Instrumented Test
The Q70 is the queen of Infiniti’s passenger-car fleet, a big sedan with a distinctive presence, two available wheelbases, gracious interior appointments, and respectable powertrain choices, including all-wheel drive and a hybrid. But in a segment chockablock with stimulating sports sedans, it rates as no more than an also-ran. So what’s the story?
The Q70 rolled into the 2015 model year with a freshening—revised front and rear fascias and the addition of the long-wheelbase version tested here—that moved it cosmetically closer to the smaller Q50. This is not a bad thing. Infiniti has done a good job creating a readily recognizable face for its offerings without resorting to excesses such as the Lexus spindle grille.
Inside the Q70—which debuted back in 2011 as the M37/M56—came tweaks to content and trim, including some very tasty white ash accents in our test car, relaxed-fit seats well suited to a dash from Atlanta to Abilene, and plenty of tech features. Our test car also packed $8350 in options, most devoted to making long treks more pleasant as well as more connected.
In an all-wheel-drive sedan weighing well over two tons, the Q70 and Q70L’s standard power source—a naturally aspirated 3.7-liter V-6—isn’t exactly breathtaking, but 330 horsepower isn’t milquetoast, either. The oversquare six likes to rev, and 5.6 seconds to 60 mph and a quarter-mile in 14.2 seconds at 100 mph is far from sluggish. Or you could upgrade to the 5.6-liter V-8 version of the Q70L and lop off nearly a second in both measures. Up to you.
But in a car pitted against some pretty fancy dancers from Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Mercedes, etc., the Q70’s dynamic scorecard only has a so-so total at the bottom. Formal test results are about what you’d expect of a mid-size family ride, rather than a flagship sedan. The Q70 logged 0.83 g on the skidpad, with a good amount of understeer. Stopping from 70 mph consumed 172 feet, and our test driver noted “moderate” fade.
On public roads, the Q70 gives a decent account of itself until you start to near its limits—say, at eight-tenths. At that point, there’s a little more up and down motion than we like to see in a fast sedan, there are occasional tiny tremors in the chassis, and we wish the car were equipped with shift paddles—waggling the gear lever fore and aft just isn’t satisfying.
On the other hand, the seven-speed automatic does a good job when left to its own devices, responding promptly to throttle and load demands. Ride quality is reasonably smooth, body roll is modest, and the stability of all-wheel drive—augmented by progressive and totally predictable understeer—makes the Q70 a reliable ally in moderately rapid motoring.
But whatever positive feelings one might entertain about the Q70’s dynamics are offset by the steering. Now, this isn’t a case similar to the Q50, however, which offers optional electric steer-by-wire technology, a system that has made few friends. But the Q70’s speed-sensitive hydraulic rack-and-pinion system is irritating at the first turn of the wheel, and the irritation doesn’t diminish as the miles pile up. If anything, it increases.
The system is described as speed-sensitive, but after the first couple of blocks the driver begins to wonder, “Sensitive to what speed?” Infiniti has programmed massive resistance into the system, a substitute for tactile information—which is absent—and the steering weights up the instant the driver turns the wheel more than a few degrees, even at parking-lot speeds. This is tedious in pretty much any driving environment.
Another source of irritation is the plethora of driver aids programmed into our test car, many of them optional, many of them capable of helping you pilot the car when its brain thinks you’re in peril. There are also all sorts of audible warnings—the driver keeps expecting to hear his mother’s voice saying, “You could put your eye out!” At least most of them can be silenced at the push of a button.
The Q70 has much to recommend it, but its shortcomings and annoyances are just too much to overcome for a car that not only trails the current crop of large luxury sedans but soon will have to battle new versions of many of them: a new Mercedes-Benz E-class, a new BMW 5-series, a new Jaguar XF, and a refreshed Audi A6 are on the way. We look forward to seeing where the Q70 goes in its next iteration, but this one stays in the also-ran column.
