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2012 Infiniti QX56 review! the king of Infiniti SUV's. Too bad not all of us can afford this amazing SUV costing around $75 000 :/
pic's and more at... http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/08/2012-infiniti-qx56-review-video/
pic's and more at... http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/08/2012-infiniti-qx56-review-video/

By Jeff Sabatini
I did something terrible the other day. I drove to the hardware store and bought incandescent light bulbs. I stood there in the aisle for a few extra minutes, staring at the compact fluorescents mocking me in their "be green" packaging, thinking about the several burned out incandescent bulbs in my basement and wondering how long the new ones I held in my hand might last. Better grab another box, just to be sure – government mandate has incandescents being phased out starting in January. I kept from making eye contact with the cashier while I paid and slunk out to my car.
So I'm a hypocrite, a self-professed environmentalist who can't even do this one simple thing to save the planet. But I am just not interested in spending a weekend replacing all the dimmer switches throughout the lower level of my house, and compact fluorescents don't work in those fixtures.
Which brings us to the 2012 Infiniti QX56. From a certain perspective, this 16-mile-per-gallon, V8-powered, body-on-frame SUV is an incandescent light bulb – a holdover from last decade, before the enactment of necessarily draconian fuel economy standards. But as my esteemed colleague Zach Bowman wrote in his First Drive of the QX, "you can't tow 8,500 pounds with a Toyota Prius." Neither can you fit a driver and up to seven passengers into one, not even the new Prius V.
I'd like to point to the technological marvel that solves the fuel-efficient family tow rig conundrum, but the solutions available right now are limited. We'll get to those alternatives presently, but for now, let's agree that new technology has a way of only solving part of the problem. So in this case, if you want to tow big stuff and you've got a big enough brood that you need three rows of seats – and you're ready and willing to spend big cash – the QX is as good as it's going to get.
Based on the Nissan Patrol, a full-size SUV not sold in North America, the Japanese-built Infiniti QX56 was completely redesigned for 2011. Updates for 2012 were negligible, and basically amounted to shuffling some different options around to different packages. Our test vehicle was a four-wheel-drive model (with a standard locking center differential and low-range transfer case; a rear-wheel-drive version is also available) that carries a starting MSRP of $61,800. But in this case – loaded up with every available package – the sticker was $75,340, including the $990 destination charge. That makes the QX one seriously expensive machine and the priciest in the Infiniti lineup by a goodly amount. Of course, your sixty-to-seventy large buys a lot of vehicle.
Make no mistake, the QX is a big boy truck, the sort that makes you think twice about tossing the keyfob to your buddy who's never owned anything larger than a Honda Civic. While Infiniti's optional suite of safety equipment (Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Blind Spot Warning, Blind Spot Intervention, Intelligent Cruise Control, Distance Control Assist, – breath – Intelligent Brake Assist and Forward Collision Warning) is neat stuff and will help insure he comes back in one piece, those $2,300 22-inch wheels are not going to look as pretty with curb rash. They do an excellent job of filling out the wheel wells, however, and they don't get in the way of the illusion the rest of the styling creates.
The QX rides on a 121-inch wheelbase, some five inches longer than the Cadillac Escalade. At over 208 inches in total length and nearly 80 inches wide, the QX is six inches longer and an inch wider than the Cadillac. Yet it just doesn't look it. Indeed, its curvy bodywork ties the monstrous QX to the rest of the Infiniti lineup, but the styling also makes the big 'ute seem smaller than it is, at least from a distance. Once you find yourself up close, however, you realize quickly that this is the sort of vehicle you climb up into – and if you have little kids, you give them a boost.
It's been a solid year and a half since I first laid eyes on the QX, and I'm still not finding anything interesting about the way it looks, nor have I warmed up to the gaudy portholes that adorn the front fenders. Aside from those misguided pieces of trim, the QX is about as discreet as a 5,850-pound vehicle can be – and entirely disappointing when parked next to an Escalade. Even if its Art and Science styling is long-in-the tooth, the Caddy has an undeniably arresting presence that I don't see in the QX.
Inside, however, there's no comparison. This is as first-rate an interior as you'll find on any vehicle, thanks to an optional semi-aniline leather that makes the Escalade feel like the Chevrolet Tahoe lurking underneath. Even the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class doesn't have as many soft-touch surfaces and stitched leather upholstery as the QX, which not only looks and feels nicer, but has a better layout to its dashboard and instrument panel.
Honestly, there's not a luxury brand on earth that couldn't stand to eliminate a good 10 percent of the buttons and dials and other various interface controls in its vehicles across the board, but at least Infiniti has a pretty logical scheme, placing the climate control buttons and knobs low on the center stack, with the stereo in the middle and then the rest of its navigation and telematics interface at the top, just under the LCD screen where it belongs. Infiniti's approach to the dash is simple and intuitive and doesn't require cracking the instruction manual.