Infiniti Q50 Review (2014-2019)

The Q50 is a premium four-door saloon that was designed to compete with popular rivals from the upmarket German brands, as well as some lower volume competitors from the likes of Volvo, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. Japanese manufacturer Infiniti is a posh offshoot of Nissan, very much in the same way as Lexus is to Toyota.

The styling is striking, thanks to its diamond-cut grille, deep front and rear air dams, and lashings of chrome detailing. It’s also impressive inside and looks and feels every bit as solid and as sophisticated as the aforementioned rivals.

The Q50 is slightly longer than an equivalent A4, C-Class, and 3 Series, but that doesn’t create any tangible increase in interior space. There’s a decent amount of rear legroom, but the sloping roof eats away at headroom and, because it’s rear-wheel drive (four-wheel drive versions are also available), there’s a hefty transmission tunnel running down the centre of the car. We’d think of the Q50 as a four-, rather than a five-seater.

At 500 litres, the boot is big, but you will lose 100 litres, along with the standard car’s split-folding rear seats, to battery accommodation if you go for the hybrid model. There’s also no estate version, which all three German rivals offer.

The most common versions of the Q50 are powered by Mercedes’ 168bhp 2.1-litre diesel engine, which is solid but not particularly refined. If you can find one, there’s also a 208bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, but this is thirsty and also not great at refinement.

Further up the scale is the Q50 hybrid, which uses the combination of a 302bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine and a 68bhp electric motor. Then there is the range-topping 395bhp, 3.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine.

The driving experience is a mixed bag. The standard steering is very light, which is great around town, but it doesn’t feel especially connected to the front wheels. Consequently, the Q50 can feel quite lazy and heavy when turning into corners. The ride is really quite uncomfortable, particularly on Sport models, although the body is reasonably well controlled.

The driving position is spot-on, and all models come with lots of standard equipment. The elegantly dashboard is a bit odd, though, because it mixes touchscreen systems – of which there are two – with a plethora of backup switches and buttons.

This is where the Q50 really stands out from its rivals. Trim levels start with SE, which comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, run-flat tyres, cruise control, a speed limiter, a rear-view camera, keyless entry, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, and voice control.

The next step up is Premium, which includes heated leather seats and fancier interior trim, while Sport adds a chunkier front bumper, LED headlamps, LED daytime running lights, and 19-inch alloy wheels. Inside, you’ll find power-operated front seats and a power-adjustable reach and rake steering column. The hybrid and 3.0 Turbo models come with sports suspension, sports seats, and LED headlights.

The British public can be a sceptical lot, so any new manufacturer, even one backed by a familiar name like Nissan, is always going to find it difficult setting up shop on these shores. This is especially true of the lease-dominated, executive end of the market. More than anything, what ‘did’ for Infiniti was the forecast that resale values wouldn't be good, as well as expensive running costs and high CO2 emissions. This led to punitive BIK company car tax and very pricey contract hire rates. In short, Infiniti was squeezed out by failing to understand prevailing market conditions.

But weak resale values are great news for anyone thinking of buying a used Q50. For less than £10,000 you can have a contemporary-looking executive diesel saloon, with around 55,000 miles on the clock and an automatic gearbox, sitting on your drive. It gets even better if you’re prepared to shift gears yourself, as the bidding for manual gearbox cars starts at less than £8K.

In terms of fuel economy, the automatic diesel engine should return up to 58.9mpg on paper, and because it comes with such a large fuel tank, it's capable of almost 1,000 miles between fill-ups. Choose the manual model and that official economy pushes into the early 60s, but bear in mind these figures were calculated under the old NEDC rating system, so mid-to-high 40s is probably more realistic. Equally theoretically, the hybrid is claimed to average 45.6mpg or 41.5mpg when fitted with the four-wheel-drive system. The turbo version promises 31mpg but only if you drive it gently. Open up the taps on a regular basis and that figure will plummet into the teens.

Insurance group ratings start at 29 for the entry-level diesel models, while the 2.0T petrol starts at group 34. The hybrid and the 3.0T are far costliest to insure, with group ratings starting at 40.

Service intervals are every 12 months and 12,000 miles for the petrol cars, and 15,550 miles for the diesel, whichever comes first.

When it was a new car, the Infiniti Q50 came with a conventional three-year, 60,000-mile mechanical warranty, 12 years of cover for perforation by corrosion and a three-year paint warranty.

Although Infiniti never made it into any reliability surveys, we’d be surprised if you encountered significant problems, and if things do go wrong it's good to know that many Infiniti components are shared with Nissan.

That said, those parts may be quite expensive, and parent company Nissan doesn’t fare particularly well when it comes to customer satisfaction and reliability surveys. It was rated at a lowly 27 out of 31 manufactured surveyed in the 2020 What Car? reliability survey.

The Q50 engines are tried and tested so they should be good for stellar mileages but we have heard some reports of problems with the infotainment system and steering rack leaks at around 60,000 miles. Additionally, some transmission glitches have been reported with higher mileage cars.

Given the additional complexity, we’d probably advise against the hybrid version in favour of the more conventional diesel models.

Other than that, the usual checks apply. Look out for tyre wear, especially on the rears, inspect the condition of the alloy wheels and the paint finish, especially at the front of the car as this area can be vulnerable to stone chipping. The cabin should look pretty immaculate throughout, and ensure there’s a fully-stamped up service record, which will probably be a mix of main dealers and independent specialists. If the latter is predominant, check out the online reviews to ensure the specialist has a good reputation.