japanese version of your basic Buick. It went from being too fast and individualistic to too slow and conventional.
   All the while, its main rival, the rear-drive Lexus LS 400 (now the LS 430) another fast, roomy — but very conventional — luxury sedan, was seriously kicking Infiniti’s butt sales-wise. Lexus utilized a traditional advertising campaign showcasing everything but the clock, and hammering home the fact it offered what nearly everyone wanted in an upscale luxury sedan.
   However, the current-generation Q45, which arrived for the 2002 model year, served notice it is no longer the equivalent of a “Japanese Buick.” In today’s booming luxury vehicle market, where shelling out more than fifty grand doesn’t necessarily buy you distinctiveness any longer, the opulently restyled Q45 is only expected to generate about 12,000 sales this year. But that’s also part of the cachet that makes this feature-laden, $52-to-$62,000 luxury sedan attractive to people who consider themselves individuals and who aren’t afraid to think for themselves.
   Under the hood is a very smooth, race-bred 4.5-liter, 340-horse, DOHC V8. It features 32 titanium valves and continuous variable valve timing for better response, and ranks right up there with Cadillac’s Northstar as one of the best powerplants available today. It’s coupled to a responsive 5-speed automatic with a manual J-gate type shift feature.
   Acceleration is quick, quiet and effortless, especially noteworthy since this is a big, heavy car, weighing in at 3,977 pounds. All that power however, comes at a price — fuel economy is only an estimated 17 city and 23 highway. On the other hand, if fuel economy is a consideration, you can’t afford this car anyway.
   Among the many high-tech items included on the Q45, is Infiniti’s Intelligent Cruise Control system, which keeps the car a constant driver-set distance from vehicles ahead. The steering is quick, but has a slight artificial feel, which is typical of most speed-sensing steering systems. The Q45 is actually less of a sports sedan than a very fast luxury cruiser. But thanks to a redesigned suspension, handling, which is enhanced by stability and traction control systems, is quite good for a vehicle this size and weight.
   The Q45 was simply refined for 2003. The car sits taller than previous versions, has a wider stance and longer wheelbase that provides more headroom, much-needed rear interior room and improved trunk space as well. 2003 changes include a revised grille, standard heated seats and a different final-drive gear ratio for faster acceleration.
   There’s also a full-size spare tire and puddle lights under the outside mirrors. New 17 or 18-inch wheels add a racier look as well. Additionally, there’s new sun visor extenders and the addition of an electronic compass to the rearview mirror, embroidered Infiniti logos on the front seatbacks and a rear-seat center head restraint with two-way manual adjustment.
   There are new optional equipment packages as well, including integrated satellite radio. The 6-disc slot-type CD changer has been moved from the glove compartment to the center dashboard area cluster while the cassette deck has been relegated to the glove box.
   The base $52,000 Q45 features optional 17-inch run-flat tires as part of a $4,000 Journey package. While it’s not cheap, that package also contains an advanced navigation system (the entire U.S. on one DVD) and the Intelligent Cruise Control.
   The base model is extremely well equipped. But the $61,600 Premium version boasts even more equipment, including an adjustable suspension with different shock absorber settings, wider tires riding on 18-inch wheels, the navigation system, Intelligent Cruise Control, front seats that provide both heating and cooling along with heated power-reclining rear seats and rear audio and climate controls.
   The Premium version also has a standard rearview monitor camera that shows a video image of what’s behind the car on the in-dash information screen when the car is put in reverse.
   That screen, which can be somewhat distracting, incorporates the navigation, audio and climate control systems. Those functions can also be voice-activated, but this takes an extraordinary amount of time to master.
   The interior is a study in wood-and-leather. Instrumentation is easy to read — and then there’s Infiniti’s classy, signature analog dashboard clock. The front cupholders are conveniently located and sufficiently deep, while items such as the fold-out front door pockets show excellent attention to luxury detail as does the power trunk lid closer.
   The Q45 will seat four tall adults in luxurious comfort. However, the center driveline tunnel and shape of the rear cushion won’t allow a fifth adult much comfort between the two rear-seat passengers.
   Safety items include side airbags in front and front/rear side-impact curtain airbags for head protection. The very cool multi-bullet headlights are among the world’s most powerful, and their wide beam area makes fog lights obsolete.

Whines: With its joystick and six-button operation, the whole navigation, audio, climate control system is very unintuitive and over-engineered. It all works fine once you finally figure it out, but nothing operates the way you think it should. The technology-challenged will hate it. The manual trunk lid hinges simply don’t belong on a luxury car.

Bottom line: Although perhaps not for everyone, the Infiniti Q45 is a very luxurious, very fast, superior handling automobile. It presents an excellent alternative for the individual interested in making a personal statement about automotive style, comfort, luxury and serious performance — while standing out from the rest of the crowd.