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I'll start this comment by apologising if it causes any offence, but there are some grains of truth in it.
Its true the new 5 is a bit heavier than it should be (and remember this is with a car which has a lot of aluminium and high strength steels in it) but part of the reason is the demand from the 'market' or should I say reviewers who constantly moan about interior space even though each and every generation of 5 (and its competitors keeps getting bigger and bigger). People are getting bigger in some continents as they eat more and more crap food with all manner of additives. This drives the constant upsizing. As soon as one manufacturer increases size to get an edge, then all the others do it too. It is happening in all segments of cars and I have to say this size issue is particularly prevelant in America. Constantly evolving crash protection is also driving up weight.
Also notice how they make very little play of real world economy figures or CO2 emissions in this review. In Europe this is very important. In the States less so - at the moment...
Regulations in Europe is what has driven BMW to embrace technology and turbo's to meet their consumption and emissions regulations otherwise I am sure the 5 would still have more NA engines. This will continue to happen. Infinity (ie Nissan) would not market their car in the UK and much of Europe as it just wouldn't sell for these reasons.
As for the interior, I cannot understand who thinks the Infinity has a great interior. To me it looks like something melted in the cabin. Every switch with a label (ala Lexus) for those people who can't understand what a button might do or have learning difficulties. It certainly is not high end design. Less is nearly always more in design terms and the whole Infinity smells of being over-designed. I admire and applaud their ambition, but I think you will find it will age less well in the coming years. To me it reminds me of a Lexus crossed with a Maserati.
I think this comparison would be better if it compared an M Sport version of the 5 against the M65. This version they compared was the SE and I am sure their will be tuning differences in the suspension.
As a sign off, I applaud them for what they have done and it goes to show how close Nissan is to producing a truly amazing car. The Japanese have always been very good at copying others and now they are adding their own spice to the mix as well. The competition is good and just makes good products for all of us, but I still think the 5 is the most homogeneous design in the segment and each and every year it will be tweaked and improved.
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