Premium all wheel drive. What is it – Infiniti QX80?

I'd be lying if I said I didn’t feel “superior” when switching to a big prestige car like the Infiniti QX80 I had for a long test. Why not evaluate a real male “toy”!?

Why buy big cars at all? It's no secret that recently this is one of the indicators of the status of its owner, firstly. Secondly, this is the comfort of movement, because in traffic and in traffic jams, some of those who can afford such a car spend more time than in the office or at home. Thirdly, no matter how trite, the cross-country ability is not off-road, but quite “road” itself, when the road builders did not cope or did not want to, but it is necessary to pass.

Infiniti has always been distinguished by its own way of looking at the world and producing cars. I went to many of them, and they all fell in love with themselves with something – some little things, details and sensations. The only wonder I couldn't look at was the QX56. I'm sorry, but this was the worst creation of the brand.

Another thing is the QX80, which lived up to the expectations of a truly large car with an Infiniti nameplate. It is severe, individual, stylish and even beautiful. At least for me. And it turned out to be very good in operation. Although… there were also disadvantages that you simply do not expect from such a brand.

These disadvantages are individual – they are exclusively tactile and visual: a small multimedia screen, inexpensive plastic feels, some incomprehensible old-school kitsch with a CD-changer of the “zero” era. That is, there is no expected “luxury” in every detail that you expect from the QX80.

You forgive Phoenix everything as soon as you start from the spot. There is not enough “American” roar, because under the hood is a 5.6-liter gasoline aspirated engine with a capacity of 405 hp, which accelerates a truly large and heavy car to hundreds in 7.5 seconds. But further questions arise again.

At high speeds, when you need to “shoot” right here and now, a sharp press on the gas pedal makes the car think, and then, as if reluctantly, start accelerating and entering overtaking mode. Not that it's bad, but you expect something completely different from a powerful monster than you have.

The fault, theoretically, is the electronics settings aimed at driving comfort and safety. That is, the car overtakes faster than many cocurrent basins, but it does it so “neatly” and “reluctantly” that it makes the hot driver feel sad.

But the brakes will please even skeptics – by pressing the pedal at high speed it seems that you will slow down to the nearest border, but the QX80 stops like an ordinary passenger car. Like a normal good car. True, the work of the brake pedal itself did not please – no feedback – only comfort, only silence in the cabin, and you don’t need to feel or understand something there.

When driving down secondary roads, you understand how well a huge car fits into all turns – you simply do not expect such briskness from such a size. And it’s somehow not scary that the steering wheel is completely empty and light – you just hold on to it, and don’t try to recognize the angle of rotation of the wheel or the type of coverage. Why does the liner need it!?

And you can drive off on the QX80 not only on secondary roads – all-wheel drive with a low gear seems to hint, but the aspirated locomotive traction is enough to gently drag the car along gullies even at a high one. A lowerer will be required, perhaps, to pull out a heavy yacht or truck from an ambush, if you want to help someone on the road.

The Infiniti QX80 is made up of contradictions. This has already become clear from some of the aspects described above, and I will add suspension work. On good asphalt, the suspension settings are ideal – the car does not heel, does not dive, but as soon as you move onto a broken road, the shock absorbers seem to oppose the very desire of the driver to drive along “this”, which the road builders called asphalt – unpleasant stiffness appears.

On the off-road – on the contrary – the QX80 becomes unnecessarily imposing, as if trying to save passengers from unnecessary discomfort from overcoming rough terrain. Fortunately, a clearance of 234 mm is quite enough for this, and there is no place at all on the Finik timber truck – it was not made for that. He will simply pass where his driver needs, and not where bloggers hype, drowning cars for the cost of an apartment.

Naturally, the QX80 falls under the luxury tax, unless you are an official, for whom luxury = business necessity. But the consumption of a huge motor by modern standards pleased me – an honest 16 liters during normal driving, and if a little more active, then 18-20 per hundred.

It would be dishonest not to mention that for two rear passengers there are two screens in the headrests, a separate climate, heated seats of a very comfortable sofa, but if three of us need to drive on it, then the average passenger will not be comme il faut at all. QX is not a family bus at all for transporting children to schools, but even here it’s not so simple – a couple of button presses and the third row opens in a huge trunk. An adult can not accommodate there, but the children will be the most it…

Summing up the above, the Infiniti QX80 can be safely attributed to the class of “status” cars. Moving on it, I didn’t want to “push” anyone, but to miss the car waiting for the “window” – it becomes, as it were, even pleasant, and not just adequate behavior.

QX80 is not a rocket and not a “beha” for hotheads. The style may seem too pretentious to some or, conversely, too classic, but whoever likes it will definitely be satisfied. There are complaints about some points, but they are (probably) already fixed in the updated version. In any case, driving the QX80 is pleasant enough not to get tired of the two-hour drive… excuse me… creeping along Kutuzovsky Prospekt.

It begs a comparison with one of the direct competitors, for some reason considered a large SUV, although in stock it “rides” rather mediocrely. So… the QX80 is more pleasant to drive than that fellow in class and size.

Well, the “control in the head”… The Infiniti QX80 has the best work of the active cruise control system and the collision avoidance system. Believe me, I have seen and tried different things, but you can drive the QX80 without a cruise, but without touching the brake pedal – it will stop itself and is incredibly adequate. How this is possible in our crazy movement, I just do not understand.