2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD Long-Term Road Tests Archives

I was completely worn out after a long day. I had 60 miles to go through rush hour traffic before I could call it quits. It's times like this that I hate living in LA.

While driving the FX, I noticed a curious noise. I had the seat heater fan blowing and every time I hit the gas, the fan would buzz like a bee as it increased its revolutions. It sounded like a car radio without a noise filter. To double check, I turned the fan off and the noise went away. Back on, it angrily buzzed.

This is what traffic and boredom reduces me to. Sometimes I hate this town.

Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer @ 29,825 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Below are the fuel economy numbers for January 2010. We've listed the best, worst and overall average tanks.

As usual, a couple of cars are out on the road or unavailable at the time of this writing. I'll continue to add them as they come in and let you know in the comments. You'll see a couple of newcomers on this list as well.

After the jump you can see the list sorted by best average MPG.

Continue reading Big List of Fuel Economy: January 2010.

Categories: 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06,2009 Audi S5,2009 BMW 750i,2009 BMW M3,2009 Dodge Challenger R/T,2009 Dodge Ram 1500,2009 Ford Flex Limited,2009 Honda Fit Sport,2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD,2009 Nissan 370Z Touring,2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS,2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid,2010 Honda Insight EX,2010 Mazdaspeed 3,2010 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD

As the 2009 Infiniti FX50 prepares to leave our fleet for good, I took it this morning for its final visit to Blue Wave, our local car wash.

Watching the wash worker dress the Infiniti's tires, I thought about how much I'll miss the FX50 when it's gone. Not for its smooth, compliant ride, but for allowing me to look down on FX35 drivers (literally) from my perch atop its massive 21-inch wheels.

Goodbye, FX50. It's been tons of big-wheeled fun.

Kelly Toepke, News Editor @ 29,616 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

I can always tell when our time with a particular long-term test vehicle is about to end. That's when the subscription to satellite radio ends and the electronics tell us to make a call to Sirius or (in the case of the 2009 Infiniti FX50) XM.

It's a sad moment, really. You never know how much you depend on satellite radio until it's gone, especially in a vehicle that has seen as many cross-country trips as this one.

Continue reading 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD: Satellite Radio.

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Subtle is not a word I would usually use to describe the 2009 Infiniti FX50. But despite its bulky design with prominent nose and big V8 engine, there is one element of the FX50 that is subtle: the seat heaters. You get three levels of subtle, subtler and hint of warmth. Even the dial that controls the function is small and understated.

Now, you know how we love our seat heaters at IL. Personally, I use them all of the time, even in the summer. So, here are the good things about the seat heaters in the 2009 Infiniti FX50. They work instantly without a long warm-up period. The heat is distributed up the backrest and not just on the seat bottom. I love that. They stay on unlike some other vehicles that slowly decrease the heat until they turn themselves off. The dial stays in the "on" position so next time you get in the car, they are already on.

I just wish they were hotter.

Anyone have an Infiniti FX out there? What do you think of the seat heaters?

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Finally. It took 2 months of ordering and re-ordering the replacement door panel for our 2009 Infiniti FX50. But it finally arrived. We stopped by Cerritos Infiniti to have it installed and now it's good as new. And the work itself took just under 2 hours.

Total Cost: $0

Days Out of Service: None

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 29,000 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

I didn't check the floor mat's positioning before I got into the driver seat recently. It's been a couple of months since floor mats were a main topic in the news, and I'd gotten complacent. But as soon as I started driving, I could tell something was wrong. The throttle pedal felt lumpy. 

At a stoplight, I peeked down into the footwell and saw that the floor mat had crept up onto the bottom-hinged throttle pedal, as you can see in the photo above. While the light was still red, I reached down and pulled it as far away from the pedal as possible and then went on my merry way with no further incident.

Later, when I got to my destination, I figured I'd better reattach the mat, if that was possible. When I lifted up the mat, I saw that, unlike last time, there was a clip attached to the mat (we must have picked one up recently), but it had come loose from its anchor point in the carpet again. I pushed the clip into the hole as best I could and then rehooked the mat. It seemed to hold well enough. But it was a good reminder to check that mat every time I get in.

Bryn MacKinnon 

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Every time I get into our FX50 and have to install my child safety seat anew (which is every time I switch cars), I am reminded that I love the hinged cargo cover. It's like having a trap door from the back seat to the cargo area.

After I cinch down my kid's giant car seat, I always make sure to secure the top tether to the top tether anchor (which is often on the back of the back seat, below the cargo cover). To do this in many SUVs and hatchbacks that have rigid cargo covers, I have to jam and squeeze the top tether's large buckle through a tiny space not really designed to accomodate such a thing. Not so with the FX50. The hinged section of the cargo cover that's closest to the back seat easily just pushes down to let me drop the tether down where it needs to go.

Continue reading 2009 Infiniti FX50: Love the Trap Door.

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

...and we're not talking the super-cute pictures of baby animals type squee. What we're dealing with in our 2009 Infiniti FX50S is a super-high-pitched (probably out of some people's hearing range) squuuuuueeeeeee every time you depress the accelerator with an iPod connected. 

It's caused by improperly shielded/separated wires that are mixing signals when a current says, "Hey! Fuel pump....GO!" If we were to rip the FX50 apart we'd most likely find that the wires powering the iPod connection hard-wired in the center console are, in some spot, in close proximity to the wires that make fuel pumps pump. They could even be wrapped in the same harness. *gasp* 

Bush-league mistake that every rookie car audio installer would catch before turning the system on. Never had this happen in any other Nissan/infiniti...only this one. Lame. 

Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 28,511 miles 

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Below are the fuel economy numbers for December 2009. We've listed the best, worst and overall average tanks.

As usual, a couple of cars are out on the road or unavailable at the time of this writing. I'll continue to add them as they come in and let you know in the comments.

After the jump you can see the list sorted by best average MPG.

Continue reading Big List of Fuel Economy: December 2009.

Categories: 2007 Honda Civic GX,2008 Pontiac G8 GT,2009 Audi A4 Avant,2009 Audi S5,2009 BMW 750i,2009 BMW M3,2009 Dodge Challenger R/T,2009 Dodge Ram 1500,2009 Ford Flex Limited,2009 Honda Fit Sport,2009 Hyundai Genesis V6,2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD,2009 Mazda 6 i Grand Touring,2009 Nissan 370Z Touring,2009 Suzuki SX4,2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS,2010 Honda Insight EX,2010 Mazdaspeed 3,2010 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD

Over the weekend I opted to take my ratty old compact sedan to go shopping rather than fire up the 2009 Infiniti FX50. The FX was just too much work, too big to park, too much of a statement for me.

I decided it was like taking a battleship to go fishing.

But I love the interior of this AWD SUV. And the seats are so comfortable you don't want to get out.

Philip Reed, Edmunds Senior Consumer Advice Editor @ 28,328 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

I drove the long-term Infiniti FX50 over the holiday break and was too lazy to put fuel in it. Most of my driving involved local jaunts to stores for last-minute shopping versus my typical 100-mile daily commute, so the shrinking fuel level didn't really faze me. But when the miles-to-empty range dropped below 60 the crossover's information window lit up like a hazmat warning.

Continue reading Infiniti FX50: Low Fuel Warnings and iPhone Adapters.

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Some time ago the passenger door panel on our 2009 Infiniti FX50 began to peel. So we took the FX50 to Cerritos Infiniti for repair. At that time our advisor informed us the peeling  trim was a known issue. She ordered the replacement door panel and sent us on our way.

"I'll call you when the parts arrive. But they are on back-order and we probably won't see them for two weeks." That's what she said.

Two weeks passed and our phone was silent. We called the dealer to follow up and learned that the part number for our door panel had been changed internally. Some kind of inventory glitch. What that meant to us was a cancelled order. And to re-order the same part with the correct number would take another two weeks. Looks like we're going to need more super glue to get us through to next year.

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Manager @ 28,000 miles

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Thanks to mrryte for this week's favorite caption. You can always get me with a Star Wars reference.

Here are the others we dug:

Arm wrestle? (oldchap)
Did the Earth move for you too?! (ergsum)
Love struck, the FX50 asked if it could D8R! (ergsum)
Don't tread on me (mnorm1)
Ugly and the Beast (e90_m3)
Separated at birth? (dougtheeng)
Cat meet catfish. (dougtheeng)
Come here ya big lug and let me plant one on ya (626gt)
Infiniti's top secret front facia department (imarcr2)
Time to feed the CAT (ergsum)
I think that hood scoop is actually *hurting* your top end (zc1)
The FX prepares to meet its maker. (hybris)

What was your favorite?

This was the last caption contest until the New Year. Thanks for playing.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD

Senior Editor Ed Hellwig sent me this picture of the Infiniti FX50 at Angeles Forest. The bulldozer was there to help fight the fires.

We suggest: Vanishing Pointless

What is your caption?

We'll post our favorite this afternoon.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

P.S. Don't miss the caption contest running on Straightline.

Categories: 2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD