By Chris Haak

Over its three generations, Infiniti’s M car has gone from a staid, upright, obsolete-when-it-debuted sedan with a big engine to a curve-heavy technology-packed luxury car with a big engine.  The first generation of the M was basically a left hand drive, Infiniti-badged version of the JDM Nissan Gloria.  That car was sold during the 2003 and 2004 model years only, and was what amounts to a Japanese muscle car; it had the then-flagship Q45′s 4.5 liter V8 installed on a smaller, lighter body.  All-wheel drive was not available in the first M45s, nor was a lower-cost V6-engined version.

In 2005, Infiniti shed the M’s stodgy, conservative bodywork for something still clean and conservative, but also a look that was more aligned with the rest of the Infiniti family, including the about-to-be-introduced 2007 G35 sedan.  The second-generation M stepped up the technology game over the original car, adding features like four wheel steering, all wheel drive, blind spot warning system, a sophisticated multimedia entertainment system, and a standard V6 engine.  Over the term of the second-generation M’s lifespan, the V6 was upgraded and the M got Infiniti’s seven-speed automatic In my past experiences with the M (via a 2008 M35s and a 2009 M45x), I found it to be a comfortable, capable highway cruiser.

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