Singapore – Infiniti remains the ‘other’ brand when it comes to luxury vehicles, occupying very much the same space Jaguar does for the Europeans. It’s truly for those who want something that the neighbours don’t have – especially if your neighbour is driving a Lexus, for example.

Infiniti’s morphed itself in terms of brand image in recent years, with its much publicised involvement in Formula One and the re-presentation of its model line-up. The latter has involved the introduction of new models, such as the small executive Q50 and the to-be-launched Q30 small hatchback.

The other aspect of that is the re-naming of the extant models – everything gets a ‘Q’ name now. Hence, Infiniti’s big sedan challenger, aimed at rivals like the Lexus GS and Mercedes E-Class, now morphs from ‘M’ to ‘Q70’.

At the same time, the car, which debuted in 2010, gets a mid-life facelift too. On the front end there’s a re-styled grille and air intakes. The lights are now full LED units for both front and rear, while the fog-lights have a new chrome surround that looks a little like the Air New Zealand logo.

Minor stuff, admittedly, but very much par for the course for a car’s life-cycle nip-tuck.

More interesting is the fact that this a version of the ex-M we’ve never tried – we previously tested the fast and almost furious hybrid V6, plus the 3.7-litre naturally-aspirated V6, but this model represents the entry-level into Q70/M ownership.

It’s powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre V6 engine – a rather distinctly Japanese engine configuration and capacity – the reason for its presence being that it’s also found in many Nissan models, such as the Teana 250 big sedan.

The V6 is typical Japanese too: It’s very smooth and refined, with almost no vibrations transmitted to the cabin at idle. The Q70 has a throttle mode dial (no adaptive suspension here) which helps you a bit, but Normal is perfectly fine for all sorts of driving in the city.

Being non-turbocharged, the engine takes a bit of time to spool up, as does the kickdown of the automatic gearbox, so despite having more than 200bhp you can’t call the 2.5 fast, at least by luxury big sedan standards.

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This is an entirely acceptable set of behaviours, since when you do rev the V6 it gets going with enough rapidness to see off any regular driving or high-speed cruising challenges. Of more concern is the steering and ride, both of which have an obvious comfort bias but also seem to have lots of give in their responses.

There’s little feel until well off-centre for the former, and lots of roll but still a slightly brittle aspect to the latter, both regrettable for keen drivers, but not a deal breaker for regular folk.

On the upside, the Q70’s cabin is unique and inviting, with Infiniti’s gloss dark wood trim and curvy flourishes existing alongside a solid set of features like navigation, a Bose sound system, cooled seats, a sunroof and Bluetooth connectivity.

The facelift doesn’t do wonders for the Q70, nor does it propel the big sedan magically to a forward position in its segment. For now, it remains the off-hand choice, but not one that’s off-piste.

Infiniti Q70 2.5

Also Consider: BMW 520i, , Lexus GS 250, Mercedes-Benz E 250