2006 AJAC COTY:
Best New Luxury Car
under $50,000
November 9, 2006 - Story and photos by John LeBlanc

Niagara Falls, Ontario - First Place: Infiniti G35X $46,990* – Introduced in 2003, driving enthusiast’s knew the first-gen G35 as Infiniti’s salvo in the sports sedan wars with its target squarely aimed at BMW’s vaunted 3 Series. With a cockpit tailored to a driver’s needs, smooth-as-buttah, 306 horsepower, 268 pound-feet of torque V6, extrasensory steering, and an athletic suspension setup that combines a smooth ride and excellent handling, this second iteration of the G is definitely the cat among the pigeons here. You can get a rear-drive, six-speed manual G35 for under $40,000. However, to take on the more luxury oriented COTY entries, Infiniti sent it’s most popular G35 with all-wheel-drive and a five-speed manumatic. Didn’t matter. The Infiniti was the only one of this trio that didn’t feel out of place hot lapping on the COTY track at the Niagara Falls airport. The Infiniti isn’t perfect. It’s interior build quality and centre console ergonomics fall behind the highly refined Lexus. But if you like to drive, you’ll get over these minor details.

Second Place: Lexus ES 350  $42,900* – All you Lexus executives reading, “ES 350” and “second place”, relax, and climb down off the ledge. No, this isn’t one of the seven signs of the apocalypse, as you’ll be happy to know that if one applies COTY’s score sheet, (that includes such ES hallmarks as low noise/vibration/harshness, ride comfort, and build quality), then the front-drive ES 350 edges out the Infiniti for first place, and well ahead of the Lincoln whatever-they’re-calling-it-this-week. The new, 272 h.p., 254 lb.-ft. of torque 3.5-litre and six-speed manumatic are smooth and efficient, and the Lexus delivers a ride as comfortable as a hug from your mom. The interior is awash in smooth plastics and leathers that mimic the top-of-the-line LS sedan. Within these areas, the ES 350 will not disappoint the Lexus tribe. Of course, there’s not an athletic bone in the ES’s body (that's what the IS is for), and a symphony of beeping and chirping electronic nannies will remind you if you ever do try to drive the Lexus as your teenage son might. However, five-generations of ES luxury sedans, and five generations of loyal ES customers, means there are no real surprises with the new Toyota Camry based ’07 model. Just more fanatical, Lexus refinement.

Third Place: Lincoln MKZ AWD  $47,109* - Based on enlarged Mazda6 bones, and launched in 2006 as the Zephyr, for ’07 the smallest of Lincolns has a new name, MKZ (pronounced Em-Kay-Zed). You’ll also find a new shnoz; new 263 h.p., 249 lb.-ft. of torque 3.5-litre V6; improved six-speed automatic transmission, and newly available all-wheel-drive. The best part of the MKZ is it’s athletic handling (definitely more fun than the Lexus) and a rigid body. On the track, there’s little roll, with neutral handling giving way to understeer. But if you like a bit of driving fun with your luxury sedan, other than the sporty suspension, the Lincoln has few outstanding qualities. Like the Mazda6, road and tire noise are prevalent. Unlike the Mazda, the Lincoln’s steering is slow and numb, and driver instrumentation is small and hard to read. Despite the new cojones under the hood, the Lincoln is slowest to 100 km/h of this trio, trailing the Infiniti it by a second. Inside, the MKZ’s steering wheel is Town Car-large, and it only tilts, the seats are couch-soft and there’s precious headroom with the intruding sunroof. Suffering as a mélange of luxury pastiches applied to a sporty sedan chassis, there’s little to recommend of the schizophrenic Lincoln.

* All prices as tested.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com