When you climb into the driver's seat, you're coddled by the console and instrument panel, and it feels like a tighter fit than you'll find in most other SUVs. The front seat is adjustable for height with 3 inches of vertical travel, so you can choose to perch up high to keep tabs on the rest of the tall SUV commuters around you, or you can drop your hind end down to the floor for serious driving on challenging pavement. The view over the hood reminds us of a Jaguar's or a Porsche Cayenne's, with a hood contoured over the headlights and grille. It's the opposite look of the squared-off hood of a BMW X5 or Range Rover, and the view keeps telling you you're in a car, not a truck.
The view out the back is not hindered by the sloping D-pillar, although an optional rear-view camera, like you'll find on big motor homes, will display a rear view on the 7-inch dashboard monitor. The rear display shows two virtual lines on the rear image that correspond to the width of the FX. We still didn't trust it when parallel parking, but we suspect some FX owners will learn to.

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The steering wheel and gauges remind us of the Nissan 350Z's with a thick rim framing big dials. The gauge pod adjusts with the tilt wheel. Given this sports car climate, we expected to find a six-speed manual shifter in the FX, but a five-speed automatic is the only gearbox available. Infiniti, however, says they haven't ruled out offering a manual in the future. Three adults fit comfortably in the split reclining rear seats, which we didn't expect with the sloping rear roof. Total rear cargo area is smaller than in square-shaped SUVs. Infiniti says it placed a higher priority on floor space and that the FX offers more floor space than a BMW X5 or a Lexus RX300.

FX45's optional Bose 300-watt 11-speaker stereo was tuned for the middle-aged mid-life crisis male. Infiniti says it worked with Bose specifically to get the car to play rock and roll. Bass and treble were emphasized. Satellite radio service is optional, too.

Plant the accelerator onto the floor of the Infiniti FX45 and you'll be rewarded with a healthy hot-rod roar. As revs rise, the sound becomes a higher-pitched hum. The brisk acceleration of the big FX makes it feel athletic and nimble, and you get the feeling you can pass anything in your way. The FX35 launches impressively from a stop, likely because its 280-horsepower V6 makes 270 pounds-feet of torque at 4800 rpm, the same as the 350Z sports car and substantially more than other V6 SUVs. Approaching higher speeds, the 315-hp FX45 pulls more strongly than the FX35. The price for this performance is 15 mpg on the EPA's city cycle, while the V6 model returns 16 mpg. Top speed in both models is governed to 130 mph.
All of this power is managed with sophistication: The available all-wheel-drive system is tuned for paved roads. All power is sent to the rear wheels until slip is detected, and then it is gradually transferred to the front wheels. You can manually lock the front and rear axles together, or you can let the electronics do it for you. The standard electronic stability controls, which brake individual wheels to control vehicle attitude, engage so gradually we couldn't detect when they were working. That means the driver makes the big decisions, such as entry speeds into a corner, and the car decides the little things, such as the optimum braking for each wheel to keep the car doing what the driver wants.

Driving our FX45 test car on the twisty two-lane sports car roads circling the Red and Black Mountains in Southern California, we were still able to induce a slight amount of power oversteer while cornering, although we were never able to break the mammoth rear tires loose. In tight and sweeping corners alike, the FX45 rode incredibly flat, which is the plus side of having such a stiff suspension. We pushed the FX45 hard, and didn't give it a break because it was an SUV. Understeer begins very gradually when you aim the FX into a corner, and the front wheels continue to push only slightly until you get near the FX's very high limits. Like the 350Z sports car, the steering is quick, but it doesn't feel as telepathic as a Porsche's. Nor does it feel like the light-and-loose feeling you'll experience in any other SUV, including BMW's X5.
Infiniti claims the FX will brake better than rivals from Mercedes, BMW, and even Porsche. Our FX45 test car was confident under heavy braking, and that allowed us to drive it very quickly without any scary moments on twisty roads, but there's no question there's a lot of size and weight here.

Our FX45 was as much fun to drive as most sport sedans, but the price is the stiff ride. On long stretches of freeway, the FX45 is relaxed, and our test car cruised at 80 mph in fifth gear with the engine turning just 2850 rpm. Our FX45 wasn't as quiet and isolated as some luxury cars, and although our test car's cockpit was quiet enough to hold a delicate cell phone conversation on an empty highway, we'd never describe it as a serene environment.

The all-new Infiniti FX is an active-participation machine, not a chamber away from the real world. It offers plenty of confidence in its ability driven quickly. Its acceleration and braking set new standards in performance for SUVs. The suspension tuning of the FX45 is on the firm side.

To go with the advanced SUV capabilities, at least on pavement, the FX offers luxury toys such as a rear-view camera, an amazing stereo, a DVD video player for rear-seaters, a cruise control that senses traffic ahead, state-of-the-art stability and braking controls, and a door key that automatically unlocks the doors when you approach the car.