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The QX 56.
Infinity's luxury school bus, is now the QX 80, as they, like many other car makers, go through a name change to go from one confusing sort of nomenclature to another.
Anyway, let's drive their big boy, a nice comfortable day on the road.
As we drive the QX 80, check this out.
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I recall when they launched this model.
I think it was the New York Auto Show five years ago.
It continues on now as the QX80 with still this big, bulbous nose and kinda sad, saggy ****.
But I'll give it to them, they have sharpened up the face with the Infinity grill and better looking lights and such.
It's not to me an attractive vehicle, but that's my opinion.
It is very luxurious, and it dashingly makes a statement.
Inside Infiniti argues it's got seating for eight adults if you get the optional second row bench.
We don't have that.
I'd say it's seating for five adults and three of their kids.
But I will give them credit, it's one of the roomiest third rows out.
There.
64,000 is base, rear wheel drive, then add another 3,000 plus for all wheel drive, 2,400 for a rear seat theater system I would pass on all day long.
2100 gets you one basket of adaptive driver assist and then another 5500 gets you this really big, more deluxe package.
It gives you the rest of driver assist.
I'm kind of annoyed by how they tease those two apart, even more annoying is that deluxe tech package requires a $2500 tire and wheel package.
Is now all in worth about $80,000 grand.
Let's see what you get.
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Now, inside this big luxurious school bus is actually not much in the way of tech head lines.
This is a lot of familiar, Infiniti head unit tech we're seen for a couple of years now.
Quick refresh, you've got a hard drive based navigation system.
I find the display to be a little childish, but it's functional to say the least.
You have voice command on this that is very quick, but it does not take an entire address as a phrase.
And of course, there's no connectivity to this navigation system, so you have to already know the address.
There's no discovery here.
So it's starting to feel rather dated.
And as far as interface, you've got this 7-inch screen, touch of course on it, or you've got the Infiniti controller with roll, kick, and click.
Camera button over here calls up the fact that we have surround view camera on here, that's also standard, and it'll trigger automatically if it detects, for example, a pedestrian walking as you're at an intersection or just creeping at low speed.
For drive controls you have no paddles on this car.
It tells you a little bit about it's mission.
It's luxurious.
Here's your shifter for the one choice only seven speed automatic, very conventional stuff.
And here's the most amazing thing in the entire cabin.
You'll poke and stab at this chrome button trying to figure out what it does, until you realize it's a placeholder.
For the optional four wheel drive control.
The interim panel on this vehicle has yet to go with the new trend of a full LCD.
You still have the fully rendered but traditional analog gauges and and real crunching monochrome LCD in the middle.
You're really not missing any of your modern mainstream digital media screen.
Sources from broadcast radio to satellite.
You still have a disc player here, audio and DVD.
We have a DVD rear seat system, and of course, you've got iPod connectivity through a USB jack and Bluetooth streaming.
All the major hits are there, but you see what's missing?
There are no streaming apps that are supported here natively in the head units.
You can be streaming Pandora on your phone for example, but that's just going to be a Bluetooth or AUX connection.
BOSE audio is standard, BOSE audio is surround and more speakers is optional.
Now up here in the engine room of the FS QX 80, we've got a 5.6.
Six liter V-8, that's the only engine that comes in these.
Made it up as I mentioned that seven speed automatic.
Rear wheel drive is base, all wheel drive obviously is available on these vehicles.
You're looking at 400 horsepower, 413 pound feet of torque, for a vehicle that weighs nearly six.
6000 pounds.
Still gets up to 60 in the low sevens range, though.
The MPG is where you pay the piper, obviously.
14/20 is your rating.
For something with this profile and weight, that really means 14, is my hunch.
Okay, look, I kid the QX80 a lot, but I'll give it one thing.
It drives much.
Lighter than it reads.
There's no 6000 pound feeling on this vehicle, I'm happy to say.
And of course everything is super smooth and rather heavily assisted.
The fact that you don't see any paddles up here on the wheel, no sport mode over here.
It tells you this car is meant to be driven, lowercase.
Now we have this optional body control suspension.
which is basically an air suspension that tries to combat lifting in a corner, like I'm doing now.
Seems to work pretty well.
I expected this thing to keel over a lot more than it does.
It stays pretty upright.
The ride's very cush as you can imagine and everything's very quiet.
Now in the Infiniti way you've got just about every flavor of adaptive driver assist on this vehicle.
One thing that's missing that they do make is their steer by wire technology.
It's not here yet, maybe in a future refresh.
And the lane departure, by the way, is active using the all breaking basically.
It'll break an opposite wheel to kinda drag you back into your lane.
Big, lush, roomy, isolated.
Its Japans Escalade.
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