Long-Term Test Drive: 2019 Infiniti QX50 Essential

Let me start off by saying that this post is long overdue. We've had this particular vehicle for almost two years now, but here I am just getting to it now. Better late than never?

I also want to preface this post by saying that I genuinely dislike CUVs with a passion. Why? It's simple:

1. The average driver does not actually need the extra height of a CUV. Unless you plan on taking it off road at some point, which the average CUV driver never will, YOU DON'T NEED THE EXTRA HEIGHT!
2. The extra height actually makes the car less efficient and more prone to flipping over
3. If you claim you want the extra cargo space, get a wagon or hatchback, which are infinitely cooler than these stupid things
4. The price premium CUVs carry over their sedan, wagon, and hatchback counterparts is often ridiculous considering the loss of efficiency.

But enough about my own personal biases towards these rolling wastes of space. What do I think about this particular vehicle here? Let me start with what I actually do like about the QX50. I find it to be one of the best looking vehicles in its class. Infiniti, despite all their current shortcomings, can still design a good looking car. The lines of the car all flow nicely into each other, and create a very cohesive and classy look. Of note is the high center line, that starts at the hood and actually flows all the way to the back of the car. Another nice design feature is the kink on the rear three-quarter panel. This design element fits nicely with the rear hatch design, and creates a visual cue that isn't disjointed like a lot of other CUVs out there. Lastly, the QX50 is one of the few Infiniti vehicles that actually pulls off that bull shark looking front end well. Considering this was a new vehicle design, it gave the designers and opportunity to design the car around the new corporate front end instead of tacking it on, thankfully.

Unfortunately, the way the car looks is really its only redeeming feature. Everything else is subpar, at best. Let's start with the biggest glaring flaw of the QX50: its packaging. This isn't just an issue with the QX50, but with the general Infiniti line up all together. Looking specifically at the QX50 though, it's a pretty glaring issue. Our particular QX50, the QX50 Essential, is the highest trim package available. Yet, despite it being the highest trim package with a starting MSRP of $45,500 in 2019, it is missing A LOT of features that its competition has as standard features. In fact, many of the missing features of the QX50 Essential come as standard equipment on lesser, non-luxury cars as well. Despite its price tag, the QX50 does not have as standard equipment: heated seats, memory seats, Android Auto/Apple CarPlay (which was remedied in the 2020 model year, thankfully), full driver assist package (the car does have radar cruise but no lane keep assist), LED headlights with adaptive lighting, wood trim. In order to add these items, you have to add a bunch of packages to the car, which can easily bring the MSRP beyond $50,000. Just as an example of how absurd the QX50's lack of equipment is, our 2016 Honda Accord Touring, which had an MSRP of about $35,500 at the time, has all of the missing bits from the QX50 as STANDARD equipment. To add insult to injury, my current 2020 Honda Civic Si has most of the same features as our old Accord (no memory seats or wood trim) at an MSRP of $25,000.

But enough about the QX50's lack of equipment. How does it drive? I will say that the 2.0 liter turbocharged inline-4 is actually quite good. It definitely provides some good mid-range power and the turbo lag is thankfully not very noticeable. At 268 horsepower, it puts it around mid-pack for power in class. Unfortunately, it's strapped to Nissan's godawful CVT. I've experienced Nissan's CVT in various applications in the past, and while the CVT in the QX50 is admittedly one of its better iterations, it still sucks. In the car's eco and normal driving modes, the CVT feels lazy and slow. In sport mode, the CVT can't seem to figure out where it wants to be, making manual shifting a necessity just to get the darn thing to work normally. It's not that Infiniti doesn't have a regular torque converter automatic to use, it's that Nissan is absolutely infatuated with CVTs for whatever stupid reason. Oh yeah, and whoever worked on the intake and exhaust sound engineering for this car? What the hell were you thinking? The engine sounds like straight up garbage. To this, I say to you:

The handling of the QX50 is pretty much what most people would expect of any CUV in this class: just very "meh." Because of the added ride height, the car rolls quite a bit during cornering and can feel quite nervous when needing to execute quicker maneuvering. The biggest problem though is the vehicle's lack of adaptive dampers, which is now becoming standard equipment on CUVs of the same class (hell, my Civic Si has adaptive dampers). Some adaptive dampers would go a long way to making the car more sporty when the driver wants it, while maintaining the car's ride comfort when the sporty handling isn't needed.

Lastly, there's the problem of the interior. It's certainly not bad, but boy is there a ton of plastic for a $45,000 car. It would be forgivable if said plastic was of the soft touch variety, but it's not. A lot of the surfaces that are commonly touched are of the rough, hard, hollow sounding variety. Even if you got the package that includes wood trim, I'm not positive it would really class up the interior much. There's also the issue of that dual touch-screen infotainment system. My family has owned quite a number of Hondas and Acuras with their iteration of the dual screen system. They've all sucked, as far as I'm concerned. Infiniti's version sucks just as bad. It's slow, the graphics are outdated, and it's hugely distracting. Why anyone still thinks this is a great idea is beyond me.

OK, so I've shit on the QX50 quite a bit, and we still have the car for another year or so. In analyzing the QX50 though, I've come to the conclusion that Infiniti is not long for this world. Many of the company's decisions have been moronic at best when it comes to vehicle packaging and which models to keep. With former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn out of the picture, is there a chance Infiniti could recover? I'm not so optimistic. In fact, car blogger/reviewer Doug DeMuro recently put out a video on his More Doug DeMuro channel about how Infiniti is pretty much done for, and I more or less agree with it. Check it out for yourself below:

But as I've mentioned above, we still have the QX50 for another year. Even though it's not the most interesting vehicle, we will continue to post about it until we have to hand the keys back over to Infiniti. I'm just hoping in that time we'll find some sort of redeeming quality about the car that we missed the first time around.   

Test Drive: 2017 Nissan Maxima SV

We arrived at Dulles early in the evening on a Friday. The Emerald Aisle selection was slim pickings, especially if we wanted a car with reasonable cargo space that was not a crossover of some kind. The thought occurred to me to ask for something particular, but I eventually settled on the one car in the line-up I had not driven yet, the loan Nissan Maxima. With its legacy of being the 4-door sports car (4DSC as the marketing mavens at Nissan called it back in the day), the current Maxima has an awful lot of history to live up to, especially considering that the last one I drove back in the early 2000s seriously failed to live up to expectations.

Test Drive: 2015 Audi A4 2.0T FWD Multitronic

MSRP: $35,500
As tested price: $39,900

My experience with the Audi A4 in the past has been relatively positive. Thanks to the car rental company, Silvercar, I have gotten to spend extended time with the A4. However, all of the A4s in Silvercar's fleet are equipped with Audi's Quattro all-wheel drive system. Seeing as how every other mid-size luxury car we have tested thus far have been two wheel drive, it would seem unfair to find a Quattro equipped A4. Besides, testing a front-wheel drive model will help not with just the car's fuel economy, but with its price as the A4 is not exactly the most cost efficient mid-size luxury car.

And thus we run into a problem. Either Audi sells a ton of front-drive only cars, leaving only Quattro models in their inventory, or people only want Quattro cars, thus forcing Audi dealers to minimize the number of front-drive cars in their inventory. The Audi dealer we selected to visit was one of the largest in Southern California, yet they did not have a front-wheel drive A4 equipped as we were expecting. Instead, we had to settle for something close, which did mean the car was missing a few key pieces of equipment we were hoping it would have. Lack of equipment notwithstanding, would the front-wheel drive A4 drive as well as its all-wheel drive counterpart?

Test Drive: 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring

Every once in a while, a car reaches a crossroads and the automaker must select a path to follow that will set them on a road to either tremendous sales success or possibly to the great junk yard in the sky. For Honda's Accord Hybrid, we already knew the path that Honda selected when we tested the plug-in hybrid version of the Accord at the end of last year. However, earlier this year, we finally had a chance to check out the traditional hybrid version. In its last iteration, the Accord Hybrid was saddled with mediocre fuel economy and a high price tag. Honda appears to have learned a great deal from that experience because this new Accord Hybrid addresses everything that was wrong with that last version and adds a whole lot more to like.

Test Drive: 2014 Nissan Sentra SV

So after getting my S2000 back from the body shop for just a little over a week, some idiot adjusting his seat at a stop light stepped on the gas and rear ended my car. With my S2000 back in the body shop, I yet again needed a rental car to get me to and from work. Luckily, the local Enterprise by my residence was not going to charge me an arm and a leg to rent a car for two days (compared to the locations near LAX), so I went ahead and rented a car from there. Boy was I in for a horrible time.

As of late, Nissan has gotten into the game of building dull, boring, lifeless vehicles, but try to pass them off as fun and exciting in their television advertisements. Frankly, the only two Nissan branded vehicles that seem like they would actually be any fun to drive are the GT-R and the 370Z, one of which is a super car, and the other a sports car. What happened to building a people mover that is actually still fun and engaging to drive? Unfortunately, Nissan had thrown the formula for building a fun and engaging sedan out the window a long time ago.

If my original review of the Nissan Versa Note SV a few months back was any indication, I should have went into the test drive of the 2014 Nissan Sentra SV with very low expectations. And although I already went into the Enterprise Rent-A-Car lot with my expectations near rock bottom, I can honestly say that a new low bar has been set.

Test Drive: 2013 Honda CR-Z

As I have oft-stated, I am not a fan of hybrids. I always feel like they are too compromised, especially when it comes to performance and driving dynamics. Considering that many gasoline powered cars have reached a point where they are able to achieve extremely good fuel economy, some which rival the economy of the hybrids, the loss of performance that comes with the hybrid simply does not seem justified. However, as a fan of alternative fuel vehicles, I was intrigued when a few years back, Honda introduced a concept 2-door hybrid in a tiny package. The CR-Z, which carried a silhouette reminiscent of the sporty and hilariously fun CRX of the late 80s and early 90s, had the potential to deliver on its promise of making a hybrid that was fun to drive, easy on the wallet, and practical too. The specs were far from encouraging, however, with the combined output noticeably anemic in comparison to other sporty subcompacts in the segment, most notably the funky looking Veloster, but the bantam weight 2-seater had a lot going for it in the way of instantly available torque from its electric motor. Would the CR-Z be the one to change my long-standing critical stance on hybrids?

Test Drive: 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In

MSRP: $40,570
Price as tested: $40,570

Hybrid cars are not really my thing. I admit, the only hybrid I have driven to date is a Toyota Prius and yes, it is as boring as all the automotive publications claim it to be. Hybrids have always been seen as appliances by the enthusiast crowd and while there are manufacturers working on making enthusiast friendly hybrids and hybrid super cars, the bulk of hybrids will still always be people movers. But can a manufacturer straddle both sides of the fence and make a hybrid that is both practical and fun?

With the lease on our long-term 2011 Acura RL about to expire, East Brother and I discussed what cars to consider. Given the driving habits of the primary driver, we felt that a hybrid was worth considering, especially given the long stretches of purely city driving that will be done. The problem is that most hybrids are, for a lack of a better word, boring. They are incredibly slow, and handle as well as a wet noodle. When Honda announced the specifications of the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid, East Brother and I both perked up our ears and after reading the initial impressions of the car by various automotive publications, our interest was genuinely peaked. It would seem that Honda has created a hybrid that is not only practical and efficient, but fun to drive too. Maybe not quite a 4-door CR-Z, but certainly more fun than any Prius.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid was not available for us to test, but we got the next best thing, a 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In. Seeing as how both East Brother and I enjoyed the 2013 Honda Accord Sport sedan, and how impressed the automotive press is with upcoming 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid, I figured I would give the Accord Plug-In a go. Maybe Honda is able to capture the magic of being efficient and fun in this car as well.

Test Drive: 2013 ES300h

Update: See how the Lexus ES300h performed in our entry luxury hybrid head-to-head.

We continue our look at luxury hybrids with an entry from Lexus. Falling into a similar price as the MKZ we tested earlier, the ES300h is also a platform shared vehicle, developed off of the newest version of the Toyota Avalon. The advantage to stepping up to the Avalon's platform from the Camry's is that it offers a much longer wheelbase, allowing for greater interior volume and potentially greater comfort. However, as with many platform shared vehicles, it becomes a challenge to differentiate the "luxury" branded vehicle from its lesser brand platform sibling. So has Lexus managed to pull this off and produce a platform shared car that can truly justify the price premium? Let us take a closer look.

Test Drive: 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid

Update: See how the Lincoln MKZ performed in our entry luxury hybrid head-to-head.

I struggle with hybrids. My biggest issue is that most hybrids sacrifice so much performance in the search for every last MPG, resulting in a miserable driving experience that often makes me want to pull my hair out. However, the earliest popular hybrids (I'm looking at you Toyota Prius) have long been replaced by a whole slew of new generation hybrids that look more like normal cars and are finally starting to drive like them too. In fact, they have been refined enough that luxury manufacturers have started to incorporate hybrids into their line-ups in various ways. In this brief series, we take a look at two of the luxury hybrids competing for the dollars of American buyers, with very different focuses despite being in the same vehicle class and price range.

Today, the subject under our microscope is Lincoln's toothsome MKZ. Sharing a platform and drive-train with the Ford Fusion hybrid, the Lincoln offers buyers who want all the advantages of a hybrid, but do not like the handsome Ford's look or feel that the Fusion lacks the luxury brand cachet the Lincoln supposedly possesses. Lincoln has gone through a great deal of effort to differentiate the MKZ from its lesser platform-mate, giving it distinct body panels and interior pieces in order to widen the gap as much as possible. But is it enough to justify the added cost that comes with purchasing the Lincoln over the Ford? Let's take a closer look.

Test Drive: 2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD

I swear that it is not my intention to be hard on the folks at Nissan. My last few reviews and posts have all put Nissan in a less than positive light, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the company that dared to defy convention and introduce the likes of the GT-R to the United States. However, while the GT-R is an incredible piece of engineering, most of the rest of the Nissan line-up leaves something to be desired in one way or another. My most recent experience with a Nissan product was during my trip back to the Washington D.C. area and was cut short by an ill-timed bit of misfortune.

Upon arriving at the rental counter to pick up my car, I was presented with a fairly fresh 2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD. Looking at the odometer, it registered just over 13000 miles, but I figured that this should be a fairly uneventful trip. Talk about being spectacularly wrong...

Test Drive: 2013 Nissan Altima S CVT

Update: See how the Nissan Altima did in our 2013 Mid-Size Family Sedan Comparison.

Less than a decade ago, Nissan got a second chance at life. After spending much of the 1990's struggling with some completely mediocre products, French manufacturer Renault swooped in and completely restructured the ailing Japanses automaker. Carlos Ghosn, who became Chariman and CEO, orchestrated a massive turnaround that not only saved Nissan from going the way of the dodo, but actually produced a number of major commercial successes in the form of a reinvigorated Nissan Fairlady Z and a completely revised Infiniti luxury brand.

However, over a decade after the near-death experience, it appears that Nissan has once again resumed some less than healthy habits. The time spent with the 2013 Nissan Altima S summoned up the familiar bile of mediocrity that nearly ruined Nissan before the alliance with Renault. This entry into what is easily one of the most crowded, though important, segments of the automotive marketplace should be a product that Nissan can be proud of, especially as it is likely to represent a large portion of Nissan sales in any given year going forward. Yet, if this is the kind of product that Nissan wants to put forward as being representative of the brand, then perhaps we should pull the plug now and spare ourselves further agony.