1990 Infiniti Q45 from North America - Comments

Transmission went ($3500 repair). Note also that it went abruptly and without warning - no notice that this was coming.

Immediately after that, the timing chain skipped a tooth (after a broken plastic guide/tensioner), and bent 16 valves (another $3500 repair).

Beautiful car.

Smooth operation.

Nice performance.

Terrific interior.

Magnificent paint.

Great leather in the interior.

Brutally, and I mean BRUTALLY expensive to repair. I ended up paying $7,000 in a month for two major repairs... it absolutely killed my interest in Nissan products (I've since learned that the vast majority of other Nissans, and Infiniti's for that matter, are super reliable. I just bought the first year of a fairly technically advanced car, and there were lots of things to go wrong that hadn't had the benefit of years of tweaking to eliminate weak spots).

I bought this car because it was Rear Wheel Drive, and my brother had been an enthusiastic Nissan fan for years. I figured he'd had good luck with his Nissans, how much success I'd have with a Q45! The car was a pleasure to drive, and looked good on me... it was smooth, quiet and powerful. It looked like brand new inside and out.

It was not really a good fit for me, however, as I like doing my own work on cars (and modifying them for performance / handling). This car was way too sophisticated for me to do it myself, and so I never touched it myself (and I didn't own it too long).

Other than the two major repairs, it never let me down. However, two big repairs killed any love I had for the car. The repairs were completed, and I put it up for sale. I've since owned only Domestic cars, and I've never regretted it.

Would you believe that by far the best car I've owned since then has been a 1994 Chevy Caprice with the legendary LT1 engine. It flat out hauled a$$, was easy to work on, and an absolute pleasure to drive. Major drawback of that car was that everyone figured it was a police car. It had zero class compared to the Q45, but the 'cool' factor alleviated that.

I just sold the Caprice, and now I'm going to replace it with a mid 90's Cadillac Fleetwood with the same LT1. I simply LOVE big REAR WHEEL DRIVE cars with V8 power! The only other car I'm considering (believe it or not - it's totally different from the RWD / V8 formula just described) is the Infiniti G20, only because my brother now has one, and it looks superb, and handles nice. I can see with a few handling tweaks, it could be a terrific driver's car.

Would not recommend the early 90's Q45 at all. I heard the later ones were much better (both for the transmission and for the plastic guide on the timing chain). However, I'd avoid the early 90's ones like the plague! Save yourself some misery and pass on the early 90s cars. I was fortunate that I could take a $7000 hit when the repairs came. That's the same as I paid for the car to begin with! It makes me sick even nearly 10 years later to think of it... Aargh!

My grandmother had a 1991 Q45. For the first five years the car was great, then went the transmission. At a light the car would simply shut of but would recrank as though nothing had happened. In 1997 she traded it and has not looked back at Infiniti since.

Good review, I had a Infinity J30 with similar issues. These cars do have solid engines, but everything else around it dies. Even if they use quality parts, the number of complex parts in your Q45 or my J30 start to age and do eventually break. From my experience, its too much cost to maintain a luxury sedan that is 20 years old. Your LT1 car sounds cool.

If you like the original Q45, the '93 is the one to get. The transmission and timing chain problems had been solved by then and, treated right, the '93's won't let you down.