2020 INFINITI Q50 3.0T Luxe

The 2020 Q50 is competing against other sports/luxury sedans that do a better job of holding up their end of the sports-sedan deal. The Q50 looks the part and none of its variants are slow, but when measured against German benchmarks such as the Audi A4 and the BMW 3-series, it leaves us cold. Sedans in this class need to offer all-day comfort balanced with reasonable back-road capability coupled to excellent control feedback, and Q50 misses the mark in every arena. Infiniti is replacing the turbocharged 2.0-liter variants of the Q50—the Q50 2.0t Pure and Q50 2.0t Pure AWD models—with its twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 versions for 2020. Three trims— Pure, Luxe, and Sport—will be available in either rear- or all-wheel drive, for a total of six 300-hp models. A 400-hp variant of the V-6 engine is also available on the Q50 Red Sport 400 and is reviewed separately. There's no longer any need to step up to the Luxe trim to get Infiniti's strong twin-turbo V-6 and several other features, which required that upgrade in 2019. We'd stick with the base Pure trim, which comes with power front seats, dual-zone climate control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, a proximity key, and 17-inch wheels. To this we'd add the Essential package, which adds navigation, a Wi-Fi hotspot, live traffic updates, a heated steering wheel and more. As in 2019, any trim can be upgraded with all-wheel drive for $2000, though most people will be better off with a set of snow tires. The Q50's standard engine is a 208-hp turbocharged four-cylinder, similar to the base offerings in several of the Infiniti's direct competitors. A 300-hp twin-turbo V-6 comes next—and it's one of the Q50's best features. Each engine is paired with a seven-speed automatic transmission. The V-6 version we tested was quick, reaching 60 mph from a standing start in five seconds flat. Shifts are so smooth that they're hard to detect, even when the driver has called them up using the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters. Our Q50 test car was a Sport model wearing 19-inch wheels. That car had a jittery, sometimes harsh ride, but it's possible that the Q50's standard 18-inch wheels would have improved that condition. Steering is light but not quick and lacks feedback. Infiniti's optional drive-by-wire steering setup, called Direct Adaptive Steering, is a much-touted feature, but none of its many available modes offer the feedback or the progressive effort during cornering that the best helms provide. The Q50's 169-foot stopping distance is not, on its own, an impressive result. However, only the significantly lighter Audi and BMW did much better. Infiniti is ostensibly a luxury brand, but the interior never feels truly luxurious even though the uppermost trims cost more than $50,000. The interior packaging is beginning to feel dated, too. The Q50 has above-average front-seat legroom, but that advantage disappears for back-seat passengers, whose accommodations are thoroughly middle of the road. The range is available with certain desirable features, such as a power-adjustable steering column and memory settings for the driver's seat, but other comforts are missing from the options list. The Q50 is about the same size as its competitors, but its cargo capacity is below average and the interior is short on useful cubbies. It may be a comfortable highway cruiser, but the Q50 is not designed for long family trips. With about 13 cubic feet of trunk volume, the Q50 falls far short of the 3-series sedan and the liftback Stinger. A folding rear seat is optional, not standard, and it's not available at all in the base 2.0t Pure trim.