Letter From Europe December 2016: Infiniti Q60 Cubana Ole', F-1 Ford Ferrari, Holiday Greetings

Letter from Europe
Andrew Frankl
European Bureau Chief
The Auto Chnanel

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: First of all, Happy Holiday's, this is my 25th holiday month with The Auto Channel and 20th year of sharing my Letter From Europe with millions of fellow TACH'ers. Lots has changed in the past 25 years but more has stayed the same...for fun you can read the past Letter From Europe reports HERE. enjoy and again Happy Holiday. AF

I have to hand it to Infiniti, they seem to be on a monumental roll.

First of all they’ve pulled off a PR coup which is the envy of all other manufacturers. They took one of their cars to Havana and drove down the main drag in a convoy with American cars of the 50s. Great photo op, well used. (see TACH story with video)

Then they’ve announced that they are making more cars than ever in their 27 year history.

To top it all comes the news from Paris that the Infiniti variable compression turbo engine will improve fuel consumption dramatically. Interestingly enough development was carried out in conjunction with the Red Bull Formula One team-a rare example how racing truly improves the breed. The car is of course powered by an excellent Renault engine, a company which is part of the Infiniti/Nissan/ Renault conglomerate.

I’ve recently been at the wheel of the company’s 3.5 V6 AWD SUV and it was very pleasant indeed. Talking of Formula One I’ve been following it for over 40 years and am still somewhat puzzled by the team. One minute there is a huge Renault sign on the engine, the next minute it is Infiniti and to make matters even more confusing there is an Aston Martin involvement as well. Still, it is the only team chasing Mercedes so all power to their elbow.

Not cheap at 60 thousand dollars with all the extras thrown in, the company are clearly taking a leaf out of Mercedes’ strategy of adding 25-30 % of the basic sticker price. In this instance the QX60 kicks off at $44 big ones ending up at $ 60!

The fuel  economy shows that the SUV could use the new “demon” little engine which would get it well over 32 mpg. In fact my only complaint about the QX60 was the engine. It is getting a bit long in the tooth, the 265 horses it pushes out do not result in dramatic acceleration and going up to Tahoe with five people plus ski gear would not be that easy. Here the QX80 is in a class of its own.  

The 2016 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X crew Cab 4WD automatic V6 (phew..!) is a very different proposition indeed. Well, it has  a relatively  comfortable crew cab but it also carries all the stuff a painter (currently working outside our house) or a builder or gardener might well use. It will certainly go anywhere  courtesy of its 4 liter engine, 261 horsepower and masses of torque. What surprised me for a crew cab SUV were the 4 wheel ventilated disc brakes. My only and biggest disappoint were the Hankook tires which were modest to say it politely. I had huge problems with Pirelli P Zeros on a Ferrari California on wet gravel, this time I was skating all over the place  in the rain as grip is not something Hankook are too familiar with.

So as long as the roads are dry you will be fine especially in the  Golden State. Upstate New York in January would be a very different proposition indeed. At 33 thousand dollars you should certainly give it a try before putting your money down for a more obvious GM or Ford SUV.

I had a very special treat last Sunday-got invited to the Stanford v. Oregon college football game. Never been before so I couldn’t get there soon enough. Some wonderful people invited me to a tailgate party the likes of which I’ve never seen . Everything would have been fine but the Oregon State University marching band  went past and nearly deafened me as well as everybody else. Amazing, There must have been 200 of them. Learning as I went along, apparently they have a huge bus which leaves days before the game to make sure that all the drums and trombones get there is good time. Awesome stuff.

The Stanford band was its usual rag tag self off the field., on it things were very different as they beat the  visitors 26: 15.

That’s all very well but I had to get from Marin to Stanford. My good friends at Page One came to the rescue with a metallic blue Infiniti Q50 S. I was in for a big surprise. This rather peaceful looking automobile turned out to be a pocket rocket. 300 horsepower V6 engine with two turbochargers, wow! It was very deceptive. I got into it without looking up the spec and before I realized I was doing well over 25 miles per hour, the local speed limit which everyone observes  around here. This little car- the back seats are somewhat on the small side is full of goodies which- if you are not careful- can turn it into a very expensive proposition indeed. We are looking in excess of 50 thou. Infiniti have picked up some German marketing habits. The base price is 44 grand, with the tech package and driver assistance as well as the premium plus package (whatever that maybe!) the total price is 9 thousand more. My advice-get one which is a year old. - I was disappointed by the average fuel consumption of  just 23 mpg.

The Q50 is among some very hard hitters in the 50 thou plus range -Audis, Mercs, Bimmers, you name it. 

A local company  by the name of Shift had an interesting idea. They’ve invited all and sundry to the Castro cinema for free to watch a new document entitled The 24 hour war. As someone who worked for Ford Motor Co and now writes for a Ferrari magazine I can honestly say it was very even handed. The research was amazing, we had Henry Ford 1st, 2nd,  plus my great friend Edsel Ford. Enzo Ferrari, his son Piero Ferrari, Dan Gurney, John Surtees, Bob Bondurant, all the great names from the 60s.

The title of the movie refers to the battles between the two racing teams from Ford and Ferrari at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. In 1966 Mr Ford 2nd was there to see his team  score an amazing 1-2-3. It is wonderful that a member of the winning team was none other than Bruce McLaren from New Zeeland alongside fellow Kiwi Chris Amon with former World Champion Denny Hulme just behind He was sharing a Ford with Ken Miles whom many people considered the father of the Ford project.

Bruce of course founded his own company. McLaren racing is  a great name in Formula One currently with Fernando Alonso as their number one driver. Over the years James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, the unforgettable Ayrton Senna all became world champions driving for the team. I am not  sure what the plans  are with regards to distribution but I am sure sooner or later it will be available on DVD or some other source.

If you are a true motor racing buff and would like to see some great historical footage I would strongly recommend it.  As for Shift they seem to be selling pretty fancy second hand cars which have all been checked and double checked at price they say is well below what dealers would be charging. Must salute them for renting a huge and very beautiful cinema and letting in enthusiasts for free. An interesting concept, let’s hope it will work for them. See you next month. AF