Nissan Releases New Fuga Hybrid (Infiniti M35h)

M35h is more fuel efficient in 10-15 mode. It will be interesting to see how it performs in 2008 EPA test.

 

MT estimated 24 city/ 32 highway which would mean 27 combined. They also noted 6.1 seconds acceleration to 60. This is slower than the gs450h but still only 0.2 seconds slower than my old gs400, so it should be plenty fast. The highway mileage should also be much better than the gs hybrid. But we don't know if any changes will be made when coming to America.

 

Buyers have not spoken, the 2 hybrid are not apples to apples. The LSh sold over 300% past sales goals initially. V-8 hybrid flaghsips at 120k and V-12 flaghsips at 140k don't sell much. Shall we say the "market has spoken" in regards to V-12 cars? Its important for Lexus to sell the LS 600h L even if it gets 10 sales a month.

I do think 6.0 seconds is fast enough. My 450h FLYS for a hybrid, I always let people drive it and they are shocked at how fast it is.

Get their own style

They had a g35 hybrid concept running around a year or two ago. I guess it went in this car first.

I often wonder should Lexus have made the GS 450h slower to get more MPG. It does 0-60 in 5.2 seconds but avgs 23 MPG per the EPA. I can get 25 MPG when I try though. Its easy to floor this sucker

I do like the specs on the Fuga.:cheer2:

 

They'd have to change the engine over to atkinson cycle to significantly improve efficiency. Of course, that will also limit peak horsepower - look at the RX450h which is on the atkinson cycle - 295 peak hp instead of 340. But then it gets 30 mpg instead of 23 mpg even though it weighs 500 lbs more and is less aerodynamic.

The RX450h does 0-60 in 7.4s instead of the 5.2s of the GS450h. Dropping 45 hp will add about a second to the 0-60 time. To make up for the loss in HP, I'd estimate that another 500 lbs would have to be lost on the GS450h to bring the curb weight down to the 3600lb range. That should improve fuel economy even further.

 

Yeah the GS 450h weighs 4100lbs. The 30 MPG rating of the big, heavy RX is out of this world. :rockon:

True, our GS 450h gets just as good highway MPG as our 400h with 70 more hp. The RX is AWD though. Would like the RX 450h as the 3.5 V-6 just trumps the old 3.3 V-6.

 

I get your point. I think that bmw basically killed its v12 when they produced the activehybrid7. It looks like lexus will beef up the ls to compete with the faster hybrid bmw. Mercedes seems the one making sales of hybrids in this market, that granted I don't understand.

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I think they are doing the most expensive car first. My brother went from a g35 to a tch. I think both of us would be interested.

The speed is nice to have, but with the mileage I could not justify replacing my gs400 with the 450h. I might have done it with around 6 second time to 60, but 29mpg. You own the car. Would you prefer that it was a little slower and got better mileage? I think if they put in a more powerful battery and make the psd right it should still feel fun

 

That's impressive. Lexus has some competition.