Written by: Martin Ward
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 

If Audi, BMW and Volvo would have launched the Q5, X3 and XC60 with just a 3.7 litre V6 petrol engine, with no prospect of a smaller petrol or diesel engine in the pipeline for a long time, if ever, you would think that they had gone completely mad. However, this is what Infiniti have done with the EX37. The French registered EX37 GT we had recently was one of four Infiniti models which were delivered by transporter from the Infiniti centre in Paris. These were the closest cars to Leeds until the first UK dealer opens in Reading later this year.

 

The EX37 GT is similar in size to the X3, Q5 and XC60, whereas it’s bigger brother the FX, is similar to the X5. At £36,500 for the GT version, this price includes leather seat facings, 10 way driver and 8 way passenger electric seats, 18” alloy wheels, integrated jacket hanger on driver’s seat, power reach and rake steering wheel and lumber support. The more basic EX37 costs £35,200 and has cloth seats so for the extra money, the GT would be the one to go for. The interior quality is certainly up to a very high standard; the leather in the car we tested was excellent and it did make it look and feel special, but some of the plastics did let the interior down. The space is just adequate for four adults; a fifth person in the middle of the rear seat may find it a little tight. The boot is surprisingly small with very little room for luggage or shopping. Someone who plays golf would find it almost impossible to get a bag and trolley in without having to put the seats down. The sloping angle of the rear window gives the EX37 a sporting look but compromises space.

 

The EX37 is powered by a 3.7 litre V6 engine that produces 320hp and is coupled to an intelligent AWD system. Whilst it is a large engine, it doesn’t feel particularly quick on the road and isn’t brisk when moving away at traffic lights. Although it is smooth, quiet and very refined, it just doesn’t feel like a large petrol engine. The car we tested did not have an on board computer and obtaining information from the Infiniti website on fuel consumption and other technical data proved to be non-existent so we can only estimate its MPG. On a 160 mile return journey at motorway speeds, the EX37 used just over half a tank of fuel. It is hardly a scientific exercise but without the information it is difficult to get an exact mpg without doing a fill up to fill up and calculating it that way. However, I would estimate that it has been doing around 25 mpg, which is a long way off from its competitor’s diesel models at 40+ mpg that we have regularly achieved on test vehicles.

 

All Infiniti models are built in Japan but none are sold there. The biggest market is still North America, where large petrol engines still rule and diesel powered vehicles are very much in the minority. With petrol still costing around £2 per gallon over there, you can see the attraction to this sort of vehicle and mpg is not quite as important.

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