Infiniti QX30 Sport

Stellar drivetrain. Beautiful interior. Great sound system. Significant ergonomic design failures ruin the experience – The 2019 Infiniti QX30 is an interesting car. You can love it and hate it at the same time. It has some fantastic good points but suffers from major downsides. So here’s the paragraph summary right now. Stellar Mercedes Benz engine and transmission. Beautiful interior. Fantastic Bose sound system. Advanced safety features. 360deg camera is a treat. Very ‘designed’. Great AWD grip. Decent boot space. Woeful headroom and rear legroom. Overly complex to use. Driving position and forward visibility heavily compromised by poor headroom (sunroof model driven) and pedal position (brake pedal too high relative to the accelerator). So so, “organic” curvy exterior styling won’t be to everyone’s liking. It would be compelling if not for the fact that you should be able get other cars that tick most of the boxes without the significant drawbacks. I could never spend my own money on one.

Back to the full review…

I had this car as work rental for six months with fuel paid for and it never needing a service in that time.

The QX30 offers a lot of first impressions, then keeps on offering them as you explore it. Getting in you quickly notice the leather, the sunroof, the more electronic style shifter, the circular control dial, the Bose stereo… the list goes on. Straight away you know you are in a fancy luxury car, a notion affirmed by the many detailed and advanced design features. This car is intended to offer more than function.

Setting off you expect a rocker switch electronic handbrake in the centre console but instead have a pull switch (think of a bonnet release) under the dash, a position and style that reminds of the ’88 XF Falcon we grew up in. Personally I think you should pull the switch to put the handbrake on and push to release, but it’s the other way around. The first ergonomic and design oddity.

At the end of the first drive the 360degree camera presents itself (it really is fabulous) and its time to get acquainted. I like my cars to be ergonomically comfortable, familiar and quick to learn. That doesn’t mean I like cars simple, but that a high end car should still be tamed with the honest realisation that people still need to actually use it. Some cars you sit in for ten to twenty minutes and you can completely know your way around them. The QX30 is not such car.

The leading edge of the roofline is too low and too close to the driver’s head. Adjusting the seat down to counteract it will only leave you with a seat too low and it being hard to see out. It’s an annoyance and takes away from the comfort. The models without the sunroof should be much better, thought the sunroof itself it quite expansive and cool because of it. Other reviewers have said you can take your foot off the accelerator and almost slide it under the brake, and that’s certainly true. It takes a significant lift of the foot to get it back over the brake, not something you want in an emergency.

There’s a lot of screens, buttons and menus with some features only realised over a lot of time, reading or talking to someone already familiar with the car. The quantity of electronic seat adjustments comes across as over the top and controller would be better on the seat than the door. The sound system is very, very good giving clear highs and punchy bass from the small subwoofer. It’s a real joy to listen to.

And what about the drive?

It’s powered by a Mercedes Benz 2.0L petrol turbo developing 155kW and 350Nm paired a seven speed twin clutch auto driven through all four wheels. Pushing around 1500kg the QX30 has ran 7.4s 0-100 on the Performance Drive youTube channel. It’s very brisk and it has the traction to get the power down. The close ratios and solid acceleration don’t give you time to know how fast you’re going on wide open throttle, such are the speed and frequency of the gear changes. First gets you to 50kph, 2nd gets you 70kph and 3rd to around 100kph. Once you know that and get familiar with the sounds you’ve got a pretty good handle on knowing your speed when going.

In sport mode, the transmission is snappy, being keen to downshift. As such you can never appreciate the meaty and meaningful low down torque as the transmission is always keeping the engine accessing near to it’s power potential. Put it in economy mode and it opts to hang on to low gears where you can hear the turbo spool up at a fairly low RPM. Unfortunately the transmission doesn’t remember the last setting and you need to change it manually on every start. Likewise for the auto start-top. So the drivetrain is fun, but to the extent the car can be hard to relax in as the engine is always inviting you to play.

This is the first twin clutch auto I’ve driven. It’s super quick to change and pretty smooth at doing so. Jerkiness was almost unheard of but you can trick the transmission into preselecting the next downshift and catch it out when you call for an upshift instead (not a fast manoeuvre). The twin clutch auto is my auto of choice for sporty driving in a sporty car (then a traditional auto, then a CVT) though for ‘normal’ driving the type of auto doesn’t so much matter.

The steering is good, surely with thanks to the grippy low profile tyres. While the QX30 had a higher ride height than the Q30, it’s not an SUV, it is a jacked up hatch. I’d describe the handling as sporty without hitting the sports car or sports model level. Ride and comfort are good (ergonomics aside).

Anything else? The boot space is good but the rear legroom is too tight for this to be a contender as a family car. The radar cruise control is quite good

How to summarise when I’ve already done that?

I can add that I had mixed feelings when it was time to part - that I would miss the specialness of the car but I longed for the pure comfort of something more ergonomic and normal. This car is like a nice leather jacket but one size too small and having no pockets. It’s got a lot of cool but the pocket decision is crazy and the you’re always aware of the annoyance of it’s ‘poor fit’.

Overall, while great to experience I would never spend my own money on one. Even at a heavily discounted rate or after an oversized depreciation hit.