Sometimes a car is just so nearly perfect, that nobody ever buys it. The connoisseurs get it, sure, but eventually it's cancelled after the company barely turns over 5,000 units and its a shame. Years later they become collectibles, but only after everybody overlooks the one thing that was wrong.
I am in full agreement with Patrick that the Infiniti M45 is a future classic. That is beyond dispute. It's a great looking thing, long and low, with a gangster-ish presence. Patrick got the description right the other week:
Let's start with the styling. It's one of the most distinctive-looking cars Infiniti ever made, perhaps even the most so. Until recently the brand lacked a truly cohesive design language that stood out among the luxury sedan masses, but the M45 is something really different.
It's big and bold, with a long body and tons of front and rear overhang like a Japanese take on a big American RWD luxury sedan. Sure, the Q45 was the flagship back then, but it didn't look nearly as cool as this. Angular and powerful, the M45 stands out a decade later.
Dare I say that it looks kind of like some of the Art & Science Cadillacs that came after it? Car and Driver wrote in 2003 that the M45 looks like "one of those anycars patched together for bank ads," but I respectfully say they're full of shit.
It never really sold well, though, for reasons that are a bit beyond me and that I'm still trying to figure out, and Infiniti pulled the plug after two years. I think I know what it was though – it was never sold as a coupe. That body style is just perfectly suited for it, and if the B-pillar was moved back ever so slightly and two of the doors were eliminated, it would've been the ultimate Japanese cruiser.
A lot of cars are like that, though. They come so close to perfection, and yet they just miss the mark. What car do you think only has one fatal flaw? Let us know below in the comments!
What Car Had Only One Fatal Flaw?