kaoticdemize

iTrader: (2)

So I returned from Dallas on Friday from an special invitation only event from Infiniti to go sit play around with and drive botht eh Q50 and Q50 Hybrid. Here are my impressions.

1. Design- I will start off by saying that sport package is the way to go. the lines on the bottom of the bumper are just immaculate and is essentially an integrated spoiler. The light design when seeing the progress of turning them on has a really nice flow, and defenitately aggressive. Looking at them side by side with t he 3 series and Audi 4 series there is just so much more happening without it being overbarring. Not to mention it makes the other look cheap and plastic like. The swoops of the hood are exaggerated and aggresive, in a positive way, much like the contours of the GTR. The side lines again are very pronounced and follow the body extremly nicely. The back window is a little wonky, but after viewing it for extended periods of time it definately grew on me and is not as pronounced as the one on the JX. Following through to the back of the car, which is where it seems the largest point of contenton was, it is different in person. The rear tail lights do have a nice presence about them and I particularly like the new set up for the design of the LED's. I will also say that in person, there really is no resemblance to the Hyundai or other various low end vehicles it was compared to. The overall size of the vehicle is larger, slating in between the current G37 and the M. The 19's are a nice touch and fit the car perfectly and even though these were the AWD models, the gap seems to be smaller, not quite at BMW height but close to the Audi. All in all I feel they definately hit the mark with the styling and there will be many good impressions.

2. Interior- Here is the big one. The new design and layout is simply amazing. the feel of the leather, soft touch materiels and the ergonomics of the controls are phenominal. This was a sport version which had the sport seats and they are much more comfortable than the previous iteration yet still supportive. The dual touch screen is something that I am hoping follows suit into the remaining lineup. The way they are both integrated along with the information relation on the dash will make this a lot easier to use. For example, when using the navigation, the main screen will remain full screen effect for the map while the turn by turn is routed to the dash screen. Along with the typical apps you would expect, i.e facebook and pandora, they have some other cool ones established with more to come. A neat one was pulled form the GTR for the performance guages including a g force chart, throttle input and other various pieces of information. Also to mention the resolution of the screens is superior to that of an Ipad. this is by far the best interior that has ever been offered in an Infiniti. if you need an example, go sit in a loaded M or JX, and then think of pushing past that. The new bose system is finally something we have that can compete with others such as harmon kardoon, bang olfsen etc. it has 3 10" subwoofers in the system, with 5 twiddlers and proper positioning for optimal sound. The actually built the interior around the system for proper placement.

3. Technology- So this will be a category that will surpass anything on the market today. The combination of the traditional tech features such as blind spot warning/prevention, lane departure warning/prevention, gets taken to a whole new level. Some people will like it, some won't, it will definately be a personal preference, but none the less, they put a lot of usefull tech in. Crosswind correction is going to be something interesting to play with. I am not going to go into to much on the tech as it would take forever, but just know that you won't find another vehicle at this time in the market that will surpass it.

4. Driving- Now the fun part. Again I had a chance to drive both the 3.7 and the hybrid. The 3.7 feels more refined, a little less crass if you will. Still the distinctive sound that you expect from the VQ but harnessed better. I will say it feels just as quick as the current G, yet it was full of people, so take the extra 500 lbs out and I would assume it will surpass the current performance. The transmition is a much smoother shifting transmission and in sport seemed to react better to aggressive driving and shifting properly. VDC is still a bitch but not as limiting as it is now, you can actually get some tail fun with it on. The throttle is a huge improvement. During my driving I didn't feel that pedal lag that we tend to get in the current car, building smoothly to speed without having to floor it. But when floored, it returns with a surge of acceleration. No it is not much different from the current 3.7 model, but it is an improvement in the comfort and refinement and along with the upgrades to the interior, body and tech, it will be a force to reckon with. It's hard to refute the performance the car already had, it just needed more luxury.There is also use of some new lightweight steel to keep some of the weight down, this could definately be felt on the track.

Moving on to the Hybrid. So, not sure how many of you have driven the M hyrbid. The M hyrbid was fast, but my point of conetention was the gas pedal. Floor it and you had a lot of lag while it switched between ev and gas to full power of both. Not so in the Q50, instant power, seemless shift. Even when driving normally, the switch between the 2 is non existant, very fluid. The brake still has that squishy feeling of a hybrid, but to my knowledge there is no way around it when you have a regenrative braking system. I will reserve judgement to full performance until I get to drive a fresh non prototype version that has been fully charged. To me it felt like the same performance as the 3.7, but it had been being hot lapped all day, abused and not getting rest. leading to not having full electrical charge for power. I will say the weight distribution while throwing it through corners felt great for it's size, much better than the M and you could feel it obeying what you wanted it to do.

So to sum it up, this is a different car. I wouldn't really call this a replacement for the G37, it felt more like a new car to the lineup. it only felt g like in it's placement in the market. It is leaps and bounds above it's direct competition as far as luxury and technology, the former being the main point that people said was lacking from Infiniti. Considering for an almost loaded 3.7 Q50 you can get a loaded 328i, there really should not be a competition anymore. for 52k my money is on the Q50 all day long. There will still be propeller chasers, but I don't see the point anymore for now. This has everything people wanted in the other cars, but still maintains what made Infiniti the good choice. No this is not the super performance car people were calling for, but it's the luxury car that was needed. We were told this was the new starting point for Infiniti and this car should be considered base. If this holds true, we are in for a fun ride.

Feel free to ask any questions, if I have the information I will provide it.

cisternachyli

Wow, sounds great . One question though, are the driver assistance systems (blind spot prevention, lane departure prevention) tied into the adaptive steering? Because thats the only reason i can think of why Infiniti is requiring the deluxe touring package if you spec the tech package on the pre orders.

kaoticdemize

iTrader: (2)

There is direct tie in, it is just the way they do the packaging, technology on every car (apart from the M) means you have to have a fully loaded car.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Excellent, well-written review.

I thought the M was their luxury car?

Don't personally think they needed to push M-class luxury into the G because it takes away from the reason I bought a G in the first place. But I also don't think Infiniti cares about those automotive priorities because volume sales.

kaoticdemize

iTrader: (2)

The M will be changing soon. The biggest hit Infiniti took on the G37 was that it was not perceived as a real luxury car compared to the competitors. It has the performance, it had the value and even though imo it had a great interior, that is what always let it down on the surveys. The brand as an entirety will be going through some changes, this is the beginning. And there will be a super performance car coming a couple of them actually

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Thanks for the great review. In your opinion and current test drive, has the 7AT been re-mapped or tweaked to smooth out some of the rough edges?
Seems like they've moved the Q50 up a couple notches in luxury so it would seem that they would spend some extra engineering dollars to address some of the nagging issues w/ the 2009-2013 Automatics.
Looks like they also addressed the butt ugly sedan G37 wheels as well

kaoticdemize

iTrader: (2)

The 7 spd has definately been updated to be smoother and non rough. After driving the audi 7 spd dual clutch I would say they would be equal in smoothness, but audibly the shifts on the Infiniti sound better

thestumper

Sorry; for 52K my money is on the S4 prestige. If I'm going to pay that kind of money, I might as well have the badge AND a great car. I love my g37, but part of that is tied to the incredible value the car represents. Infinity can have their technology; I'll take the 6-speed manual transmission. My fear for this car (other than it being crap, which is clearly NOT the case...) was that Infinity would price it at a point that would make it irrelevant. A $40,000 car that's as good or better than a $50,000 icon? That gets my attention. A $50,000 car that's as good as the $50,000 icon? Not so sure...

Here's hoping for some good incentives on the Q!!! I want to believe

cisternachyli

The base price is great; even the Premium is fine at 38 or so. But the sport starts at 42k+. I think Infiniti could have had the sport at 40 or 41. Its gonna be a tough decision for me as a fully loaded (i want the tech package so it will have to be fully loaded) sport is gonna be $50k.

g37guy01

Not me. I'd rather take m chances with a q than an s4. We'll see what happens.

nisslover

Surprised no one asked the burning question... What was your take on the new steering system?

hadokenuh

Thank you very much for the thorough review. I think Infiniti is heading to the right direction - making their cars more refined.

I am not to worried about the price as most infinitis will be sold under invoice anyway

da mayor

iTrader: (2)

not anymore. That is the issue that people are happy to get a BMW for a few bucks above invoice, but think it's not okay to pay for above invoice on an Infiniti.

I hope they change their ways. And it is not corporate it is the dealers that need to learn how to have faith in their products

nisslover

Here's some videos from the event:

Hot Laps from inside... someone pointed out how smooth the steering action is here and how he doesn't have to make major steering adjustments as he hits the apex's:


This one has a good one of the car pulling up and kinda can get a gist of its presence:


A glimpse of the InTouch system and some driving footage:

cisternachyli

The Asian luxury marques have always positioned themselves as a value alternative compared to the Germans; i.e same or better equipment at a lower price. Hopefully Infiniti understands that still.