Last month it was copy editor Rusty Blackwell who spent the most time behind the wheel of our Infiniti JX35, so we’ll step aside and grant him the floor:

Presently, the number of Infiniti hybrid models stands at one, but that figure will triple for the 2014 model year. In addition to the Q70 Hybrid (nee M35h) that's presently on sale, the new Q50 sedan (formerly known as the G37) will spawn a hybrid variant, and the QX60 crossover -- once known as the JX35 -- will also be offered in hybrid-electric form for 2014.

Ann Arbor has been an icebox lately; it's the kind of weather that gives features like heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and remote start greater importance. Luckily, the JX35 has all three. "I love any vehicle with remote start," said associate web editor Jake Holmes, but he noted that this Infiniti's remote start system doesn't fire up the heated seats or steering wheel, unlike those from other manufacturers (Chrysler, for one).

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With the introduction of the 2014 Infiniti Q50 at the Detroit auto show, we see the direction that Nissan's premium car division is charting for the future, as this replacement for the Infiniti G37 sedan presents a new face and new technology in effort to capture a new market.

Winter arrived with a vengeance in December, but our JX35 still had a busy month of travel, with trips to Wisconsin and to Grand Marais in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

You could boil down the upgrades the Infiniti Performance Line gives to the G37 into three areas: the exterior design, the engine, and the suspension. Unfortunately, I'm not necessarily sure the hopped-up G37 excells in any of them.

With the cold weather coming, we wanted to get winter tires on the Infiniti. But Tire Rack, official wheel and tire supplier to Automobile Magazine, didn't yet have measurements for the JX, so we took our car down to their headquarters in Indiana so they could get some. The process is actually quite involved: they use a mapping arm to locate the touch points inside the wheel well, which they use to make a CAD model. They measure wheel offset, suspension travel, and brake caliper size, among other things. The brake calipers, for instance, are measured fully such that brake pads with more compound don't interfere with an aftermarket wheel. In the end, after the measuring and calculating were done, they recommended Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 tires for our JX, which were mounted on a new set of 18-inch wheels, to the tune of $1599.69. Resetting the tire pressure monitoring system at the dealership added another $62.49.

Not long after the Infiniti JX35 arrived in Ann Arbor, we had the local dealer install a towing package. The total cost for parts and labor was $932.50 -- not cheap, but it did add an extra measure of versatility to the JX35, and it allows us to take advantage of its 3500-pound towing capacity.

The Infiniti JX35 is back from its East Coast sojourn, but this SUV has proven too vacation-friendly to spend much time hanging around the office. Copy editor Rusty Blackwell grabbed the keys for an epic, nine-day, 1475-mile family road trip to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Our four seasons Infiniti JX35 spent its first couple off weeks not in Ann Arbor, but in New York State, where Jamie Kitman got an early crack at it.

It's unusual for Automobile Magazine's New York contingent -- Jamie Kitman and me -- to get first crack at a long-term car, but that's exactly what happened with our new, Four Seasons 2013 Infiniti JX35. It paused in Ann Arbor just long enough for art director Matt Tierney to snap a few pictures before road test editor Chris Nelson hopped in to rendezvous with me, exchanging the JX for the Four Seasons Mazda CX-5. Most of the staff in Ann Arbor didn't even get a look at it before it left.

After a highly satisfactory experience with a Four Seasons Infiniti QX56, our collective antennae were up at the debut of Infiniti's newest SUV, the JX35. One rung down size-wise from the big-boy QX, the JX is also built differently, being of unibody construction rather than body-on-frame. Additionally, the JX is based on Nissan's front-wheel-drive, mid-size D-platform (which also underpins the Altima and the Maxima), and it's therefore the first Infiniti in a long time that doesn't use a rear-wheel-drive architecture.

The Infiniti G37 is roughly $1000 less than the Automobile Magazine Four Seasons Volvo S60 T6 AWD, $8000 less than the BMW 335i we recently tested, and $13,000 less than the Audi S4 that came through our office a few weeks prior. If you were thinking that all six-cylinder, 300+ horsepower sport sedans cost about the same, think again.

The last time I drove an EX35 was in summer of 2008 when my mother was shopping for a car to replace her 2006 Lexus RX400h. She wanted to keep the usability of an SUV but wanted something that drove more like a car. Enter the EX -- essentially a G35 hatchback (and is sold as much in Japan). On paper, it was the perfect fit. Sadly, an already-outdated infotainment system, tight interior accommodations, and an unrefined five-speed automatic scuttled the deal.

If there was ever a time to truly test the M35h's ability to sip fuel and run on electricity alone, this night certainly wasn't it. Temperatures plummeted, gale-force winds (30-40 mph) rocked southern Michigan, and for reasons completely unrelated to weather, my wife and I were running late for a hockey game located 53 miles away by freeway. Instead, this scenario allowed me to experience the other facet of the M35h's personality: power. This car moves at a fairly good clip when the drive selector is placed on "normal," but it's surprisingly potent once moved to "sport." That may not be too surprising when you view the net horsepower figure (360 hp), but you can't help be a bit startled when the car quickly jumps off the line. In this mode, the M35h feels more like the muscular M56 than a fuel-stingy, tree-hugging hybrid. Trying to keep the car in EV mode, even in "Eco" mode, can grow a bit tiring - no matter how finessed your right foot may be, any attempt to slowly increase your speed usually results in the reawakening of the V-6. I love this latest iteration of M; the curvaceous exterior, incredibly posh interior, and refined road manners are addicting, regardless of the powertrain selected. The hybrid certainly is an interesting choice: while more expensive than a six-cylinder M37 ($53,700 vs $47,700), it is considerably more powerful, and both less expensive and more fuel-efficient than the eight-cylinder M56. Apart from 60 horsepower and the availability of all-wheel-drive, you don't lose much by choosing the M35h over the M56.

The decision to purchase a minivan is a pragmatic one. Drive a minivan and you admit to the world that you have children and a Costco membership, and that you want one vehicle that can transport your offspring and multi-packs of toilet paper.

Nissan paved the way for mass-market electric cars with the Leaf hatchback, and now luxury division Infiniti will launch a more powerful and more refined electric sedan based on the Leaf. Shown in concept form at the 2012 New York auto show, the Infiniti LE closely foreshadows a production electric car.

Everything Infiniti has done in the past decade would have you believe the Japanese luxury brand is pursuing Germany's sportiest automobiles. The compact G and mid-size M target BMW's legendary sports sedans. The FX50 is aimed squarely at the Porsche Cayenne. The new IPL trim is the first step toward a full-bore performance sub-brand like Mercedes-Benz's AMG.