Pricing on FX45

Man, the FX45 is a nice looking vehicle. I really need a new SUV and I was considering both the FX and the v8 Toureg. The FX blows the Toureg away when it comes to style, but from what I can tell about how the cars are built, I just can't see why it's so damned expensive.

Pricing out similar v8 options on the two cars (now, let's face it, the FX is based on the Altima platform and the Toureg is a custom-designed platform that is shared with the Cayenne), the Toureg is more than $10k less.

Now I'm sure they have completely different personalities... but I think both would make me relatively happy.

Are the Infiniti dealers dealing or are they expecting you to pay the retail price of nearly $60k for a fully loaded FX45??

I got a bright silver/graphite 45 with all options except DVD and chrome wheels. I did not want either because chrome wheels are ugly and I will have no passengers so the DVD is a waste. Also the dvd installation is ugly too... took delivery 1 week ago... it took a week to locate the car and another week to sort out the paperwork as I was rekocating...

49K was the price. I did get a quote 500 less but I did not like the dealer as they were plling the bait and switch, and tried to short me on options, substituted sirius for the XM radio, etc.


I am located in New Jersey. I just moved here from Calif, and the pricing was the same there (San Fran Bay Area)

Wow, I just got an email that this thread was resurrected. I bought a V8 Touareg in Feb and haven't looked back. What an amazing automobile. It can't keep up with the FX in the straightaway (on raw 0-60) but the handling with the air suspension is superb and the car in general is just over-the-top great.

It was also about $49k.

Wow, I just got an email that this thread was resurrected. I bought a V8 Touareg in Feb and haven't looked back. What an amazing automobile. It can't keep up with the FX in the straightaway (on raw 0-60) but the handling with the air suspension is superb and the car in general is just over-the-top great.

It was also about $49k.

Congrats on your purchase, I hope you are enjoying it. Just to set facts straight (I suggest you spend more time researching next time you are in the market), FX is based on Nissan Z350 / Infiniti G35 and not Altima. Murano and Maxima share platform with Altima. Also, your pricing is off completely, becasue as pointed out on this site already, the top fully loaded FX45 will cost you $50K which sounds like the same as what you paid for Toureg. I won't get into a discussion of pros and cons of FX vs. Toureg but it's always more helpful to choose cars based on real facts and may be you would have ended up with FX. To me Toureg's only advantage is it's off-road ability, which in NYC means nothing. In every other aspect FX beats VW hands down.
My 2c so I'm sure there are many Toureg-lovers that will think otherwise.

I have no doubt the FX is a nice vehicle. The Treg and the FX v8's loaded are both about the same price now (that wasn't the case in my area when I was shopping--FX45s were totalling up to $56k or more!). It turned out that the Treg was the same price then as an FX is now, but that it's my impression that you get a whole lot more for the same price. I'm not talking about in terms of extra gizmos (FX and Treg both have their share of those, but I say the FX's gizmos are probably neater--like the reverse camera and keyless start) but in the engineering that went into making the vehicles. It's my impression that the FX is a car on a car platform with SUV-like styling. It has an AWD system that is lifted from the skyline sedan and(according to Nissan themselves) not designed for offroad use (point noted that you live in NYC, but I live in the Pacific Northwest and spend a fair amount of time heading up into the mountains to snowboard, mountain bike, hike, etc.)

As a former Nissan Maxima driver, I've found Nissans to be quite reliable cars, no doubt there. Their trucks have always been substandard, so it's good that the FX is based on a car platform and not their body-on-frame platforms.

There's no doubt in my mind that these vehicles, in the end, appeal to different sensibilities.

I understand that the FX is based on the rear-wheel platform (Z, G35). I didn't know that way back when I posted the original question, but I did when I made the purchase decision. The Touareg, as noted in my first post, was designed ground-up on a completely new platform.

So tell me: what is the difference between the Altima and Z platform (besides front versus rear drive)? As a Nissan owner, I was totally jazzed about the Z (until I read all of the reviews, that is, where it was damned with faint praise). The first review I read (Car and Driver or Road and Track, can't remember) mentioned that the Z was based on the Altima. So if all they did is change the FWD to RWD, I can't say that makes the platform any more suited for an SUV than my original post hinted at.

Again, I am not doubting that the FX is a great car. But I need to be educated more about why it's not, in reality, in the same class as a station wagon.

So tell me: what is the difference between the Altima and Z platform (besides front versus rear drive)? As a Nissan owner, I was totally jazzed about the Z (until I read all of the reviews, that is, where it was damned with faint praise). The first review I read (Car and Driver or Road and Track, can't remember) mentioned that the Z was based on the Altima. So if all they did is change the FWD to RWD, I can't say that makes the platform any more suited for an SUV than my original post hinted at.

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I am no tech, but I know that the Z/G/FX are based on the front-midship module which has the engine located closer to the middle of the car for closer to 50/50 weight distribution while Altima/Maxima/Qwest use a different platform.

That would explain the really, really long hood line of the FX, I guess. But the Z and G are basically compact cars and the FX isn't. Did Nissan do anything special to this platform to ruggedize it to handle the extra stress and weight of an SUV?