2018 Infiniti QX80: Sweetening the deal
When a manufacturer invites a bunch of journalists to a press event in order to drive one of its vehicles, there’s usually a lot to talk about. The car or truck is redesigned from the ground up or at least boasts new sheetmetal, new powertrains and new technology. In some cases, the vehicle could have received some minor changes here and there, but is quoted as being “all new.”
One such example is the 2018 Infiniti QX80. Once we get past the redesigned front fascia, we quickly realise that from a design standpoint—inside and out—this year’s edition hasn’t changed much.
The QX80 has been around in its current form since the 2011 model year. At the time, it was called the QX56, but got rebadged for 2014 when all of the brand’s vehicles were hierarchically renamed while embracing the letter Q.
So its overall design is still the same, but the QX80 received a new front-end treatment with reshaped grille and now-standard, adaptive LED headlights. The big SUV now looks more like the brand’s other products and less like a somnolent sumo wrestler. That’s our opinion of course, but we never met anyone who actually found the previous QX80’S face attractive.
There are some other exterior changes, such as more chrome trim all around, new-design 20and 22-inch alloy wheels as well as a new Champagne Quartz paint colour that replaces last year’s Dakar Bronze.
The cockpit receives higherquality materials with quilted leather on the doors and seats, piping and wood trim. The upholstery is said to be stain-resistant, which means denim jeans aren’t supposed to leave their mark on the cowhide.
Rear-seat passengers get treated to a new entertainment system—standard in every Qx80—that includes dual higher-resolution, eight-inch screens (up one inch in diameter) and three more USB ports so everyone can keep their portable devices fully charged.
Infiniti claims improved sound insulation, which is hard to validate without driving a 2017 model and a 2018 back-toback on the same roads. At slow speeds, there’s a faint driveline drone that seems to disappear once we reach a higher velocity, but otherwise, the QX80’S cabin is indeed quiet.
The 2018 Infiniti QX80’S powertrain is unchanged. The 5.6-litre V8 still develops 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque, managed by a sevenspeed automatic transmission which sends all that muscle through a four-wheel drive system.
End of the day, the Infiniti is a comfortable, spacious and capable full-size rig that gets small improvements in the right places, and boasts a good reputation for reliability—it’s now built in Japan, too. It’s far from being “all-new” and may not shake things up in the large luxury SUV segment, but to keep selling at the current pace, these improvements may be enough for now.