Racing bull

3498cc V6, AWD, 359bhp, 403lb ft 41.5mpg, 159g/km CO2 0–62mph in 5.4secs, 155mph 1901kg £ £41,640/ £47,520 Total mileage 6210 Driver Andy Franklin Why it’s here Has Infniti fnally made a posh hybrid to rival Lexus’s eforts?

Time, then, to say goodbye to our Q50. And what better way to send it of than with a pilgrimage around some Infniti high points. Well, a good long drive from Red Bull Racing HQ in Milton Keynes to SpaFrancorchamps – scene of the Belgian GP.

For this purpose, I generously handed the keys over to Vijay Pattni, to get a second opinion on the Q50 as he attempted to rendezvous with Sebastian Vettel – don’t forget, the four-time F1 world champion partly developed the Q50 in his role as Infniti’s director of performance.

Unfortunately, Vijay was unable to collar Vettel at Spa (something about him being a bit busy driving an F1 car), but Vijay did reinforce my own fndings, reporting that Infniti’s 3-Series rival is a comfortable thing when you have 380 miles of schlepping to do, as well as being smooth, well-built and equipped with a defnite sense of engineering integrity. There’s a smidge of frmness, but for the most part it’s a nice, relaxing way to cover distance. Steering doesn’t kick back, either.

Vijay also spotted the confusing quality mix, most obvious in the disparity between the excellent bottom-centre touchscreen and slightly lower-rent top screen.

What Vijay – travelling solo – didn’t have an issue with was load capacity. But, for me, with two children, packing a boot which has already been largely commandeered by batteries for the hybrid system has, on occasion, been beyond me. You’d think there would be a better solution for hiding battery packs away. Under the foor, maybe?

Perhaps Infniti’s designers were too busy installing gadgets – the Q50 does come absolutely loaded, but as a result I don’t think it represents particularly good value – even the entry-level hybrid costs almost £40,000. And it’s not like we’ve saved on fuel – Infniti makes no great claims for economy, but we’ve failed to even reach the heady heights of 40mpg.

As a result this feels like an older hybrid now, not a cutting-edge car. There’s no plug-in option, in Eco mode it’s too sleepy and the most exciting bit of driving it is showing new passengers just how startlingly fast it is. And it is fast. In a slightly dull way.

But nothing’s fallen of in six months, the seats are great, it’s comfortable and relaxed and very Lexusy. But with better steering and handling. It’s a good car, but not an excellent one, not one I’ll yearn for when it’s gone, nor an especially memorable one. And that’s surely what Inifniti needs the Q50 to be.