Inside the Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD
Slip behind the wheel and the first impressions are positive. The seats are comfy and the driving position is good. The instruments are clear and easy to read. Overall visibility is pretty good for a modern car, too.
Look around the dashboard, though, and the Q50 starts to show its age. There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto available, while the dual-touchscreen centre console setup may have looked impressive in 2013 but is a bit small and fiddly six years later.
The climate control buttons have been shoved out either side of the lower screen, which means they’re not as easy to use as they should be, while other minor switchgear seems haphazard. The Volvo S60/V60 and Peugeot 508 have really moved the game on a long way from here.
On a positive note, the Q50 seems to have the most polite satnav in the world. It guides you as if you’re on some sort of quest (“In 400 metres, there is a roundabout. Take the second exit.”) rather than repeatedly barking instructions at you like most nav units, which makes it quite calming to follow.
Rear-seat passengers will be quite comfortable, at least if they are sitting in the outer seats. The middle seat is more of a narrow perch, and probably best avoided by anyone over three feet tall.
Driving the Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD
The Q50S is certainly a brisk performer, which is no surprise with 360hp under your right foot. It’s also nicely quiet, as befits an executive saloon, and gear changes from the seven-speed automatic transmission are smooth.
Most journeys will start in silence, with the electric motor taking control until either the battery runs out or you put your foot down a bit. Then the petrol engine takes over in what’s usually a smooth transition. In fact, if you’re not paying attention or have the radio on, you may not even notice.
You have to be very gentle on the accelerator to keep the Q50S in electric mode, even with a fully-charged battery. It takes practice and is really only useful in city traffic where you’re only trickling along in a queue anyway.
Even at motorway pace, this is a quiet car. The main noise we could hear as we bombed along Swiss motorways and A-roads was the rumble of the car’s winter tyres, which are mandatory in that part of the world at this time of year. On normal tyres back here in the UK, it would be even quieter.
In terms of ride and handling, the Q50S seems better suited to cruising than cornering. It’s smooth and comfortable, with ample reserves of power for overtaking, so you could easily rack up hundreds of miles in comfort along the motorway network.
When it comes to a windy road, however, the Q50S shows little real enthusiasm. It’s broadly comparable to an Audi A4 or Lexus IS, which are similarly lifeless, but not as enjoyable to drive as a BMW 3 Series or Alfa Romeo Giulia.
The all-wheel-drive system works on demand, so it’s a rear-wheel-drive car until sensors detect that the rear wheels are starting to slip. It can then send up to 50% of the drive to the front wheels as required. In practice, it means the car remains stable and composed, with no hint of the back end getting twitchy in cold and wet conditions, while the steering remains light but accurate.
Like most cars in this class, the Infiniti offers several drive modes (Standard, Eco, Snow and Sport, plus a personal mode where you can mix and match settings). Of these, we found it best to leave the car in Sport mode, even in minus-zero conditions. All the other modes restricted the throttle response too heavily, meaning you spent all your time pushing your foot flat to the floor just to keep up with traffic.
Summary
In isolation, the Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD is a very good car that you’d be quite happy to live with. Jumping in and driving for hundreds of miles at a time wouldn’t be a chore at all (apart from the so-so fuel consumption).
The Infiniti is quiet, comfortable and has plenty of performance. The hybrid system means that you can trundle around town in near-silence. There’s plenty of standard equipment in the top-spec model, albeit with some noticeable omissions.
The problem is that this market segment is one of the toughest around, and there are several alternatives that do most things better, although none of them can tick all of the boxes that the Q50S Hybrid AWD can. However, that makes this Infiniti a jack of all trades and master of none.
It’s also too expensive to buy and run compared to its rivals, particularly for fleet or company car buyers. At least the below-average residuals make it something of a used car bargain.
If you really need an executive hybrid saloon with all-wheel drive, or if you’re looking for a great-value used car rather than a new car, the Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD will do the job very well. For everyone else, you may be better off looking elsewhere.
Key specifications
Model as tested: Infiniti Q50S Sport Tech Hybrid AWD
Price (on-road): £50,195
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 plus 50kW electric motor
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 364 hp
Torque: 546 Nm
Top speed: 155 mph
0-60mph: 5.4 seconds
Fuel consumption (combined): 26.2 mpg (WLTP)
CO2 emissions: 190 g/km (NEDC)
Euro NCAP safety rating: 5 stars (2013)
