Once inside the cabin, we are willing to forget the vents and rhino front-end of this spacious SUV. Unlike the last generation Armada/Titan based QX, 2011 QX’s interior provides that luxurious look and feel like no other. While the competition such as Escalade provides leather covered items from a full size truck interior bin, Infiniti has gone all out in creating the interior of the QX. Wood accents flow throughout the cabin giving that luxury touch to the already luxurious QX.
Infiniti didn’t leave any technology behind when designing this new QX – Around View Monitor, Lane Departure System, Laser Guided Cruise control to name a few. If you option your QX with the Deluxe Touring Package like our test vehicle then you can also enjoy the Hydraulic Body Motion Control System similar to the one in the Audi RS5.
So what did we think of the 2011 Infiniti QX56? It’s a true luxury SUV that is priced lower than the competition while providing more options.
The outgoing Infiniti QX56 was a vehicle that never made much sense to us. The architecture remains body-on-frame, but you’d never know it from the smooth ride and refined personality of the new QX. Our drive route wended through the hollers and hills surrounding Louisville, Kentucky, and we sampled rear- and four-wheel-drive models. Once a QX shows up in Michigan, we’ll see if our opinion of the ride holds. The 4WD QX we drove was equipped with a new hydraulic body-control system. In rear-drive and 4WD QXs, the steering is feather light—all the better for freshly manicured desperate housewives—but the feedback is more positive in the two-wheel-drive QX, and on-center stability is better there, too.
The new QX is wider and longer than the outgoing model, but it’s also shorter in height by three inches and has a wheelbase that’s been trimmed by 2.1 inches. Infiniti says weight is down by 160 pounds in comparable 4WD models. Being gigantic, the Infiniti QX56 can accommodate up to eight passengers in its three rows; the second row comes standard with two captain’s chairs and a cavernous center console, and a 60/40-split folding bench is available. There no longer is a setting to lock in rear-wheel drive
Standard equipment includes heated front seats, a power liftgate, three-zone climate controls, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, an eight-inch touchscreen display, navigation, Infiniti’s Around View multicamera monitor, XM satellite radio with NavTraffic and NavWeather, and a Zagat restaurant guide that ties into the nav system. Infiniti also has included something it calls a tire-pressure inflation indicator, which piggybacks onto the tire-pressure monitoring system. Buyers first choose rear- or four-wheel drive and then climb the options ladder. The DT package includes some pretty handsome 22-inch wheels, the hydraulic body-control system, nicer seat leather, a ventilation function for the front seats, heated outboard second-row seats, and an upgraded climate-control system with odor filtration. Gone is the funky geometry of the Armada-based QX, replaced by taut, athletic styling. Save for the huge disjoint of the fender vents, this is a handsome truck. The load floor is high, though, and much of the new QX’s lengthening comes from the long rear bumper cover designed to hide the hitch receiver.
Now, the coddling luxury brand has reinvented its full-size QX56 SUV in an effort to take away the Escalade’s crown in this politically incorrect segment.
No, the QX56 doesn’t fit into the new world order of eco-friendly hybrids that run on unicorn droppings and feature hemp-infused seat covers, bamboo tires and biodegradable steering wheels. Infiniti says it sees the market leveling off at around 100,000 full-size luxury SUVs annually, a number we’ve heard echoed by segment sales leader Cadillac. No Patrolling
The QX56 SUV bears more than a passing resemblance to Nissan’s world-market Patrol – a big SUV you’ve seen painted white with massive UN decals that stars in CNN coverage in third-world countries – but Infiniti assures us that the design and engineering is all theirs, not Nissan’s.
Then, the finger-pointing tale goes, the Nissan team decided that Infiniti’s fancy-pants SUV would make a nice seventh-generation Patrol.
The bulging front fascia, functional side air inlet (driver’s side only) and swoopy D-pillar are nothing at all like the outgoing Nissan Armada-based QX56. They lend the QX a distinctive style that falls short of the restrained elegance you’ll find on a Range Rover.
Road mannerisms
Under its bulbous hood, the QX features Infiniti’s latest 5.6-liter V8, a sophisticated, direct-injected mull that debuted earlier this year in the 2011 M56 sedan. The seven-speed automatic fired off soft, but predictable shifts and felt imminently suited to the QX56′s girth. Capable of towing a class-leading 8,500 lbs. (tied with the Lexus LX570), the QX56 seems like a natural fit for well-heeled equine enthusiasts.
While certainly not a sports car, the QX56 proved an adept cornering vehicle when optioned with the automaker’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control System (part of a $5,800 Deluxe Touring package that also includes 22-inch alloy wheels, upgraded leather trim wrapping heated and cooled seats and a few other goodies). We waited out the deluge in warm, dry comfort inside the QX56.
Although not quite as over-the-top luxuriously elegant as Infiniti’s new M sedans, which feature silver-sparkling real wood trim, the QX generally follows the same upscale design theme. What the QX brings to the table is expansive interior space and genuine truck capability.
Refined and civilized, the QX56 boasts some of Infiniti’s best interior detailing yet and with a price that matches the outgoing 2010, it’s a sure fire bet that this ‘ute’s market share will continue to grow.