stanski Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Thought I would keep the Infiniti flag flying! I had my G37S in for a service (yes those zed 9000 mile services come around too quickly). Local Infiniti dealer lent me their new Q50S Hybrid for the day. Considering I am a luddite and have no intention of ever buying a car based on an electric milk float I was a little apprehensive. Last year I drove the diesel (Merc engined ) Q50 and frankly a 20 year old 1.2 Micra has more refinement and pick-up although interior and finish is superb! Anyway back to this one. I think since the corporate grille restyle they look a bit too Lexus and although I dont mind the Q50 look over all its not really me. But ignoring the £43000 price tag, a mountain of electric toys and technology this thing was a revelation! This is no Toyota Prius, Infiniti dont want to save fluffy cute little bunnies from pollution ,well maybe , they want to pretend they do but what they have created is a performance 350z with a 60hp electric motor to help that performance and yes it runs on electricity sometimes also but wow its faster than mine!! So what happens? I get in I push the start button, and other than a nice media show reminding you its an infiniti on the console and the dials spinning around as a system test, nothing happens? I press the gas pedal and off it moves quiet as a fluffy rabbit. This is a bit freaky the I press the pedal further and wooohoo the real engine kicks into life and what a fantastic growl and good god does it fly! 0-60 in 5.1 I read somewhere? Numbers aside it feels fast, super fast! I then discovered it has a drive mode switch of course there is normal mode (this was an auto) sport, personal and the limp Eco mode! In normal mode it was good but steering which is fly by wire is super light and zero feedback, dont like it. In Sport mode! Steering tightens up but again no feed back! Shame as sport mode inserts a hot chilli up its exhaust pipe! Obviously economy suffers but erm ..... Bothered?! I did try Eco mode which is Infiniti's little joke,(it displays a little green ECO light but if you cane it the light goes out and it rockets anyway!) yes the engine cools off a bit, the electric motor does a little more and I noticed under 65mph cruising it just runs on the electric motor, great you have a 3.7 v6 car and using just battery power during those boring motorway slower speeds, you push the pedal and there is a seamless transition where the engine fires up instantly, no juddering and not fits and starts - it just works! I was amazed by it all! I will be knocking their door down soon as they do this for the 4x4 QX or whatever its called now? But eye watering prices! So I am a convert , other than the limp steering( hopefully they wont use that again) that car was great. Tough screen centre console , good but not a big fan really prefer my switches, you dont want to be looking at a screen to switch something on you want to just feel the switch like now. Only other downside the satnav woman has aged 20 years and is on 40 fags a day? Her voice was a bit rough! Driving home in mine again I felt like Barney Rubble!! Mine is 2012 and it felt prehistoric! I didn't ask about service cost or how long the batteries last but you know it wont be cheap? Have a go you will be impressed. Stan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) Driving home in mine again I felt like Barney Rubble!! Mine is 2012 and it felt prehistoric! This is same feeling we got when driving home in the Civic after handing back the Lexus IS hybrid after a 24 hr test drive. Infact we are so sold on the EV/Hybrid concept as the future of cars ended up ordering a Lexus hybrid for the wife (Due in the UK next week ), and even got the go ahead from the wife to get a Tesla S when the time comes to get rid of the BMW As for battery concerns...there isnt much. Consumer reports tested a 10 year old Prius thats done 200,000 miles and found hardly any loss in performance. Toyota do a 100,000 mile / 5 year warranty on hybrid units, Tesla do UNLIMITED / 8 year warranty. Currently if my BMW gets through 6 months / 5000 miles without having to vist Mitz for repairs I'll be looking out for flying pigs http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/02/the-200-000-mile-question-how-does-the-toyota-prius-hold-up/index.htm?userWantsFull=true Edited February 22, 2015 by gangzoom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stutopia Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Nice write up. I hope Infiniti stays a bit uner the radar as I really fancy one as a daily, but they'd lose some desireability for me if they started popping up everywhere. It's the new SAAB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanski Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Nice write up. I hope Infiniti stays a bit uner the radar as I really fancy one as a daily, but they'd lose some desireability for me if they started popping up everywhere. It's the new SAAB Haha! Funny you say that I did mention to the dealer, as soon as I see at least 1 or 2 per day , its time to change !! They are selling Q50 diesels to fleet providers at the moment, the Stockport dealers have a full car park of them! So unfortunately they might actually be seen on the roads soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanski Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Driving home in mine again I felt like Barney Rubble!! Mine is 2012 and it felt prehistoric! This is same feeling we got when driving home in the Civic after handing back the Lexus IS hybrid after a 24 hr test drive. Infact we are so sold on the EV/Hybrid concept as the future of cars ended up ordering a Lexus hybrid for the wife (Due in the UK next week ), and even got the go ahead from the wife to get a Tesla S when the time comes to get rid of the BMW As for battery concerns...there isnt much. Consumer reports tested a 10 year old Prius thats done 200,000 miles and found hardly any loss in performance. Toyota do a 100,000 mile / 5 year warranty on hybrid units, Tesla do UNLIMITED / 8 year warranty. Currently if my BMW gets through 6 months / 5000 miles without having to vist Mitz for repairs I'll be looking out for flying pigs http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/02/the-200-000-mile-question-how-does-the-toyota-prius-hold-up/index.htm?userWantsFull=true Oh thats good to know, thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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