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The QX56 may be the best tool this side of an 18-wheeler for clearing slower traffic out of the left lane. Spying one in a rearview mirror closing rapidly will inspire most drivers to err on the side of survival and get out of the way.It's not any one aspect but the combination. Perhaps if the grille weren't visually surrounded by expanses of metal. Or if the headlights were taller. Or if the breather vent embedded in the bumper were smaller. Perhaps. Perhaps. But as assembled, the QX56's front end embodies massiveness. The side view broadcasts a similar message. Here, for once, and for this message, the more tire the better. Where the popular practice among stylists is to wrap ever thinner tires around ever bigger wheels, with an eye to communicating sportiness, in this class, where mass and perceived hauling capability is the measure, tires that look like they belong on a truck are preferred. And the QX56 delivers. Squared off, clearly defined, barrel-like fender blisters add heft to the quarter panels. The arched roof over the passenger compartment puzzles, especially as it pushes the D-pillar (bearing the Infiniti trademark, if somewhat awkwardly angled, door handle) rearward, shrinking and reshaping the rear quarter windows in conflict with the somewhat organic outline of the front and rear door windows. The running boards are more cosmetic than functional, but manage to pull bodywork down below the midline of the wheels, again adding to the impression of mass. There's enough of a trace of stamped-in relief in the liftgate to confirm lineage with the predecessor QX4, but the focus in the QX56's rearview is more on stance than was the case in that smaller, lighter-looking SUV. And here, too, the QX56 succeeds. Substantial tires (there they are again), widely spaced, beneath a body that starts out broad at the lower reaches and then gradually tapers in towards the top speaks to solidity, to roadhugging stability.
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