Turns out that the Eau Rouge Q50 is not just a one off concept. This thing is going to go into production and Eau Rouge will become Infiniti's new performance brand. I guess it just didn't work out with IPL. TBH, I'm really not that sad about it. Hopefully Infiniti does a better job at performance on its second try.
Infiniti giving up on IPL in favor of Eau Rouge performance line up
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I was wondering aloud the other day if they are going to develop some sort of Eau Rouge badge or logo, or if they will just acronym-ize it like AMG and have something like "Q50 ER" on the trunklid or fender badge.
They might just put a stylized "Eau Rouge" near the front wheel well where the "3.7" or "HYBRID" lie now.
They might just put a stylized "Eau Rouge" near the front wheel well where the "3.7" or "HYBRID" lie now.
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Makes more sense since most people wanted the IPL to be more of a rival to the M-series or AMG models anyway and the IPL was far from that.
With that said, I still think that it will be a really good decision if Infiniti decided to borrow the idea from the IPL line and bring back the red seats at least as an option onto the Q50.
With that said, I still think that it will be a really good decision if Infiniti decided to borrow the idea from the IPL line and bring back the red seats at least as an option onto the Q50.
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I liked the IPL but yes, the performance numbers could've been much better. I'm just afraid now this Eau Rouge will be out of the hands of many enthusiasts and scare people off to AMGs and S/Ms...
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What do you mean by "out of the hands"?
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>Simpson, by "out of the hands" he's saying it'll be priced out of Infiniti's market. They haven't tried selling an 85k vehicle (with 600hp) before. I'm sure if it has 4 extra inches added to the back seat China will eat it up, if nobody else bites. Remember, their world HQ moved to Hong Kong for a reason.
Eau Rouge (as a designation/moniker) sounds stupid to me but if IPL is kicked to the curb, I won't mind. Infiniti never took IPL past a red leather and body kit mod anyway, which means they never took it seriously. I kept thinking they'd reach into a NISMO bin and hotrod a few but nope.
What do you think an Eau Rouge badge will be? A big, red ER on the back, some special interior stitching? I'm trying to imagine how they'll communicate the ER option on the outside of the car so other drivers know what you have. With BMW they used to make it obvious with the 3 stripes here and there (and of course the M3 badge itself) but with the M Sports kits out now, they've diluted the visual markings of the M series.
I guess if the production car is as insane looking as the prototype, you won't need a special badge.
Eau Rouge (as a designation/moniker) sounds stupid to me but if IPL is kicked to the curb, I won't mind. Infiniti never took IPL past a red leather and body kit mod anyway, which means they never took it seriously. I kept thinking they'd reach into a NISMO bin and hotrod a few but nope.
What do you think an Eau Rouge badge will be? A big, red ER on the back, some special interior stitching? I'm trying to imagine how they'll communicate the ER option on the outside of the car so other drivers know what you have. With BMW they used to make it obvious with the 3 stripes here and there (and of course the M3 badge itself) but with the M Sports kits out now, they've diluted the visual markings of the M series.
I guess if the production car is as insane looking as the prototype, you won't need a special badge.
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That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but then again, I'm rarely pessimistic about such matters.
I think it's garnering a ton of attention so far and I think if the performance holds up well, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to compete with the others in that price range. Once you break $80k on any vehicle it won't really be the price that the "enthusiasts" will be all too concerned about.
Well, they did.
They re-tuned the engine and the suspension for the IPL models as well. They took the idea seriously but the idea just wasn't a very good one.
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Why wouldn't that make sense? Would you buy an 80K infiniti with a depreciation we are known for or for a lesser depreciation, but depreciation nonetheless, like a loaded C63 AMG or even a used CLS63 AMG? And this all depends on the big IF it's 80K...
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With sufficient funds and assuming the Infiniti out-performed said similarly priced AMGs (DeNysschen's proposed stats indicate that it might), yes, I would buy it for 80k. I would give it especially strong consideration if its drive train wasn't made of glass like BMW Ms. Many enthusiasts don't realize how much more reliable AMGs are than their fellow Germans. Surfing a few MB forums makes it pretty clear.
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Yeah you're right, it all depends. You're bringing in the element of what I would do in the situation but that didn't seem like the point that you were making either. Is it about what I would do or is it about can Infiniti sell it?
If it's the latter, I think I already gave my say and if it's the former, there just isn't nearly enough information for me to even make a decision on such a question even if I were in the position to do so.
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M3s have fragile transmissions for the power? I was at a drag strip recently and several cars had transmission failures. I'm trying to remember if an M3 was one of them.
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Where did you see confirmation of this?
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Definitely not the manuals, from any anecdotal evidence I have in my inner circle.
The SMGs, on the other hand, are another story. They are pretty horrible in the E60 M5 in particular. I used to lurk in Bimmerpost and M5board when they came out. Were these failures M3s, M5s, or some other model (Z3-M, Z4-M, ect?)? I know that the SMG gearbox has made appearances on both the M3 and M5 for a few generations now. To my knowledge, that's where the failures lie. AMG uses a really beefy, modified version of their 7-speed automatic with multiple clutches and no torque converter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_7G-Tronic_transmission. I have yet to read of a single failure on the interwebs, and lord knows I've been looking! People love to complain that this transmission is not as quick to shift as the dual-clutch unit in the current M5, but I'd personally rather have the AMG transmission with its better record for longevity. Here's hoping that the coming DCTs from AMG are as strong as, if not stronger than, their mutant automatics of yore.
But the E90 M3 was, at one point, the most reliable sports car in Consumer Reports.
That was like three years ago, and I'm not sure how it's fared since.Aside from trannies, VANOS has always been a problem, esepecially in older models (circa E46).
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