Infiniti changed the name of the G37 Sport Coupe to the Q60.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, "By any other name, the Q60 would handle as sweet." Let's take a look at the 2014 Infiniti Q60.
Earlier this year, Infiniti announced it was changing the names of all of its cars.
This is still the same styling as the G37 Coupe, just has the different badge on the back.
So, we have these really liquid-looking chic metal fenders on the front.
This being the coupe, the Q60, we don't have any rear doors, we just have the two front doors, and we get this really nice roofline design.
It really comes back nicely to the rear fenders here.
In a lot of ways, the Q60 reminds me of the Nissan 370Z.
Both cars share an engine and performance characteristics, but the Q60 is about a foot longer and a lot more comfortable inside.
Now, let's take a look at the engine.
I've seen this engine
before.
In fact, I've been seeing it since about 2007.
That's when the iPhone came out and George Bush was still president.
This engine is from Nissan's VQ series.
It's a V-6, it's got 3.7 liters of displacement.
That makes it the VQ37VHR.
It's got a double overhead cams, and variable valve timing.
That gets it 330 horsepower, 270 pound feet of torque.
Those are pretty solid numbers from this engine.
What we don't get here is direct injection or turbocharging or anything like that.
That's
what a lot of other automakers are using to increase efficiency and power.
I expect Infiniti will be upgrading this engine some time in the near future.
Well, let's get in the cabin and check the tech.
I'm seeing a lot of familiar stuff in this cabin here.
Like the engine, this infotainment system here is about five years old.
It works well, but it's not the latest cutting-edge technology.
So, we have the 7-inch touch screen here, then we have this set of buttons in this dial pad here.
Why would you
have a touch screen and this kind of dial setup?
It's actually pretty cool.
So, when I have like alphanumeric entry where this dial and buttons would be a little bit tedious and so to use, I can go straight to the touch screen and start hitting whatever I want.
When I have like menu items and things like that, and I don't wanna be really looking at the screen, then I can twist this dial and move these buttons.
It's really convenient.
And when I go to Navigation here-- so, this is a hard drive system.
And that means the Navigation works pretty fast.
There's a full set of maps on here.
They do
plan view, that's top down, and perspective view.
So, I'm looking at perspective view right now.
And I get some landmark buildings here.
It's kinda neat.
It's a nice effect, and I can use that to help me navigate when I see that building in the distance, I know where I am in-- in relation to it on the map.
When I go to the phone system, I get my phonebook, and that's for my paired phone here.
I can go straight to a dial number pad in here.
So, I've got a keypad and I can actually use the touch screen to enter at numbers really quickly.
It's again, pretty fast.
In a minute, I can choose what I want.
I like that quite a
bit.
When I go to audio-- now, this is a strange thing.
They don't actually have a single audio button up here, which they really should.
Instead, I get these AM/FM.
The-- it's really small buttons here for radio and for stored media.
There's no HD radio on here, by the way.
This is an older system.
And that's really about it.
This car doesn't have too many audio sources.
One thing it actually lacks is any sort of online music sources or online search for the navigation system.
Again, this is an older system.
It's a little bit primitive that way.
Music's playing through a Bose Audio System here.
And I like the sound of this system.
It's got lot of good bass.
So, when I'm playing, you know, like bass-heavy tracks, really thumping music, I can almost feel it coming through the doors and, you know, through my abdomen.
It's a-- it's a nice feeling when you like that kind of thing.
On the console here, I have my shifter.
That's for a seven-speed automatic transmission.
That's standard.
And really, your only choice in this Q60 coupe Journey model.
If you get the Sport model, you get a six-speed manual transmission.
Some people might prefer that for a more sporty
drive, more fun.
This one's okay.
It's a torque converter transmission, so not as quick to shift as some of them can be.
I also-- with this transmission, I have these big paddle shifters on the steering column.
And a lot of cars, you get the paddles mounted on the steering wheel.
So, if you turn the wheel, the paddle's gonna go with it.
Here, you always kinda know where they are in relation to the wheel.
You know, it's kinda fun.
You could maybe brag to your friends about it.
Now, let's take this car on the road.
Really good to get behind the wheel of a really performance car.
Again,
it's been a little while, and I feel this car is great.
The whole suspension, steering and all that feels really nice and tight.
Also, that VQ engine, it has a really good response.
They deliver just really good linear power.
And the engine makes a really good sound 'cause even just normal Drive mode on the transmission, you can get this nice like roar out of it by stepping to it.
Now, the thing about the manual shift into this car is the shifts are just a little bit slow.
I mean, this is a torque converter transmission.
So,
you know, there's a little bit of hesitation.
It's not quite as snappy as, say, with the dual-clutch automatic transmission.
I think the Sport program actually is a little more satisfying to use if you're really hammering this car through the corners.
One thing also interesting here is I believe this is one of the few cars these days you can get with hydraulic power steering.
That has a nice heft to it.
I mean, this steering has a really nice heft to it.
Sort of an old-school feeling.
But it doesn't have that really precision that electric power steering can have and some of the better-tuned ones do
have these days.
And that's-- on fuel economy, this car gets 19 miles via on city, 27 miles per gallon highway.
Those are okay numbers.
Twenty-seven is really pretty nice.
And I think realistically, you're probably talking about low 20s.
So, you sort of have to expect that.
This is not a super fuel economy type of car.
Okay.
Base price for 2014 Infiniti Q60 is $40,400.
Now, in Journey trim, we have the Premium package $3,250.
That brings in the Bose Audio System and the sun roof.
We also have Navigation, $1,850.
Now, in Journey trim, Infiniti sort of forces those options on you.
You don't really have a choice about those.
But we also have the Sport package here.
That's $1,950.
That's an option-- brings a 19-inch wheels, sport-tuned suspension, and then a limited slip differential.
Those are nice things to have.
That's kind of a bargain at that price.
We also have the Technology package on this car.
That's $1,250.
That gives
us adaptive cruise control, and the sort of advanced climate control system Infiniti does.
Not sure about that last bit.
But adaptive cruise control is nice to have.
All in, we're at $50,205.
Not bad for a sort of old-school fully-loaded sport luxury car.
