Auto Car | 2011 Infiniti M56x Short Take Road Test | Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: There’s a rear-wheel-drive luxury sedan that’s also available with all-wheel drive. Its sticker price and curb weight are slightly higher, and its performance and fuel economy are lower. The subject here is the Infiniti M56x, and true to the formula, it’s a lot like the rear-wheel-drive M56. Consider that a good thing. Opt to add a lower-case “x” to the badge of your M56, and you’ll leave the dealership $2500 poorer, as the base price is $60,915. Fuel economy drops from 25 mpg highway to 23, and the 16-mpg city figure is unchanged. (The difference in observed fuel economy was more pronounced, however, as we averaged 18 mpg with this M56x versus the 23 with a rear-drive M56S.) Curb weight is up about 180 pounds, and the monster 420-hp, 5.6-liter V-8 under the hood pushes the all-wheel-drive car from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, 0.2 second slower than the lighter M56S. The M56x’s braking performance, 166 feet from 70 to 0 mph, and skidpad grip, 0.83g, are close to those of the M56S. But the M56x shows better than its rear-wheel-drive counterpart in some crucial nontest situations.
We have yet to drive an M56 without the Sport package, which comes with high-performance summer tires on 20-inch rims and a rear-wheel steering system. The M56x rides on all-season 18-inch tires and comes with a softer suspension. In strict handling terms, the M56S feels sportier even if its numbers aren’t appreciably better.Meanwhile, the M56x has a more natural steering feel, unlike the darty responses we’ve experienced in the M56S. The M56x is far more livable on real-world roads. On the oft-criticized (deservedly so) potholed streets around our Ann Arbor office, the difference between the two cars is like the difference between sleeping on the floor and snoozing on a pillow-top mattress.
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