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I came to drive the car, not to torture it. I came to cruise, not to worry about 0-to-60-mph times.

Such concerns make little sense in a place of beauty, such as this; and in a thing of beauty, such as the 2002 Infiniti Q45 sedan.

I came to see and to be seen, which is the point of the new Q45 — or any other luxury car costing $50,000.

I mean, get real.

Who would spend money like that on something like this just to push it beyond 100 mph, and abuse its tires and brakes in panic stops? I did that under the guidance of instructors from the Skip Barber Driving School at the Homestead Motor Speedway, about 35 miles south of here.

The Q45’s 340-horsepower V-8 and electronically controlled, five-speed automatic transmission handled those tasks easily. Its four-wheel independent suspension system, in conjunction with traction and vehicle stability controls, kept the car upright and on track despite my numerous steering errors.

I fried the brakes on the first test car — a preproduction model equipped with vented, power-assisted discs front and rear. There are only so many times you can slam on the brakes of any car, especially at high speeds in hot weather, without doing some damage.

The first car sampled was the sports version of the Q45, which means it came with 18-inch wheels, an electronically controlled suspension system designed to give a firmer ride at higher speeds, and Z-rated tires engineered to handle road speeds up to 149 mph. With the able assistance of some other automotive scribes, I ruined some tires, too.

It pained me to damage a vehicle, even one built before the regular production cycle and tested for the express purpose of exposing its vulnerabilities. I would never drive my own car that way. Nor can I think of any sane person who would buy a highly styled automobile with an interior of stitched leather and maple wood trim, and then scorch its tires and smoke its brakes.

Normal people — “in this case, affluent folks looking for something distinctly different from Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW — want the Q45 for show. That’s my take. But Infiniti’s marketers prefer to discuss the car’s target audience in grander terms. The car, the marketers say, “is designed to set a new standard in the highly competitive premium luxury class and bring the passion of Infiniti to life for a whole new generation of buyers.”

Translation: The new Q45 marks the third generation of the vehicle, first introduced in the United States in 1989 as a 1990 model. The first car was good, but flawed by advertising that displayed rocks and trees instead of automobiles. Few people, barely 14,000, bought it because not many people knew about it.

The second-generation Q45, introduced in 1995 as a 1996 model, ensured anonymity in a passionate embrace of industrial mimicry, copying styling cues from many rivals at the expense of its own identity.

The third iteration corrects all of those errors. The new Q45, with its multi-lens headlamps, elongated hood, and sinewy body, is a neck-snapper supreme. Here, it rivaled the most revealing swimwear in attractiveness. I liked that, which is why I found more joy in touring the city’s streets than zooming around the speedway.

No one needs a car such as the Q45. Speed and performance can be had in something much cheaper, such as a Subaru WRX. But no one named Randi or Inge, accompanied by equally beautiful friends, stopped to examine the WRX. But the Q45 pulled them away from the beach.

I don’t have $50,000 to spend on a car; but the attention made me feel like a millionaire. There are some people of means who might consider that a fair return on investment.