Infiniti QX30
Hey good looking !
CCV drove the excellent Infiniti Q30 earlier in 2016. Based on the Mercedes Benz A Class, but designed in London & manufactured in Sunderland, the Q30 shares a common platform with the Mercedes Benz A Class, as part of the Renault-Nissan-Daimler alliance. But, whilst it does contain some of the same dash board switchgear & matches the overall shape of the Mercedes, Infiniti have altered just enough of the Q30 to make it stand on it’s own, adding some curves & lines unique to the Infiniti brand.
Crossover sales across pretty much every sector are unstoppable at the moment & with Mercedes launching their own beefed up A Class, the GLA, which is selling well in my locality, it wasn’t long before Infiniti did the same, launching their own crossover based on the Q30 & they’ve called it the QX30.
Nissan’s luxury arm may have been a little late coming to the party, but with UK sales in the first half of 2016 already exceeding those for all of 2015, they are catching up fast & the QX30 should aid their cause even further.
The Q30 is currently Infiniti’s first truly fleet car & comes with a variety of both petrol & diesel engines & with several models in the range. The QX30 though only comes with one 2.2-litre diesel, the 168bhp four-cylinder unit is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox & all-wheel drive & just two models. The Premium starting from £29,490 & the Premium Tech costing a substantial £33,370. This means that customers will have to pay around £2000 more for a like for like QX30 over a Q30 & don’t forget that the Q30 is also available with the fleet friendly tried & tested Nissan/Renault 1.5 diesel unit, with a combined fuel economy of 68.9 mpg & emissions of 108g/km. The 2.2 in the QX30 is not quite as frugal, achieving 57.7mpg on the combined cycle & emitting 134g/km of CO2.
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As far as looks go, the QX30 is a cracker & like the Mercedes GLA, it manages to tick all of the right boxes to appeal to the crossover market. Whilst the Q30 looks quite a bit different from the A-Class, the QX30 looks more like the GLA, which is not a bad thing. Design features include the curved rear window line seen in the Q30 as well as the sloping roofline also from the Q30, which when you sit in the back does mean that you lose a bit of headroom. Also, sitting in the back can feel a little claustrophobic because of the small rear window & the dark colours used to cover the interior headlining. Having said that, this seems to be a problem in the rear of almost all C sector cars today especially crossovers with another example being the Volvo V40 Cross Country. For those who need a bit of carrying space, the boot offers a useful 430 litres of storage space with the rear seats in place.
Like all Infiniti’s, the QX30 is well equipped, with my Premium model coming with a massive list of equipment. AWD, automatic air-con with dual zone climate control & rear vent centre console, Infiniti InTouch navigation system, satin chrome roof rails, forward collision warning & stop, rear parking sensors, Lane Departure Warning (LDW), 4-wheel Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD),Traction Control System (TCS) and Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), tyre pressure monitoring system with warning (TPMS), hill start assist, adaptive brake assist, electronic parking brake, 7 airbags (front driver and passenger, front hip-thorax side, front-to-rear curtain, driver’s knee), rain sensing wipers, auto dimming rear view mirror, auto dimming driver door mirror, heated windscreen washer jets, LED daytime running light & cruise control with speed limiter.
The outside’s not too shabby either with the Premium featuring automatic headlight activation, halogen headlights, LED front fog lamps & rear combination lights, black door mirrors with LED turning signal, heated & electrically adjustable exterior mirrors with power folding, puddle lamps on both door mirrors, dual rectangular chrome exhaust finishers & a black lacquer roof-side spoiler. Phew !
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On the road the QX30 drives really nicely, especially on the motorway where the larger 2.2 diesel unit is much more enjoyable when cruising or overtaking than the smaller 1.5 unit. I drove my test car through a serious rain storm around the M60 & the cabin is amazingly quiet, blocking out almost all of the noise from outside, which really impressed me. Furthermore, the drivers seat is a great place to be with Infiniti’s quality finishing evident on all of the buttons & switchgear, as well as the soft touch plastics used to finish the doors & the dashboard itself. Infiniti’s colour palette is also far more interesting than many other premium brands with liquid copper & chestnut bronze both catching the eye. In comparison, it certainly feels more upmarket inside than the GLA, just as the Q30 does compare to the A Class.
A combination of the quality finish coupled with the impressive equipment list, explains the relatively high cost of the QX30 & therein lies the problem. Like the Mercedes GLA you are basically paying more money for a ‘pimped up’ Q30. So, not only are SME fleet customers who want an Infiniti QX30 with the crossover look, being asked to pay more money for the privilege, but they will also have to pay more for both fuel & company car tax as well. Having said all that, the QX30 looks great, drives well & being an Infiniti will be incredibly reliable & comes backed up with one of the the best customer service experiences known to mankind.
At present, matching both BMW X1 & Audi’s Q3 may just be out of reach for Infiniti, but both Lexus & Mercedes should be worried, especially the latter, who have flooded the market with cheap leasing deals over the past 2 years & to my mind by doing this have reduced not increased the brands appeal. Infiniti are still climbing the hill & the QX30 whilst not perfect, is like the Q30, a very good effort from a franchise that will only get better.
A handsome 3/5.