[Threxx]

I just got back from a test drive and I have to say the one thing I'm the most surprised by is the road noise. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was driving something sportier, but the JX is obviously intended to be comfort-tuned all around.

Around town it actually was actually reasonably quiet, but on the highway both wind and tire noise were unquestionably louder than both my friend's 2011 Ford Explorer (which we drove to the dealership, making back to back comparisons easy) and my sister in law's 2010 Buick Enclave. I noticed I had to raise my voice a good bit to have a comfortably clear conversation with anyone in the middle seat when doing 70 on the interstate.

I guess I just expected a premium priced and premium branded vehicle... especially one that's comfort-tuned and 'all new for 2013' to put more emphasis on noise reduction.

Per the sales person the JX does not use active noise cancelation, and per my own observation none of the side glass is acoustic laminated... not sure about the windshield. I'm surprised they don't bother with ANC - especially since Infiniti apparently already has and uses the technology in some other models. Seems like it'd be a relative inexpensive add on from the factory.

FWIW I drove an AWD with 19" wheels... I suspect the 20" model would be the same if not worse in terms of noise.

 

[jugdish]

wow.... I'm curious what tires were on that particular JX. I have the 18" michelin latitude touring tires and the ride is as quiet as the Lexus GX470 that I traded in whether on roadways or the interstate, and significantly quieter than my wifes 2011 toyota sienna limited.

 

[Flagirl]

I test drove on the interstate and found it very quite compared to the Lexus suv and the Acura Mdx as well ....

 

[Threxx]

wow.... I'm curious what tires were on that particular JX. I have the 18" michelin latitude touring tires and the ride is as quiet as the Lexus GX470 that I traded in whether on roadways or the interstate, and significantly quieter than my wifes 2011 toyota sienna limited.

The dealer told me this one had 19" wheels but I just checked the Infiniti website and it appears they only come with 18" or 20", so now I'm unsure which size wheels it had, but I didn't check the tires. Honestly it was really the wind noise that was more of an issue, because at lower speeds it was plenty quiet, which means there wasn't much noise from the tires then, so I doubt increasing to highway speed would make the tires that much noisier.

The Michelin Latitude is a good tire - I have them on my wife's 4runner now and they're also the factory tire on my friend's Explorer... both are near silent in terms of tire noise. If the JX has them as the 18" tire from the factory then I'm guessing what I drove must have had the 20s or else what I was hearing on the highway was just wind noise and 'other' road noise, and not tire noise.

For what it's worth I don't think the GX470 is a particularly quiet vehicle on the interstate. It's fairly quiet around town but I never was impressed with them on the highway. Maybe they're not aerodynamic enough or something. I also test drove a 2012 Sienna (limited) and it was probably the loudest late model vehicle I've been inside in quite a while - I wasn't impressed at all.

I test drove on the interstate and found it very quite compared to the Lexus suv and the Acura Mdx as well ....

I think the current generation Acura MDX is probably the worst riding and least quiet vehicle in its class. I'm not sure which Lexus SUV you're referring to but I think the current generation RX350 is quieter than the JX.

 

[Flagirl]

I think the Lexus rx is louder then the jx ...? I loved the Lexus rx but as soon as I took it for test drive ...it was noisy for such an expensive car and I ended up with a Toyota Avalon instead, have also had cadillac escalade, cadillac cts -v, a few land cruisers , purchased a M45 and husband got qx56 and we were sold on infinti , now whenever I test drive something I always end up back to infinti ... So glad the jx has come out just got call today that mine is in transit from plant in Tennessee ...I can't wait !

 

[cfrp]

It could have been the road you were driving on as well. I haven't driven any Infiniti vehicles that were loud on the road.

 

[Threxx]

I think the Lexus rx is louder then the jx ...? I loved the Lexus rx but as soon as I took it for test drive ...it was noisy for such an expensive car and I ended up with a Toyota Avalon instead, have also had cadillac escalade, cadillac cts -v, a few land cruisers , purchased a M45 and husband got qx56 and we were sold on infinti , now whenever I test drive something I always end up back to infinti ... So glad the jx has come out just got call today that mine is in transit from plant in Tennessee ...I can't wait !

Hmm... when I was in the current generation RX350 I felt it was the benchmark for its class in terms of noise and refinement. The Buick Enclave is similarly quiet and the Ford Explorer isn't far off either. The Avalon is a pretty quiet car too, though.

It could have been the road you were driving on as well. I haven't driven any Infiniti vehicles that were loud on the road.

When I first noticed how loud it was on the highway I was on a concrete section of road, so I intentionally kept driving further out on the highway where I knew it transitioned to much quieter asphalt. As expected it did get quieter, but it still seemed to be noticeably louder than my friend's 2011 Explorer which we drove to the dealership on the same sections of highway.

Don't get me wrong... it's certainly not a loud vehicle on the highway. I could unquestionably live with it - it's quieter on the highway than all but one car I've owned to date. I guess I would just call its level of noise on the highway to be 'adequate' and I was expecting it to be more impressive. While the Enclave new Explorer are impressively quiet SUVs, you'd expect a brand new 2013 design Infiniti that was engineered for comfort over sport to be even quieter.

Again, where are the acoustic laminated side windows? GM has been putting those in even their sub-20k dollar cars and getting great reviews on interior quietness on all of their models as of late. That's nothing but a cost cutting move on Infiniti's part.

 

[wheeling]

You are the only one so far to complain about the JX noise level. The reviews I've read all claim that it is quiet. I've test driven it and foun dit was quiet, to my standard. I don't know if Infiniti use accustics laminated glass or not, how can you tell? I seriously doubt that Infiniti p[roduce a very noisy car and put it on market. After all it is a luxury model and supposed to be quiet, isn't it?

 

[Threxx]

You are the only one so far to complain about the JX noise level. The reviews I've read all claim that it is quiet. I've test driven it and foun dit was quiet, to my standard. I don't know if Infiniti use accustics laminated glass or not, how can you tell? I seriously doubt that Infiniti p[roduce a very noisy car and put it on market. After all it is a luxury model and supposed to be quiet, isn't it?

Again, it's definitely NOT a loud vehicle, it's just not as quiet as I anticipated given that I was already used to the hushed noise levels in the new Explorer and Enclave... it's certainly no quieter than those two... if anything it's a bit louder at highway speeds, but of course I wasn't in there with a decibel meter to confirm.

By the way, every last road test I've seen of the JX to date has been of the exact same JX on the exact same roads... I think in South Carolina. Infiniti invited a bunch of journalists out and gave them turns with the same vehicle on the same road course. Many of those reviews noted that the road course Infiniti asked them to drive on consisted of very well maintained asphalt roads. So we should probably wait for truly 'independent' reviews where journalists get to play with the JX on their home turf, rather than on Infiniti's turf.

 

[wheeling]

Road noise definitly is a concern. JX owners, what do you think? Is is quiet enough?

 

[jugdish]

I have almost 500 miles on my JX and I'm satisfied....

 

[F1Racing]

I have about 300 miles on mine have no issues with noise either. I find it to be quieter than my 2009 FX. I wonder if it matters what packages are on the car? I have all options. If one were to get the JX without premium for instance does that change noise levels by any chance?

 

[cfrp]

Could be a seal leak somewhere if the road noise is bad. Never heard of someone complaining about road noise on the Infiniti.

 

[tho442]

Have to disagree as well, went from a Lexus RX to the JX. 200 miles into it, there is no comparison - the JX is one smooth and quiet ride, much better than the RX.

 

[Threxx]

wheeling, I forgot to answer your earlier question. You can tell if side glass is acoustically laminated by putting the windows down partially and examining the top edge of the glass. If it appears to be a normal single pane of glass then it's not acoustically laminated, but if there's very clearly two panes of glass with some sort of material sandwiched between them (it will be to the point where you can trace along the 'sandwich' grove with your fingernail.) then it's acoustically laminated.

With a windshield you can't tell since you can't perform this same test (examining the edge of the glass), but typically when they're acoustically laminated (windshields are generally tri-ply/layer if they're acoustically laminated), they will say it somewhere on the glass. Note all windshields are laminated... so the key word is acoustic, or something to similar affect.

 

[Threxx]

I have about 300 miles on mine have no issues with noise either. I find it to be quieter than my 2009 FX. I wonder if it matters what packages are on the car? I have all options. If one were to get the JX without premium for instance does that change noise levels by any chance?

Actually if anything I suspect the more loaded up JX is going to be a little louder. Larger wheels with thinner sidewalled wheels tend to generate more road noise. Many vehicles include more overhead glass/sunroofs, too, which add to potential noise. I wish I had taken better note which wheels the JX I drove had but it was an AWD that stickered around 50k.

Have to disagree as well, went from a Lexus RX to the JX. 200 miles into it, there is no comparison - the JX is one smooth and quiet ride, much better than the RX.

Which RX did you drive previously? The 2010+ RX is a pretty quiet vehicle. The one made 2009 and earlier wasn't anything special IMO.

 

[wheeling]

wheeling, I forgot to answer your earlier question. ...

Threxx,

thanks. Will check other cars to see. Do you know which car has accustically laminated glass?

 

[cfrp]

Does the windshield glass make that much of a difference? Maybe we are on different levels of noise tolerance. I already find the current Infinitis to be quite enough. I like to hear the engine when I give it throttle. I want to be able to hear when someone honks or yells at me. However I don't think its acceptable to have loud road noise from the tires. I've had high performance tires on a sports coupe before and on concrete highways it was LOUD.

 

[Threxx]

Threxx,

thanks. Will check other cars to see. Do you know which car has accustically laminated glass?

The Enclave and Explorer are two examples of vehicles that have both acoustically laminated windshields and front side windows. The Enclave's 'sister' vehicles the GMC Acadia and Chevy Traverse do not. Actually the Traverse has neither, the Acadia has an acoustic windshield but you don't get acoustic side glass unless you have the Denali trim version.

There are many many other vehicles out there that use this. I think all currently sold Lexus vehicles do and GM has gotten to the point where they're using it even in their very inexpensive vehicles... I know the old Malibu had acoustic side windows and the new one uses both side and windshield treatment.

Does the windshield glass make that much of a difference? Maybe we are on different levels of noise tolerance. I already find the current Infinitis to be quite enough. I like to hear the engine when I give it throttle. I want to be able to hear when someone honks or yells at me. However I don't think its acceptable to have loud road noise from the tires. I've had high performance tires on a sports coupe before and on concrete highways it was LOUD.

I can't say for sure if acoustically laminated windshields and side glass make a difference since I've never been able to side-by-side compare the same car with and without it... but I have read several reports heralding the difference it makes, and I'd tend to guess by how it's even starting to show up in some vehicles that start in the low 20k range, it must be be worth the money to OEMs. I know on the down side, replacing an acoustically laminated windshield typically costs around 50% more than a standard windshield.

 

[Threxx]

Here's a link to a youtube video that has a shot of an acoustically laminated side window being lowered. Watch a few seconds in from this link and you'll see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8_cND_BcIxM#t=84s