The new QX50 with designer Alfonso Albaisa during the crossover's debut earlier this year.
At times, the auto industry has at least one thing in common with baseball: you can’t tell the players apart without a scorecard. That’s especially true with Infiniti, the Japanese automaker sowing plenty of confusion when it decided to rename familiar products like the old G and JX lines.
It’s hard to tell whether that’s the reason why sales of the Infiniti EX stumbled to a virtual halt after it was renamed the QX50 for 2014. Perhaps it was simply the result of a once-popular product growing old in hotly competitive segment. Whatever the reason, the luxury arm of Nissan Motor Co. is hoping to kick-start the crossover’s momentum with a modest, but much-needed refresh for the 2016 model-year.
The basic shape will immediately be familiar. Like the bigger Infiniti FX, the EX was one of the first crossover-utility vehicles to stop trying to pretend it was a classic SUV, instead putting an emphasis on styling, features and on-road manners. That part hasn’t changed. During a trip to San Diego to try out the 2016 Infiniti Qx50, off-road capabilities didn’t even merit a footnote.
The update comes rather late in life for this CUV. Indeed, we’re going to see a complete remake of the QX50 in less than two years. But the 2016 model delivers just enough that’s new to make it worth paying attention to once more. And it maintains some of those features that originally put it on the map, including its 325-horsepower V-6.
Details like the new 2016 Infiniti QX50's grille hint at the shape of things to come for the brand.
“It put the idea of sport into the sporty-utility vehicle,” said Infiniti product planning chief Keith St. Clair, during a background session on the new QX50.
(Nissan uncovers 2016 Altima. Click Here for more.)
A quick glance at the 2016 Infiniti QX50 reveals a revised, double-arch grille, new LEF fog and daytime running lights, and a few other tweaks to the face of the crossover hinting at with where things will go on other new Infiniti models now in the pipeline. Other styling tweaks include new door mirrors with LED turn lamps and a modified rear valence.
Surprisingly, the bigger changes might not be noticed at first. And bigger is the right word, as the 2016 model grows 4.5 inches, bumper-to-bumper, while the wheelbase has been stretched 3.2 inches. It’s also nearly one inch taller. The good news is that this results in about 4.3 more inches of rear legroom.
The cargo capacity holds at the original 18.6 cubic feet – with the seats up. But you get 2.7 cf more space with the seats down than in the 2015 Infiniti QX50. Oh, and it’s now easier to get there with a first-in-segment power-fold split rear seat.
Slip inside and you get the feeling more of being inside a sports sedan than a sport-ute – other than the obvious “command seating” position.
The 2016 QX50 grows 4.5 inches.
One of the ways Infiniti hopes to lure buyers back for the new QX50 is by upping the list of standard features – while also expanding the range of options. Even in the base model, you’ll get standard leather seating, heated up front, a sunroof and dual climate control. Along with the optional Around View Monitor – which provides a 360-degree, simulated birds-eye image — there’s now moving object detection, to catch a child on a bicycle, for example.
The available Safety Shield tech package adds an assortment of other desirable features, such as lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning and active cruise control, at a surprisingly reasonable price.
There are even some of those “why didn’t I think of that” features, like a coat hanger built into the back of the front headrests in QX50 Touring models.
(Honda shows off production model 2016 Civic. Click Hereto check it out.)
The carryover 3.7-liter V-6 makes, as mentioned 325-hp and 267 pound-feet of torque. That’s pumped through a 7-speed automatic. The 2016 Infiniti QX50 is one of the few front-engine rear-drive models in its segment. But you also can opt for a rear-biased all-wheel-drive package. If needed, up to 50% of that torque can be directed to the front wheels.
The 2016 Infiniti QX50 gets a more refined look to its interior - and standard leather seats.
We had a chance to test out the updated QX during a long and circuitous route out from San Diego and up to the quaint mountain town of Julian, these days best known for its local pie shops.
The crossover definitely does have more of a confidently sporty manner than most of its competitors. And Infiniti engineers have done a nice job of firming up the steering just enough to give you a solid road feel. But it requires little effort to maneuver in traffic or in a California traffic jam.
Cornering is confident, albeit not quite in a league with, say, a Nissan Maxima. But it’s definitely more sporty than either the new Lexus NX – and far more appealing to the eye – or the Acura RDX.
The engine deliver’s power on demand, with little lag from the V-6. Fuel economy is good, if not benchmark, at 17 mpg City, 24 Highway and 20 Combined, according to the EPA.
We found a few niggling annoyances, like the hard-to-read digital display in the center of the instrument cluster. And the infotainment system, while updated from the 2015 model, is still a bit out of date.
A pet peeve isn’t unique to the QX50, but it deserves mention, nonetheless. All those new digital safety systems are designed to alert a driver when they drift out of their lane, for example, or attempt to turn with another vehicle in the blind spot. But the result can be a cacophony of beeps and buzzes that might confuse, as much as alert. Infiniti and other makers might take a cue from Porsche which has adopted a very natural buzz for its lane departure warning that sounds much like rolling over a rumble strip.
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the 2016 Infiniti QX50 is its price, starting at $34,450 – before destination fees – for the rear-drive model, and $35,850 for the base all-wheel-drive model. That’s about $550 less than the 2015 before factoring in nearly $2,000 of new standard equipment. There are a number of different option packages and step-up grades, but a loaded model tops out at $38,350.
That alone should make a bit of a statement in this crowded segment. The 2016 Infiniti QX50 isn’t the newest and hottest, but the updates make it worth paying attention to it.
(Click Here for a first look at the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup.)