Reviewing the Infiniti QX50 ~ Smarter Car Reviews

smartercars (58)in #cars • 8 years ago

The Car

The QX50 is Infiniti’s compact luxury crossover and the latest iteration receives some well-needed space in the backseat. At the moment, we’re still tossing up whether we find the car more like a hatchback than an SUV but we’ll admit that it is pretty decked out with kit including a standard sunroof and heated seats both in front and behind.

The Premium trim package will give you a Bose sound system, adjustable steering wheel, auto-dimming rearview mirror, sat nav and a touch screen. Going up to the Premium Plus package will add on ‘Premium’ gear, Bluetooth audio streaming, the Infiniti Around View parking camera system, and parking sensors. The 7-speed automatic engine unfortunately doesn’t come with paddle shifters but you do get a manual option which can be quite fun if you like that having the flexibility of choosing how you control your car.

Although not tested by ANCAP as of yet, the QX50 comes pretty well equipped with safety tech including lane-departure, forward-collision and blind-spot warning, adaptive cruise control, electronic stability control and automatic headlights and wipers.

The Drive

We found the QX50 quite engaging with its 325-horsepower V6 engine. The car is very well distributed in terms of weight thanks to the engine placement and the control-arm-front and multilink-rear suspension setup. The car is almost comparable to the Nissan Fairlady in that regard and both the rear and 4WD options were a pleasure to drive on all sorts of terrain.

The options for manual gear changes made our drive very fun. Gears shifted well and the car takes turns with a lot of confidence and surety at that. Steering was a tad on the heavy side but we made do. Unfortunately for the car that’s as fun to drive as this, the fuel economy detracts from that and you may find yourself holding back in a bid to save yourself a few dollars at the next top up.

The Interior

The QX50 interior is trimmed in a classy way and as we mentioned, there’s some much needed leg space added in the back. It’s really quite comfortable so it’s no wonder that we’re seeing a lot of private taxi drivers (Uber, Grab and Lyft) riding these around on their runs. The backseats are also automatic and adjustable which really makes the whole experience of being a passenger that much more luxurious.

The boot offers a little over 500L of space which goes up to 1,170L with the split-folding rear seats down. It’s a tad smaller than what other models in this category are offering, but we suppose that you wouldn’t mind to make a couple of extra trips to ferry things around the way the car drives.

Overall

The QX50 comes with a nice overall look and feel and even is quite generous with the equipment that comes standard for the price you pay. With the engine, you’re going to enjoy driving this car, even if you’ll end up eating up more fuel and making more trips to carry things around due to the lack of boot space.

Original : Reviewing the Infiniti QX50