A car that’s made for the Paddock Club
It’s easy to see why this hybrid has been so highly lauded
Following motor sport around hands you a mixed bag.
One week you’re at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park eating campfire macaroni and cheese right out of the pot and sleeping in your truck.
The next you’re at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, sipping expensive champagne at the Formula One Paddock Club in between sleeps at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth.
Both experiences have their merits, but I don’t know very many people who wouldn’t take the latter, given the option.
It was as a guest of Infiniti Canada that I had my first glimpse of how the other half lives at a Formula One race: from atop the garages in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing suite where you are served gourmet food and adult beverages (including a limitless supply of Red Bull, of course), you have unparalleled access to the paddock where you can rub elbows with celebrities and the sport’s elite.
And while many of the people around me that weekend would have flown to Montreal in their private jets, I carried on my high-life theme via luxurious transportation of a different kind: behind the wheel of the Infiniti Q50 Hybrid.
This car was highly lauded when it came out a couple of years ago, and after enjoying a long drive in it myself I find it easy to see why.
Some hybrids make sacrifices in power output or torque delivery in the name of efficiency, but the Q50 Hybrid doesn’t suffer from those issues in the slightest. It’s just an all-around great car, full stop.
The drivetrain uses the 67 horsepower electric motor for an instant hit of acceleration and then lets the 302 HP 3.5 L V6 take over. The result is a smooth and comfortable yet very quick pull off the line.
The seven-speed automatic transmission is well-calibrated, too. Apart from a bit of body roll and an occasional blip at low throttle when the car seemed indecisive on which motor to use, I had no complaints about drive feel whatsoever and at times forgot I was in a hybrid at all.
In terms of fuel efficiency, I averaged 8.6 L/100 km in the five days I had the Q50 and almost all of the driving I did was on the highway where hybrid technology doesn’t exactly shine.
Given the car’s size and my driving style I thought this number was acceptable, and it probably could have been much better if I’d worked at it a little more.
The all-wheel drive system really saved my bacon at one point on the drive home. It was late, it was dark, it was pouring down rain, and I drifted into a patch of loose gravel on the edge of my lane. In a single-axle-drive car, I would have had a fight on my hands.
But the AWD system kicked in so well that the only reason I noticed I was in strife was because I was paying attention. I felt a very real sense of security after that.
But the highlight of the Q50 for me was the comfort level. I think I found myself shifting around maybe once in each of the six-hour stretches to and from Montreal, and a slight seat adjustment fixed the issue each time.
The interior material is a pleasant, soft leather — not the most buttery of all time but at an MSRP of $49,500 you’re getting what you’re paying for.
And I’ll be dreaming about that infotainment system for weeks. I loved that the dual-screen Infiniti InTouch system allowed me to view a full map on top and a highly detailed multimedia display on the bottom, both on large, responsive touch screens.
There’s a catch, of course. It came to light through chatting with Infiniti executives during the weekend that three new powertrains are being added to the Q50 lineup next year — none of them is a hybrid, but one of them will house a power output of more than 400 HP, putting it above the 360 HP output of the hybrid that’s currently the Q50’s top offering. A new version of Infiniti’s driveby-wire direct adaptive steering will be arriving at the same time.
Were I in the market for one of these but able to hold out for awhile, I’d probably wait to explore that wider range of options before buying.
Formula One cars have employed hybrid engines since the beginning of last season, of course, and that’s a fact that many automakers, Infiniti included, love to tout when discussing their connections with the sport.
But it doesn’t take much digging to realize that Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s engines are built by another auto- maker, Renault. So, you’re ready to call bull on the idea that Infiniti’s connection to F1 is anything more than sponsorship, right?
I was, too. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner set me straight. “For us as an independent team, what it enabled us to do was lock into Infiniti with the huge depth of R&D resources that Infiniti has,” Horner explained. “Having that linkage to look at the future in technologies, material science, vehicle dynamics within the Infiniti group is something that Ferrari has available to it through its road car division, and Mercedes and McLaren. It’s an advantage for sure and enables us to compete shoulder-to-shoulder with those guys in those areas.”
I stand corrected. It turns out that having Infiniti connected with Red Bull Racing in Formula One means both sides see significant benefits: the team gets access to massive amounts of road car R&D data, and Infiniti not only gets motorsport R&D input in return but also an association with the glamour of one of the most popular sports in the world. Stephanie Wallcraft is a frequent contributor to Toronto Star Wheels. For more automotive news, go to thestar.com/autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: