From the Bryce Canyon region, Route 89 snakes south to Kanab, Utah, where you can either continue east on 89 to Page, Arizona, or take the southerly 89A until it rejoins 89 in Bitter Springs. If you're ever in the area, set aside half a day and do the entire loop. You'll be so busy staring slack-jawed out the window that the time commitment will seem utterly inconsequential.
In between photographic pit stops, I decided to stretch the Infiniti's legs a little on this closed course of sorts, emboldened by the Escort 9500 that I'd serendipitously discovered in the console bin the night before. First logbook comment: "Seventh gear is for the autobahn." Think about how hard your car's working at 97 mph, and now consider that it takes the Infiniti that long to hit 3,000 rpm. I can't think of a taller Japanese cruising gear off the top of my head.
Antelope Canyon (right) was on the itinerary as well, and as dusk approached I made a mad dash for the Grand Canyon's North Rim, which included an impromptu handling test along the winding five-mile road to Point Imperial. More notes and pics below.
Route 89A, Northern Arizona
"Beastly power from the 5.0-liter V8, but somehow the NVH demons from the VQ-Series V6 have found their way into this motor as well. From about 5,800 rpm to the 6,800-rpm redline, the smooth baritone rumble is displaced by a nervous buzz, and there's some perceptible vibration in the steering wheel and gas pedal. It's not nearly as bad as the 370Z's V6, for example, which is strident from 5,000 rpm on up, but I expect more from a $60k SUV that wants some of Porsche's market share.
Shifts aren't particularly smooth, either, and while the manual-mode downshifts are supposedly rev-matched, all I noticed was some nebulous lurching around -- nowhere near as sharp as the G37 in this regard."
North Rim Parkway, Grand Canyon National Park
"Like the GT-R, the FX50 could use a more comfort-biased setting for its [two-mode] adjustable suspension. There's only so much you can do with 21-inch tires, but shoppers in this segment might be disappointed with the impact harshness. Structure feels exceedingly solid over broken pavement though."
Point Imperial, Grand Canyon. 8,803 feet.
"Really pushed to get here before sunset. FX was up to the task. Steering is remarkably responsive by SUV standards; most SUVs have an exaggerated yaw delay [time lapse between steering input and response], but this steering feels like it hasn't been dumbed down at all from G37 duty. Thank you, Infiniti. With suspension in Sport mode, body roll is minimal, and the FX just goes where you point it, no fuss, no drama. Fun to drive? Absolutely. I like this thing's dimensions, too -- feels quite managable in tight corners."
Thunderbird Restaurant, Mt. Carmel Junction, Utah
"Utah's got a sense of humor."
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor
ahightower says:
03:50 PM, 09/ 2/09
Well, some parts of Utah...
ahightower says:
03:51 PM, 09/ 2/09
Then again, the people who would be offended probably wouldn't enter the bar in the first place, so what's the harm...
fuhteng says:
05:15 PM, 09/ 2/09
NVH? What is that?
More great photos though, thanks!
dubaizen says:
05:42 PM, 09/ 2/09
You guys should get the transmission reflashed (Infiniti released a service bulletin for it a few months ago), which really makes the gear changes smoother!
SadButTrue says:
06:09 PM, 09/ 2/09
@fuhteng,
NVH = Noise, Vibration and Harshness.
-JS
redliner says:
07:24 PM, 09/ 2/09
If Infinty wants to be more than nice nissans, they need a clear strategy. The G37 is solid gold, but their expensive cars seem to be plauged by bi-polar disorder (do i want to be a lexus, or do i want to be a BMW?)
hybris says:
07:34 PM, 09/ 2/09
I get a feeling that this post is quickly going to go down hill from here.
johnnyr3 says:
03:47 AM, 09/ 3/09
I'm not an SUV/CUV/SAV or whatever-they're-calling-it-this-week kind of person, but if I were to buy one, I'd drive the FX.
Sincerely,
Dos Equis Guy
ttummy says:
04:55 AM, 09/ 3/09
Are you using a polarizing filter on your Rebel? The colors look very saturated.
jaguar36 says:
04:56 AM, 09/ 3/09
Those are some awesome pictures.
SadButTrue says:
10:33 AM, 09/ 3/09
@tlummy,
Like a celebrity denying having plastic surgery, I'm going to deny using Photoshop. :)
However, the tweaked images are representative of the actual scenes (and everything from Antelope Canyon looks a little CGI by the way; the light is crazy in there). I don't use a polarizing filter, and I find that the camera generally doesn't produce realistic saturation/clarity by default -- it's like there's a film of haze over each picture that I have to remove before it looks right. Usually playing with levels and curves does the trick; the shadow/highlight tool helps when those don't.
-JS