chicagotribune.com's view

Among Japanese luxury cars, Lexus was the engine, Infiniti the caboosefor 1990.

Lexus outsold its rival by roughly 60,000 units to 17,000 units. Someobservers strained to hear whether the fat lady was warming up her cords.

Most people blame the gosh-awful Infiniti ad campaign, which investedmillions in promoting Mother Nature at the expense of the car.

But there are other factors involved.

Lexus proved to be one heck of a car in both its $40,000 LS400 dress andin its $20,000 ES250 duds. Infiniti was one heck of a car in its $40,000 Q45version, nothing out of the ordinary in $20,000 M30 coupe display.

So Lexus had two cars to sell, Infiniti basically one.

Enter the G20 for 1991, the first and only front-wheel-drive car in theInfiniti lineup. Its purpose is to solve some of the problems and attract morethan 17,000 buyers with a $17,500 4-door sedan in a price range well below therival ES250.

The G20 is one heck of a car, so good that perhaps the folks fromInfiniti will someday give it a real name and not a letter/numeraldesignation.

At first glance, the G20 doesn`t look so special. It looks a bit like alow-slung Honda Accord. Styling is not its long suit, despite body-coloredfront and rear bumpers and wide protective bodyside moldings. Clean and notcluttered, but no beauty-contest winner. In industry parlance, the descriptionwould be “understated elegance,“ which means the conservative wing of thestyling studio won out.

The G20 is a compact built on a 100.4-inch wheelbase and is 175 incheslong. Viewed from outside, it looks small. But the appearance is deceptivebecause inside there is loads of room, even in the back seat-although a touch more knee room and a softer seat back would be appreciated.

The G20 becomes one extraordinary machine once you turn the key and askthe 2-liter, 140-horsepower, 16-valve 4-cylinder to perform.

The 2-liter is teamed with a 5-speed as standard; a 4-speed automaticwith overdrive is an $800 option. The car we tested came with automatic, butthe 140 horses still performed as promised. The G20 claims a 0-to-60 time of9.6 seconds with automatic, 8.5 with manual.

Lively acceleration and no hesitation when pulling out into the passinglane, plus 22 miles a gallon city, 29 m.p.g. highway (24/32 with manual), is apleasant combination.

Of course, taking off is only half the fun. Stopping is an essential,too. We found the G20`s 4-wheel disc brakes firm and true. It took minimalpressure to put the brakes to work. As an added benefit, antilock brakes arestandard. And as an added safety feature, you must depress the brake pedal in order to move the shift lever out of park.

Performance is enhanced with a road-hugging multilink suspension system.The coil springs, gas-filled shocks, antiroll bars and speed-sensitive powersteering make for nimble, limber ride and handling on the straightaways, andsolid, flat c ornering when the road twists and turns. The power steeringprovides just the right effort; you get quick response without the steeringbeing overly loose and sloppy or overly tight and cumbersome to maneuver.

Having recently driven both a BMW 3-series and the Mercedes-Benz 190sedan, the G20 comes across as a worthy competitor for a fraction of theprice. The BMW overwhelms you with pretention-the buttons and dials and dashseem more suited for a 747. The BMW is built like a tank to withstand theextended high-speed rigors of the Autobahn. The G20 is more suited toexpressways and interstates in this country, roads typically barricaded forrepair during the prime driving season.

The 190 isn`t as pretentious, but you certainly feel more weight in thewheel of the German car, along with a feeling that you`re along for the riderather than in control.

As prices of European imports skyrocket, we would be surprised if someBMW kidney-shaped grille loyalists don`t give p the yuppie fight and headover to an Infiniti showroom to check out the G20.

The G20 is the sporting entry to the Infiniti luxury lineup.

On the plus side, controls, dials and switches are held to a minimum tokeep it simple but functional. They are within easy sight and reach and don`t require pausing to find, much less use, as in a BMW.

We especially appreciate locating hazard-light and rear-defrosterswitches on the instrument panel, not under the wheel or behind the shiftlever.

The power door lock and power window controls are located in the centerconsole, not on the arm rest, territory saved for housing the trunk and fuel- door release buttons.

As an added touch, an on/off button in the glove box keeps the rear hatch locked or unlocked, an advantage with valet parking.

A tip of the hat to the Infiniti folks for the trunk. It`s not only bigenough to hold groceries, luggage or golf clubs, but features a lid that liftsup and then back toward the rear window for an exceptionally large opening to make packing or unpacking easy.

We would suggest, however, that Infiniti go a step further and provide an opening in the rear-seat console so G20 buyers could slip their skis in thecar and close the lid without exposing them to potential thieves.

We also would hope that with such attention to detail as the trunk lid,Infiniti would cough up the extra dough for a spring-held hood rather than theprop job the G20 is now saddled with.

The G20, with 5-speed, starts at $17,500, with automatic $18,300.

Standard equipment includes ABS, air conditioning, AM/FM stereo withcassette and power antenna, cruise control, alloy wheels, power brakes/steering/windows/door locks, tinted windows, alloy wheels and clear-coatpaint. The power train carries a 72 month/72,000 mile warranty.

The only options other than automatic transmission are leather seats for$900 and electric sunroof for $800. The car we tested came with the sunroof,which needs to be darkened a shade to prevent glare.

The current betting is that M30 won`t be in the lineup too much longer.Basically the M30 is the Leopard, which has been sold in Japan for severalyears. The technological advances of the G20 make the M30 pale by comparison. The Leopard was badged the M30 for the U.S. in order to give Infiniti a secondmodel to work with until the G20 was ready, just like the Camry platformserved as a convenient basis for Lexus to bring out a lower cost ES250 in ahurry. In justice to Lexus, the ES250 is an outstanding machine, in large partbecause the Camry is.

Next up from Infiniti is another luxury sedan with rear-wheel drive andpriced between the FWD G20 and the RWD Q45. It bows in the spring of 1992.