2014 INFINITI QX60 User Reviews

Sheep In Wolf's Clothing.. —

//Infiniti QX60 2WD w/ the Premium Package, Nav, Theater, Driver Awareness, etc. Bottom Line: The QX60 is a great people and thing hauler, especially for long trips in straight lines. If you want stylish, comfortable transportation that returns decent gas mileage, the you will be very happy with the QX60. BUT...If you've ever driven a sporting vehicle in a spirited manner, the powertrain and handling of the QX60 will annoy the daylights out of you. // Anyway, we decided to lease a fully loaded QX60 after months and months of test driving. Every. Single. Competitor. Some, twice. We traded in our 2011 Acura MDX that we loved, but had outgrown and as well, the fuel economy became unacceptable (14.5 MPG city). //The engineering of the QX60 is a bit of an enigma. I've declared my love and hate of this vehicle on the same drive. It is decidedly un-Infiniti like en toto, most apparent in the general handling characteristics. I'm baffled by how my G37S was so good overall and the QX60 is so not (I get that it's based on the Pathfinder, but seriously?). Ultimately, we felt the QX60 sucked the least of every SUV between $40K and $65K, so that's that. //Anyway - the good: We like the interior very much (assuming premium pkg). Nice materials, quality leather, wood accents, etc. They did leave some of the cheap, hard Nissan plastic in place on the dash, steering wheel surround and doors, but it isn't too terrible. Also, this car seats six adults quite comfortably and still has room for some luggage. My only seating complaint concerns the front seat adjustability and its limited seat bottom tilt travel. I find the seating position very flat and not all that comfortable, but still livable. MPG so far has been a legit 25 Hwy (~75 MPH), 18.5 Urban (20 MPH), although running anything but premium results in a significant dip in MPG (from 18.5 to 15.5 urban). Ouch! //Power - adequate. Fine for merging, better then average at hwy speeds for passing. A bit more engine noise (than would be expected) is present when accelerating - tied somewhat to the CVT's logic. //Tech - Infiniti does a great job integrating phones via BT or an adapter. The navigation actually responds to voice commands well, unlike our '11 MDX which refused to acknowledge my wife's voice. I have to comment on the Bose 15-speaker stereo. Not blown away. Our '11 MDX's ELS system was markedly better both in flatness of response, imaging and sound-stage. I don't know how many more speakers Bose needs to get it right, but apparently 15 isn't enough. //What sucks. Handling, handling, handling. '15 MDX crushes the QX60 in this department (but we hated everything else about the new MDX). A $57K "S" UV should not squat, dive or plow like a '76 Plymouth Volare station wagon, especially when the highway ride is still on the firm side. Granted, we have the 20" rims (with lower profile tires), but seriously, they couldn't have gotten it more incorrect if they'd tried. The QX60 under-steers at 15 mph (I didn't even know that was possible). It is. //Continuously variable transmission (CVT). A simple 7 or 8-speed auto would have been JUST fine. When depressing the accelerator on a normal auto tranny, the engine winds up and I control the rate of engine acceleration by the angle of pedal depression. Not so on the CVT. IT decides when I've had enough acceleration and begins to wind the engine down at its own discretion. If I want linear accel., I must feed additional pedal in to maintain the same rate. I'm annoyed just describing the process. //Visibility. Not good. The four corners of the '60 are hard to visualize making parking or merging or turning interesting. Get the driver alert package (or whatever it's called) to make up for the B, C, D pillar or head-rest sourced blind spots. You'll need it.

Primary Use: Family transportation