Weekend Athlete: 2008 Infiniti EX35

Now, full disclosure: I tend to believe in the innate superiority of younger siblings (I am a younger brother), and I’ve never had a chance to run the older FX through the full Weekend Athlete tests, but the EX really did some things very well.

For starters, there are power-folding seats that are pretty well-thought-out. Our test model came with seats that could both fold flat or be folded back up from the rear of the car (assuming you had the headrests on the second row set low enough) with the flip of a switch from the rear hatch. Also, you can flop the seats back up from the driver or front passenger seat if you want. You can’t fold them down from the front seat, which is curious, but like I said, the seats are pretty well-though-out.

There’s a manual-folding option, but I don’t recommend that because the effort required is extremely high, possibly due to all the mechanicals for the automatic function. So just use the buttons and relax.

The EX has a low load floor, and I have no hesitation saying shorter athletes will have no problem loading their gear. The hatch opens low as well, but I managed to load and unload everything and not bang my head. I’m a natural-born klutz, so if I didn’t hit the hatch with my head, I’m fairly sure nobody else would.

With the seats up, there’s enough room for three folks who pack light to go camping. It’s a nice but not outrageously huge cargo area.

Bike racers will like the wide opening of the cargo area and the fact that the front wheel doesn’t need to come off, but the front wheel will have to turn a fair bit to make a larger frame fit. I’ve seen better, but I’ve also seen worse.

Now, I don’t normally write about gadgets here, but our EX had Infiniti’s camera system that lets you see a complete 360-degree view around the vehicle. It’s described here, but I’ll just say you really need it, because the EX has some wicked blind spots.

In fact, outside visibility is so bad you really have to be on top of what’s around you when you’re driving around parking lots. Even on the highway — where the 360-degree view thing is deactivated — it’s just plain hard to see out to the side and rear.

Given that this is a luxury car with a spiffy interior, I can’t recommend it if you go camping in the dirt, play in the mud or like to go for long runs in the rain. It’s a living room, and you shouldn’t track dirt into your living room.

Now, if your athletic endeavors don’t involve mud or grime, or if you just shower before you drive (wacky concept), this could be a fun car to check out. The thing is, though, it’s nearly cyclocross season, I’m going camping soon, and mud, rain and sleet are all I can think about. So for me, it’s just not the car I’d pick for my weekend fun right now.

Weekend Athlete Scores (out of 10)

Ease of loading gear – 8: A low floor combined with a wide hatch is always nice.

Ease of seat operation – 9.5: It doesn’t get much easier than pressing a button. The bar has been raised for this test, and it’d get a 10 if I could flop the seats forward from the driver’s seat.

Bike-hauling ­- 8: It’s good not to have to take the wheel off, but I’ve seen better.

Locker-room cred – 2: It looks like something you’d drive to the symphony.

All-around – 6.5: It’s fun, but the visibility issues and general luxury nature of the car hurt it.