Motoring writer Syd Taylor tries out a machine that’s mean - unlike potential owners who will require £50,000

If one is in the market for a rather more refined and reassuring motoring experience than is available to ordinary mortals, the answer to your prayers is straightforward. Just head for the Infiniti showrooms that are more like ‘luxury boutique hotels’. There you will be treated to a deferential and discerning level of service not seen since the glory days of Cunard steamers.

Infiniti FX (the luxury arm of Nissan) represents a stunning combination of the practical and the luxurious. Lots of room inside and loads of equipment. A motor car that is at once a sane and sensible alternative and yet is replete with luxury and feel-good factor appurtenances including a concert hall quality sound system, powered seats that raise, tilt, hug and squeeze, cameras on front and rear and anything else you care to name that has been invented. You expect that though, because this is the S Premium model and it costs £53,415.

Here is a 4x4 with a big visual presence that looks like a true hybrid: part 4x4, part coupe and part SUV. It’s aimed at keen drivers and it goes fast (130mph)with the 235bhp 3.0 litre V6 diesel. It’s by no means too thirsty (I got near 38mpg on the motorway), by no means polluting (CO2 238g/km) and by no means mean (all that top quality) - but it’s still a ‘mean machine’. Where else can you find such a marriage of style and convenience, of pace and comfort and of common sense utility?

Let’s hit the road. The comfort is guaranteed as you sit proudly - serenely. Drivers aids are everywhere, making for easy passage on all roads in all conditions. You may be forgiven for thinking you’re at your club in your favourite armchair. Find a stretch of clear road and you can zip along and on twisty runs the control is never less than impeccable - in part thanks to the four-wheel steering.

I enjoyed the company of a cynical soul who opined that we all need 4x4 ability on British roads. I challenged him to shut his eyes and tell me what sort of roads we were travelling on as I wandered into a field, rattled across mediaeval cobblestones and leapfrogged a brook. ‘Cobblestones!’ he said. ‘It’s not quite as smooth riding as my BMW X5.’

He was right, of course, because the big 21inch wheels don’t help in the smoothness and quietness department. But then I had attempted to tax the Infiniti to its limit. But as mathematicians will tell you, infinity has no limit.