2027 Infiniti QX65: When looks matter most
The pretty new SUV from Nissan’s luxury brand makes quite an entrance, looking as handsome as any. Step inside and the beauty increases. Its downhill from there.
2027 Infiniti QX65 Sport vs. Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport: Battle of the chopped down SUVs
This week: Infiniti QX65
Price: $60,470 as tested
What others are saying: “Pros: Elegant cabin, handsome exterior styling, roomy. Cons: Uneven power delivery, brakes are muted, steering feels numb,” says Motor Trend.
What Infiniti is saying: “Blaze a bold path in a sporty 2-row luxury crossover designed to turn heads and move you in more ways than one. The INFINITI QX65 is pure confidence in motion.”
Reality: Definitely a head turner. But what Nissan calls “pure confidence” can be a double-edged sword; people who are the most wrong seem to be the most confident.
What’s new: The whole thing. Infiniti finally gets into the “sporty SUV” game with this model that takes the QX60 and slices a piece off the back end.
Of course there’s more to it than that.
Competition: It might seem like an odd pairing, pitting the Volkswagen Cross Sport against the premium Infiniti SUV. But the vehicles are really of the same ilk, and the Volkswagen is only $5,000 less.
Other competitors include Audi Q4, BMW X6, Lincoln Nautilus, Mercedes GLC-Class Coupe, and Porsche Cayenne.
Up to speed: The 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine plays a pretty nice game. It sounds awesome, especially when put in Sport mode, and there’s decent power when you pull out. Sometimes too much of it, especially when it’s cold, as there could be a sudden surge or a quick conk-out. Adding to the Infiniti mystery, you just never knew which one you’d get. (You probably dated people like that. And I bet they were confident.)
Anyway, that engine creates 268 horsepower, and Nissan media materials describe “confident acceleration,” but it takes 8.1 glacial seconds for the SUV to hit 60 mph, according to Motor Trend. Needless to say the competition buries it.
Shifty: The nine-speed shiftable automatic is controlled by a rectangular shift mechanism à la 2015 Lexus. The transmission takes care of itself just fine; there’s a manual mode and paddle shifters, but I didn’t bother.
On the road: Lane keeping sounds like a very excellent thing. A car that will help you not drift of your lane. What could go wrong, right?
Plenty, if it’s the QX65 doing the keeping.
Part of the reason I wasn’t inspired to bother with shifting was the lackluster handling. When I first received the vehicle, it just danced all around and was so wavy even The Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat commented on the road feel. That’s something she’s loath to do, lest I get pouty and sad and she has to buy me ice cream to cheer me up. Plus, in the QX65, there would be a danger of ice cream hurl.
I realized that the lane keeping must have been turned on; it interferes with the handling on many vehicles, and the QX65 is certainly one of them. We found the switch — not too deeply into the lists in the options screens — we exited the sensors, and life was vastly improved.
But not so vastly improved that I started to enjoy the QX65. I really didn’t look forward to trips in this vehicle, although the highway handling at least became tolerable without the lane keeping.
Driver’s Seat: The seat and cockpit all offered nice touches. The TailorFit appointed seat felt luxurious and supple, and the dashboard was a beautiful sight, two shades separated by a graphene band.
On the downside, though, the shape of the vehicle and design of the windows makes it quite hard to see where you are on the road. Whatever, just look at the pretty interior.
Friends and stuff: The rear seats offered the same luxury as the front, with plenty of space all around. Legroom was especially generous, with no need to slide your feet under the seats, and headroom was nice. The rear seat adjusts front to back and reclines as well.
Cargo space is a healthy 35.8 cubic feet behind the second row and 67.7 cubic feet behind the first.
In and out: The QX65 requires a leg up to get in, so it may not be suitable for all hips and knees.
Play some tunes: Sound from the Klipsch 16-speaker audio system is quite good, an A- leaning to an A.
The controls were just a volume dial, a couple functions down near the HVAC controls (we’ll complain more about those below), and then it was all smallish 12.3-inch touchscreen.
Keeping warm and cool: Dials controlled the temperature, but the other HVAC controllers were a metaphor for the whole QX65: It looks great but the performance is really lacking.
The ebony touch pad was handsome, but it required pretty forceful button pushing to get things working. I tried telling myself it was like an Audi control, but even with the extra force, the two are not in the same league. It was all so unpredictable. And so it went for the media controls as well.
Fuel economy: The QX65 averaged around 19 mpg since forever (well, 800 miles).
Where it’s built: Smyrna, Tenn. The U.S. and Canada supply 45% of the content; another 15% comes from Mexico.
How it’s built: Consumer Reports hasn’t yet offered a reliability prediction for the QX65. The close relative 2025 QX60, also made in Tennessee, received a four out of five.
Next week: I could say I’m confident the Volkswagen will be better, but we now know confidence isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
