I was intrigued by an Infiniti advert about its new hybrid model (Infiniti = posh Nissan, a bit like a Lexus is not a Toyota), so I went to the website. The site takes a while to load on less-than-hyperspeed Cornish broadband – lots of moving graphics and fine pictures of cars – but is singularly uninformative when you get there. The model I was intrigued by is front and centre of the home page, as you might expect for something being actively promoted, and you can click on the image to get to a page specific to that model. When you get there, you find a picture of the car which you can click to rotate so you can see it from different angles and a running news strip of its umpteen wondrous features. Clicking on the picture and the news strip does nothing. Nothing else seems specifically connected.

There is a general “download brochure” button, from which you have to re-state the model you are interested in (several clicks) and then enter your name and contact details, without which it will not let you download anything. Stuff that. I am rapidly losing interest in the car, and the brand. And the company.

However, in a spirit of undaunted exploration I click on the name of the model range in the top banner, from which in only one more click I arrive at another, different page for the model. Here I find some information. Why couldn’t this be the page I was first taken to? It doesn’t contain an overwhelming amount, and I had to wait a couple of seconds every time I clicked for the next piece, but it’s better than nothing. Just.

I hope their cars are better designed than their website, that’s all.

P.S.
I’m not going to buy one.

P.P.S.
For comparison I tried the Ford website: moving pictures everywhere, unasked-for music, and information only in tiny chunks. Hence my opening hypothesis: all car websites are bad. Can anyone find a counter-example to prove me wrong?