When cars from the 2000s end up being properly nostalgic, I have a feeling the original Infiniti FX will finally get its flowers. It was truly unlike other crossovers at the time, an incredibly hot sight on the street, and really a sort of halo car for Infiniti when it shocked the world by going hand-to-hand with BMW near the Bavarian brand’s peak era. As you can probably tell, I still love the original Infiniti FX, but one incredibly unsightly problem has prevented me from actually putting my money where my mouth is.
In 2003, the Infiniti FX was a revelation, a crossover utility vehicle focused solely on luxury and on-road performance and not on anything else. Keep in mind, the Porsche Cayenne of the time had a proper two-speed transfer case and even the BMW X5 of the time adhered to traditional norms and played up its capability, but the FX35 and FX45 were something different. They were built on the same platform as the Nissan 350Z and Infiniti G35, and the result was something that could haul both snowboards and rear ends in equal measure. It even briefly held a record when Car And Driver first tested the V8-powered FX45 model.
Powered by a 315-hp version of the 4.5-liter Q45 V-8, coupled to a five-speed automatic transmission with obedient manumatic override, the FX45 rushes to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 15 seconds flat at 93 mph. That makes the FX45 the quickest production SUV we’ve tested since the long-dead GMC Typhoon. The FX45 is even able to show its fat tailpipes to the BMW X5 4.6is and Mercedes ML55 AMG (6.5 seconds each).
Handling and braking are similarly capable. Thanks to firm springs, taut shocks, and thick anti-roll bars, the FX45 responds with singular precision on a twisty road. Body roll is minimal, steering feel is excellent, and the overall handling balance is remarkably neutral when you really start pushing its limits.
It’s hard to convey just how much of a want-one car the FX35 and FX45 were when they came out. They looked fantastic with their “bionic cheetah” design language and available 20-inch wheels, they went like stink for the time, they sounded good, they handled great, and you could get them with loads of equipment from a Bose sound system to a monitor in the headliner. I still want one, but good ones are weirdly hard to find if you aren’t shopping at the top of the market. Not because they’re particularly unreliable or because all of them got clapped out, but because the original FX suffered from a chronic cosmetic issue that’s absolutely hideous.
See, everything was fine and dandy when the FX launched, until this crossover started to spend a bit of time in the sun. Any car out there should be able to withstand the sun reasonably well considering they’re almost exclusively driven outside, but the FX was a bit different. Just a few years after launch, owners reported a strange issue—their dashboards were bubbling like grated cheese under a broiler.
Since many used car dealers of questionable character hide these defective dashboards with dash covers, I’ve found this FX35 up for sale privately in Burnaby, British Columbia. We’re talking about a vehicle from one of the rainiest regions in North America, featuring a reasonable 172,000 kilometers (just under 107,000 miles) on the clock, and judging by the other photographs in the ad, has enjoyed underground parking for at least part of its life, and the plastic headlight lenses still look pretty good, meaning it likely hasn’t seen loads of sun. Nevertheless, the dashboard bubbled.
Loads of owners have similar stories of dashboard problems. In this thread on infinitifx.org, one owner details having two replacement dashboards in three years on their 2006 model, stating “The local dealer in Dallas looked it up and the dashpad was replaced in December of 2007. The dealer didn’t bat an eye and said bring it in and they will fix it again.” That was in 2009.
Another thread of interior woes, this time on the InfinitiScene forum, starts with a rather elegant title: “Anyone NOT affected by the bubbling dash?” It starts with an owner asking if it really affects all FX models, and it winds up as essentially seven pages of complaints detailing issues with bubbling dashboards, with owners chiming in from just about every region.
If this seems like the sort of thing a company gets sued over, you’re right. In 2014, owners in Missouri won a class action lawsuit against Nissan North America for bubbling FX dashboards, with the automaker paying out $2,000 to each claimant as compensation for the defect. However, this wasn’t entirely a win on each front if you consider the possibility of the issue returning. As the Kansas City Star reported:
Attorney Kevin Stanley, who represented consumers, said bubbles appeared on the dashboards of 2003 model year Infiniti FX vehicles, and Nissan North America came up with a replacement dashboard three years later.
It bubbled, too.
A second replacement dashboard came out in 2009, said Stanley, with Humphrey, Farrington & McClain. He said Nissan warranty claims include 80 instances of bubbles on the new dashboards.
“There’s another version of the dashboard that came out in 2012,” Stanley said. “There is at least one report of that dash also bubbling in their warranty records.”
Um, wow. You’d think that after the second revision, things would be sorted, but nope. One other concession Infiniti made to owners in the midst of the suit was extending warranty coverage on the dash pads to eight years and unlimited mileage – fine for owners back in the day, but a problem now that we’re 17 years past the end of production for the first-generation FX. With revised dashboards also failing, it’s difficult to find an original FX that doesn’t look like its interior is suffering from a nasty infection.
These days, a replacement black instrument panel for a pre-facelift FX will run you $1,731.06 from Infiniti’s official online parts store, and that’s not including all the labor required to swap a dash pad. If your pre-facelift FX has a sage interior, you’re looking at $1,323.26 for a dash pad. If you have a facelifted 2006-2008 model, the pad will run you $1,676.80 in black and $1,891.71 in beige. Not a cheap fix, and short of slapping a dash mat over it or paying a premium for flocking or another sort of upholstering, there’s no real way to guarantee this problem will never return. A windshield cover to use when the vehicle’s parked outside helps, but that’s about as far as you can really go.
So, if you come across a first-generation Infiniti FX up for sale with a dash pad, or one in the wild with a bubbled dashboard, wonder no more. They just sorta do that, which is a shame because they’re otherwise great cars.
Top graphic images: Infiniti; Craigslist seller
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Reminds me of ‘90s GM interiors. Like my Sunbird’s. It is one of the ONLY Pontiac J-bodies in existence without the dashboard above the radio popped up and warped a good 5-6 inches due to the sun, and that’s because the car spent most of its life in the original owner’s closed-up garage.
There’s still a little bit of warping due to the six months or so that it sat outside between the original owner’s passing and my obtaining the car.