Infiniti Q50 (2013 – 2020) Review

Nissan wanted to take on the might of the Germans in the small executive saloon sector – no easy task – and used its upscale Infiniti brand to do it. The Infiniti Q50 looked okay and had a Mercedes diesel engine, but up against the Audi A4 and the ever popular BMW 3 Series, it struggled to make any headway. Read on for our full Infiniti Q50 review.

Infiniti struggled to make an impact in the UK. The luxury brand was Nissan’s attempt to do what Toyota had done with Lexus. But show the average person on the street a picture of an Infiniti and they’re unlikely to recognise it. 

Not that Infiniti was aiming to be a mainstream brand – it was happy to carve out a niche. But even then it needed to sell cars, and the Infiniti Q50, a BMW 3 Series-size saloon, was the first step in that plan.

Given that Infiniti wanted to make an impact, it’s something of a surprise that the model is fairly generic in its design.

There’s more than a touch of Lexus at the front, while the back is reminiscent of the Mazda 6.

The brand claimed it wanted to be different from other premium marques when it came to styling, but the Infiniti Q50 is inoffensively ordinary.

As well as a Mercedes-supplied 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine, a hybrid model was available. There was also a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and 3.0-litre and 3.5-litre V6 petrols, plus the option of four-wheel drive.

You certainly could not accuse Infiniti of not offering a broad choice of engines, but curiously there was no estate in the line-up.

The Infiniti Q50 was a reasonable effort, and certainly an improvement on the Infiniti G Saloon it replaced, but there was little to make it stand out and nothing really to recommend it over its supremely talented competitors.

As a used car, it offers a lot for the money if you dare to be different.

Fancy a second opinion? Read heycar’s Infiniti Q50 review here.

The Infiniti Q50S Hybrid comes with Direct Adaptive Steering, which was the world’s first electronic steer-by-wire technology.

That means there’s no physical connection between the steering wheel and the steering rack (although there is a traditional column in place as a safety back-up in case the system fails).

The theory behind it is that by getting rid of the mechanical losses in a conventional system, the steering response is faster and vibration at the steering wheel becomes non-existent.

It sounds clever, but in practice it was no better than the standard steering system on the 2.2d, which lacks feel and response.

With Direct Adaptive Steering, you can alter both the weight of the steering and the responsiveness from light and casual to heavy and direct.

But the latter setting feels very strange for a saloon – almost too direct.

Opt for a middle setting and it’s better, although it still feels very artificial and doesn’t imbue you with the same confidence in corners as rival cars.

It’s an interesting system to play with, but you do question why Infiniti didn’t just make the standard steering set-up better in the first place, maybe by adding a sport setting. In short, it seems over-complicated.

Elsewhere, the Infiniti Q50 offers good control through corners, but this comes at a price. The ride is just too firm for it ever to settle on UK roads.

The earlier Infiniti G Saloon was hampered by the lack of a diesel engine, but Nissan didn’t make the same mistake with the Infiniti Q50, as it comes with a 2.2-litre diesel.

It’s actually a Mercedes unit that was used across a wide range of models, from the Mercedes SLK to the Mercedes ML-Class.

In the Infiniti Q50, it develops 170PS, but more impressively has 400Nm of torque, which peaks from just 1600rpm.

The other model in the Infiniti Q50 range at launch was the hybrid, which was available with four-wheel drive.

Powered by a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine combined with an electric motor, it was the quickest mainstream hybrid on the market at the time, managing 0-62mph in just 5.1 seconds.

It sounds genuinely sporty with a nice exhaust note and a strong V6 sound, but it doesn’t feel quite as quick as the figures suggest, although it’s no slouch.

The 3.0T V6 is also quick off the mark, but its thirst made it a rare sight on the UK’s roads. More commonly found, but still a rarity, is the 2.0T with its 214PS four-cylinder motor.

It should be a good balance between performance and economy, but it just feels a bit flat to drive and needs to be worked too hard too much of the time.

When the Infiniti Q50 was crash-tested by Euro NCAP, it scored the full five-star rating.

This was thanks to equipment that included six airbags, ESP traction and stability control, a speed limiter, ABS anti-lock brakes and Isofix mounts in the back for child seats.

There’s also a tyre pressure monitoring system on all models, plus you could upgrade with the optional Safety Shield Pack.

This added intelligent cruise control, lane departure warning and lane departure prevention, blind spot warning and blind spot intervention, forward emergency braking and predictive forward collision warning. Plus automatics also got distance control assist and back-up collision intervention.

Find a used model with this fitted and it will be on a par safety-wise with the latest small luxury cars.

Not the most obvious candidate for towing work, the Infiniti Q50 makes a decent fist of it by being able to pull up to 750kg with an unbraked trailer.

Go for a braked trailer and you can hitch up to 1500kg.

The Infiniti Q50 was up against some of the best cars in the world, so it really needed to be exceptional to make an impact.

Mostly it wasn’t, but one area where it did prove competitive was in the amount of cabin space it offered.

As a used car, it still stacks up as a roomy small family saloon thanks to rear seats with plenty of space for kids and adults. Headroom may be tight for the tallest adults, but most will be perfectly happy in the back.

There’s a large boot, especially in the non-hybrid models, which offer a very generous 500 litres of carrying capacity.

The rear seats split 60-40 to tumble forwards for extra space, and even the hybrid finds 400 litres of luggage capacity (although it does without the split-fold rear seat).

Up front, there’s loads of room for the driver, and the driving position can also be adapted to suit all shapes and sizes.

But the centre console is bit scattergun in its design, and not the easiest to work out at a glance.

The Infiniti Q50 is fairly ordinary inside. There’s no doubting the quality, nor the attention to detail in the finish, but it lacks personality.

There are no special touches or neat features that mark it out from the competition. And it doesn’t feel particularly modern or stylish, especially if you compare it to a Lexus IS or BMW 3 Series of the same period.

The touchscreen control – called InTouch – is good and works like a smartphone, with similar controls and the ability to download apps.

You can even receive E-mails on the move thanks to a text-to-speech function, plus it can sync with your Google calendar.

The Infiniti Q50 offers a lot of car and equipment at keen prices, as values have dropped further than with most of its rivals.

That’s partly to do with the Infiniti brand no longer being on sale in the UK, and partly down to the car itself not cutting the mustard against some very tough competition.

Either way, you can bag a good-condition 10-year-old Infiniti Q50 with 70,000 miles on the clock and in Premium trim, fitted with the turbodiesel engine, for £7000.

Opt for the hybrid version, and you’ll need to find at least £14,000 for a car in a similar spec.

The standard petrol models are thin on the ground, and cost from around £10,500 for a 2.0T in good shape with a full service record.

Up to 65.7mpg combined economy was claimed for the turbodiesel version of the Infiniti Q50.

That seems impressive, but experience tells us you will be looking at a real-world 42mpg, which compares to about 52mpg in a BMW 320d.

The hybrid model has a 3.5 V6 petrol engine, so performance is brisk, but economy comes in at a claimed best of 45.6mpg. This is likely to be closer to the mid-30s in normal driving.

The 2.0T turbo petrol was touted as delivering 44.8mpg, but consumption in the low-30s is a much truer reflection of what you’ll see.

That same petrol delivers carbon dioxide emissions of 151g/km, so you’ll pay road tax of £240 for this model if registered prior to 1 April 2017.

All Infiniti Q50s put on the road after this will require the flat rate of £180 per annum.

The hybrid version emits 144g/km, so it’s hardly an eco standard bearer. Far better is the diesel with its 118g/km, which equates to road tax of £35 per year for pre-1 April 2017 models.

Servicing an Infiniti at a franchised Nissan dealer will be simple and not excessively expensive, and parts are still generally available.

Insurance falls into groups 39 to 46 (out of 50), which means the Infiniti Q50 is costly to get cover for, especially compared with almost all of its key rivals.

The entry-level Infiniti Q50 SE has 17-inch alloy wheels, a reversing camera, cruise control, electric windows all-round, rain-sensing wipers, cloth upholstery and keyless entry.

It also comes with a Drive Mode selector, Bluetooth connection, climate control, twin touchscreens of eight and seven inches in size, plus a 60-40 split and fold rear seat in all but the hybrid model.

Move to the Infiniti Q50 Premium and you gain leather upholstery, heated front seats and an auto-dimming rear view mirror.

At the top of the heap is the Infiniti Q50 Sport with its 19-inch alloy wheels, Direct Adaptive Steering, Active Lane Control, lowered sports suspension, paddle shifters behind the steering wheel for the gears, sports front seats and welcome lighting.

The Infiniti Q50S Hybrid had its own specification that included sports suspension and brakes, regenerative braking and an audible warning for driving at low speeds in EV mode.