2013 Infiniti JX35: Getting Us One Step Closer To A Driverless Car

Is Automotive Technology Just For The Easily-Distracted, Then?

Infiniti has a solid people-hauler on its hands. The JX35 is able to move up to seven passengers. As with most crossovers, the third row is best-suited to kids, though adults are plenty comfortable in the front and middle rows. This is no speed demon. But Infiniti's 265-hp engine is powerful enough for safe merging onto busy highways and confident city driving. Previously, I wasn't a fan of CVTs. However, the JX35's transmission is quite good; it delivers power smoothly and linearly.

The Hard Drive Navigation system has a couple of quirks. Overall, though, it's quite functional and behaves as-advertised. We applaud Infiniti for implementing physical buttons and control knobs, even as the company demonstrates an increasing, affinity for touch-based control (just like most other manufacturers). We will say that the Bose Cabin Surround 15-speaker system left us wanting. The subwoofer was muffled, and it lacked punchy bass. Considering that Infiniti calls this a premium sound system, we're disappointed.

We do have a particular affinity for Infiniti's Around View Monitor. As other vendors research active park assist systems, Infiniti's approach helps you improve as a driver, rather than taking skill out of the equation completely. It's certainly cool to watch a car park itself, but just like the folks who cannot drive a car with a manual transmission, we'd hate to see parallel parking become a lost art form.

Around View Monitor functionality isn't perfect. During our week with the JX35, the system hard-locked a couple of times when we started it up, rendering the feature unusable. During this time, the entire system wouldn't respond, and there is no button to reset it. Fortunately, it automatically recovers after a while. But we'd like to see the company focus on updating the system for improved stability or expose a button combination able to manually reboot it.

There are plenty of technological aids in the JX35 designed to help casual drivers get from one point to another safely and comfortably. We're not quite at the point where the JX35 can drive itself, but we're clearly getting close. Infiniti's technologies aren't infallible, though. For instance, Lane Departure Prevention does its job a little too unreliably. It's helpful, but I wouldn't put my family's well-being in its hands. Driver aids are really there to help out anyway; collectively, we really need to focus more on paying closer attention to safe driving.

Our favorite aid is probably the full-range adaptive cruise control, particularly for helping cope with traffic congestion. Having a system for maintaining optimal following distance and stopping automatically makes enduring the Seattle-area traffic much more relaxing than the usual frenzied swapping between gas and brake.

The downside, of course, is that when you're not in traffic and otherwise enjoying the help, driving turns into an absolute bore. The features are completely interesting, but also disengaging from the experience itself. If we were able to pick and choose, we'd arm the JX35 with the adaptive cruise control, the Blind Spot Warning system, and Back-Up Collision Intervention technology. Those seem to be the most useful capabilities for daily driving. 

Driving is somewhat of a passion for me. If it's not something you feel as strongly about and Infiniti's technical innovations sound like a great way to help back you up during your daily commute, then no other vehicle in the JX35's class comes even remotely close to competing at the same level when it comes to tech. You cannot completely rely on the driver assistance aids to pilot the JX35, but they can play a valuable role in preventing accidents, particularly if you allow yourself to get distracted. We get it; most of us are parents. Sometimes you simply need to calm your kids down in the back seat. 

Strangely, Infiniti decided to rename its entire portfolio, and is ditching the JX35 name for the 2014 model year. Instead, all 2014 model year vehicles will start with the letter Q; SUVs and crossovers will be designated QX. In case you're interested in making a purchase down the road, you'll find the JX35 referred to as the QX60.

  • sscultima
    Oddly enough, with all the hype over this vehicle, I work for roadside assistance, and just myself alone i have had at least 3 dispatch's for this vehicle due to breakdowns and 1 was for an accident.

    so i wonder really how many issues or accidents have happen all over the world so far for this vehicle
    Reply
  • xpeh
    Wow, that's a sexy looking vehicle!
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  • blackcat357
    "The audible warning does get annoying. However, if you need a feature like BSW to make safe lane changes, then the nag is probably appropriate." That was my favorite quote in the whole article. Personally i don't like or want any of these features. I love driving. If i stand on the brake pedal i want to lock them up. If i get road rage and want to push granny out of the fast lane i don't want my to tell me i cant.

    Call me crazy but i like driving. I think its fun actually. It seems to me taking control from the driver is the wrong solution. This and Gun control have the same solution Limit who can get them. Some people shouldn't have a license (we all know the stereotypical ditsy blonde girl) so take these cars back and give us back the 2010 Viper that had no driver "aides" (i view them the same way as the disease)

    Heres a solution. Make every one drive a standard transmission again. If your shifting your sure as hell not texting or reading facebook. Make the driver pay attention dont give them an excuse not too, which seems to be what this car is doing.
    OH i didn't wreck, im a good driver my car made the mistake! i was sleeping.
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  • tuanies
    I'm the author of the article.

    I agree with you blackcat357. I find the technology very fascinating and enjoy testing it, but I myself enjoy driving. I do find the full-range adaptive cruise control awesome. But at the other end of the spectrum is people who hate driving that are unattentive, I almost had a Chrysler Aspen plow into me on Saturday while driving the minivan. I'm not kidding, the guy tried to change into my lane while I was in view of all his mirrors, without signaling. People like that need these technologies to keep them from plowing into me.

    But luckily there are still cars for people like us that enjoy driving, Mazda has a complete lineup and there's the Scion FRS and Subaru BRZ. Its a good time for cars IMO.

    I miss having a manual though, need to eventually swap one into my BMW wagon.

    @sscultima that's very funny. I wonder how much it costs to repair when one of those systems fail. I'd hate to see the bill. I honestly wonder how many people think its the holy grail of laziness and just plow into someone else anyways and try to blame the car.
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  • blackcat357
    Its not that i inherently have a problem with these technologies. Its this one simple question that gets me.

    How long will it be until the Government makes all these "aides" MANDATORY

    Think Will Smith in I ROBOT. Cars drive themselves and manual mode is frowned upon if not actually illegal.
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  • tuanies
    Yea, I'm not fond of the NHTSA trying to make back-up cameras mandatory either. I find them a nicety, not a necessity especially with how much cars cost nowadays. Most importantly they won't prevent anything if the person behind the wheel is a moron and won't use it, ie the lady that backed over her daughter because she heard the door close and assumed her daughter was in the car and didn't bother turning her head to make sure the kids were all in and buckled up. She still managed to back over and kill her child despite having the back-up proximity sensors on her Escalade.

    You can't govern idiots or try to force technology on them.
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  • kevinherring
    $3/gallon? $3/gallon???? My heart bleeds for you

    What I wouldn't give for $3/gallon. Just over $9/gallon here in blighty. 1992 was the last time we had such prices. :-)
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  • mansfield
    kevinherring$3/gallon? $3/gallon???? My heart bleeds for youWhat I wouldn't give for $3/gallon. Just over $9/gallon here in blighty. 1992 was the last time we had such prices. :-)$9 USD? I think you should do a conversion. and in florida where I live it's around $4 a gallon
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  • MU_Engineer
    Anything that takes the driver's eyes away from the path of the vehicle, their attention away from driving, and results in an unpredictable response from the vehicle is a very bad, very unsafe thing to have in a vehicle. The backup cameras are one such thing as you must be looking forward to use them, while the vehicle is traveling in reverse. That is a great recipe to back right into the path of another vehicle that was outside of the limited camera range/angle. All of the "infotainment" stuff is another distraction in a lot of cases- you are fiddling with it and not keeping your eyes on the road in most cases. The absolute worst is the "eco pedal" here. Pushing the throttle and getting a variable response dependent on the whims of the computer is very dangerous. You don't get enough warning in emergency situations to think about "oh, I need to go through the vehicle menu to disable the Eco Pedal, and then I can try to avoid hitting that guy who merged into my lane going 30 under the limit while not being hit by oncoming traffic." A fully self-driving car would be even worse as you would be paying NO attention in most cases to the driving. If it has a hiccup, you will crash before you even know what happened.
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  • tuanies
    10448613 said:
    Anything that takes the driver's eyes away from the path of the vehicle, their attention away from driving, and results in an unpredictable response from the vehicle is a very bad, very unsafe thing to have in a vehicle. The backup cameras are one such thing as you must be looking forward to use them, while the vehicle is traveling in reverse. That is a great recipe to back right into the path of another vehicle that was outside of the limited camera range/angle. All of the "infotainment" stuff is another distraction in a lot of cases- you are fiddling with it and not keeping your eyes on the road in most cases. The absolute worst is the "eco pedal" here. Pushing the throttle and getting a variable response dependent on the whims of the computer is very dangerous. You don't get enough warning in emergency situations to think about "oh, I need to go through the vehicle menu to disable the Eco Pedal, and then I can try to avoid hitting that guy who merged into my lane going 30 under the limit while not being hit by oncoming traffic." A fully self-driving car would be even worse as you would be paying NO attention in most cases to the driving. If it has a hiccup, you will crash before you even know what happened.

    I didn't even think about the Eco pedal in that way, the response isn't variable, it just provides active resistance again trying to floor it, but that might be an issue when you need to in emergency situations. However, given how terrible drivers on the road are, they usually slam on the brakes to make situations worse at times. But in the argument for the car, it would slow down automatically when the guy merging at 30MPH pulls out :).

    10448612 said:
    $9 USD? I think you should do a conversion. and in florida where I live it's around $4 a gallon

    Its around $3.60 or so for regular in WA, but we have higher taxes but still nowhere near the levels in Europe, but at least you guys get awesome tiny fuel efficient diesel cars :)
    Reply