2009 Infiniti FX37 and FX50 Preview

Competitors

2008 Volkswagen Touareg 2

Starting with its worldwide introduction in 2003, the Touareg quickly became an award winning vehicle with honors ranging from “4X4 of the Year” to “Best SUV.” The Touareg garnered more than three dozen prestigious international awards and recorded more than 300,000 worldwide sales in less than four years.

A completely redesigned front end demonstrates the extent of the changes on Touareg 2. The new Touareg 2 now is instantly recognizable as a member of the Volkswagen family, with its new stylized front grille — chrome on V6 FSI and matte chrome on V8 FSI and V10 TDI — with chrome eyebrows standard on all models. A redesigned front bumper, new side mirrors with improved airflow, and sleek, new organically shaped headlamp housings with polycarbonate lens covers further distinguish the Touareg 2 from its predecessor.

Volkswagen Touareg

The changes continue to the rear of the vehicle, where a new roof edge spoiler sharpens the look, improves aerodynamics, and aids fuel efficiency. The brake light housings have an improved LED lighting visual effect and feature a sporty new dark “glazing” treatment. Below the rear bumper, but not forgotten, the exhaust system tailpipes also have been massaged for a fresh new look.

Completing the new look is an upgraded color palate designed to work exceptionally well with the revised styling and accents of the Touareg 2. Alaska Gray, Cranberry, Galapagos and White Gold will provide an excellent backdrop for the all new alloy wheel program. A newly designed 17” alloy wheel is standard on the V6 FSI, and the V8 FSI and V10 TDI twin turbo now feature a standard 19” alloy wheel.

Porsche Cayenne

With a striking new face that features a dramatic new headlight design and with a wide and muscular body accented by broad wheel arches, the 2008 Porsche Cayenne’s newly sculpted shape provides vivid visual testimony to the vehicle’s enhanced technical features. The 2008 model year marks the launch of the second generation of the Porsche SUV, and the new Cayennes back up their aggressive new design with larger and more powerful – but also more fuelefficient – engines.

The new Cayenne not only looks more powerful, it is, with engines offering as much as 500 horsepower and new dynamic technologies that allow the Porsche of SUVs to perform more like a more nimble vehicle, yet still be capable of towing a trailer or challenging unpaved terrain and inclement weather.Indeed, all three 2008 Porsche Cayenne models feature engines that for the first time boast direct fuel injection, a technology that enhances fuel efficiency as well as power production.

Porsche Cayenne

For the 2008 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, that means a twin-turbocharged 4.8-liter V8 that pumps out an astounding 500 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Flowing through a six-speed Tiptronic S transmission, that power feeds all four wheels and propels the five-passenger sports machine from a standing start to 60 miles per hour (96 km/h) in just 4.9 seconds. Top speed on the test track has been recorded at 171 mph (275 km/h). And yet, the Cayenne Turbo qualifies as an LEVII (low-emission vehicle) and in preliminary fuel economy testing the Cayenne Turbo showed the benefits of the direct fuel injection technology with an improvement up to 11 percent in highway driving. The estimated EPA fuel economy values are 13 mpg for city driving and 20 mpg on the highway.

For the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S, the engine is a normally aspirated version of the 4.8-liter V8 that generates 385 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque. Equipped with the standard six-speed Tiptronic® S transmission, the Cayenne S can accelerate to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds and has reached 155 mph (250 km/h) in testing. The Cayenne S V8 even meets ULEV (ultra low-emission vehicle) status and according to preliminary testing data the estimated EPA fuel economy values for the new Cayenne S are 14 mpg in the city and 21 on the highway. That is an improvement of 3 mpg or around 15 percent for highway fuel economy.The 2008 Porsche Cayenne is powered by a 3.6-liter V6 that pumps out 290 horsepower and 283 lb-ft of torque. With the manual gearbox, the Cayenne reaches 60 mph in 7.5 seconds and has reached 141 mph (227 km/h) in testing. The new Cayenne gains LEV2 emission status and preliminary fuel economy testing showed estimated EPA fuel economy figures of 18 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway. That is a fuel economy improvement of 3 mpg for city driving.

Lexus RX

The new RX 350, available as both front-wheel (FWD) and all-wheel drive (AWD) models, adopts a powerful 3.5-liter V6 engine that improves both performance and fuel efficiency. The 2007 models also receive advanced luxury and convenience options and additional refinements for enhanced drivability.

The 2007 version, the RX 350, still resembles last year’s model, but there have been a few changes made to the vehicle for this year. The most obvious, is the new 3.5 Litre DOHC V6 engine which is much more powerful than the previous engine. This new addition produces 270 hp at 6200 rpm. All this power is then fed through a 5 speed automatic transmission with an integrated transfer case, and a viscous coupling-controlled, limited slip differential. All of this makes this full-time 4WD SUV quite the performer.

Lexus RX

The RX 350 also boasts a Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system which includes Traction control (TRAC). Basically, this system uses sensors to detect oversteer and understeer whilst cornering, and then uses a combination of the throttle and brakes to maintain stability. Speaking of brakes, the RX 350 comes with four wheel disc brakes, ABS, EBD and Brake Assist, so stopping the vehicle is relatively easy.All this tech stuff is great and worked very well whilst I was driving it, and as we all know, the words Lexus and Reliability tend to go hand in hand, so I imagine that it will keep on working fine

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