INFINITI Q60 RED SPORT
Part scarlet fervour, but steering misses the turn
Infinitely okay
FOLLOWING on from its underwhelming debut in turbo four-pot 2.0 GT guise late last year, Infiniti has thrown more coal into the Q60 coupe’s engine room in the form of a potent twin-turbo, direct-injected V6.
Driving the rear wheels, the Q60 Red Sport’s turbo six brings some much-needed excitement to the Q60 family, with strong low-end pull courtesy of a 475Nm peak torque figure that begins at just 1600rpm, and a linear power delivery maxing out at a segmentleading 298kw. That’s more than rivals BMW 440i and MERC-AMG C43 Coupe, and for way less coin.
Hooked up to a slick sevenspeeder, the only real downside of the Red Sport’s powertrain is the auto’s habit of self-upshifting 200rpm shy of the redline when in so-called manual mode.
It is quick, though. The Red Sport may tip the scales at 1784kg, but it dashes to 100km/ h in just 5.0 seconds – on par with a BMW 440i for acceleration.
Body control is excellent, despite the Red Sport’s heft, and you can chuck it into a corner with surprising aggression. But that’s offset by a fussy and jiggly secondary ride, the run-flat rubber likely part of the problem. Tyre roar is prominent too, despite noise-cancelling tech.
However a bigger black mark lies with the steering. Infiniti has added another steering mode relative to the all-electric steer-bywire set-up of its sedan sibling, the Q50 Red Sport, but even the Sport Plus setting that’s touted as the most natural still doesn’t deliver on tactility or feedback.
It’s sufficiently direct, and useful at filtering out the bad stuff like rack rattle and pothole jolts, but it excises much of the good stuff too. That makes it difficult to figure out how much grip remains at the front tyres when pushing hard, and ultimately spoils an otherwise competent RWD chassis.
Value, on the other hand, is an undeniably strong Red Sport trait. It may miss out on fancier gear like a head-up display and active cruise, but the 13-speaker Bose audio thumps out tunes, the powered and heated front seats are deep and comfortable, and soft-touch surfaces are abundant.
On balance, the Q60 Red Sport is far better resolved than the underwhelming four-pot that open sthe range. At $ 88,900, its price-to-performance quotient is exceptional, its big wheels and bodykit have more visual zing and it’s heaving at the seams eams with kit.
But Infiniti needs to redouble its efforts in the steeringng department if the Q60 Red Sport is to compete on an even footing with its Euro rivals – even the Lexus xus RC 350 steers better. We coulduld forgive the four-pot for being doughy, oughy, but dullard steering spoils the Red Sport. t.