2020 Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 review: When beauty isn’t enough

Appears can only get you so much. The 2020 Infiniti Q60 Red Activity 400 is the vehicle model of that adage: Its stunningly attractive exterior is producing checks its performance and engineering just can not income.

The Infiniti Q60 is a 4-seat activity coupe offered with both rear- or all-wheel generate. All trims (Pure, Luxe and Red Activity 400) get a three.-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine, but the reduced trims press out just 300 horsepower and 295 pound-toes of torque. They’re respectable numbers for absolutely sure, but my Red Activity 400 tester packs all-wheel generate and — you guessed it — 400 hp, additionally 350 lb-ft.

It is really a couple yrs previous now, but the Q60 is continue to a looker. Curvy and sculptural, it turns heads anywhere it goes. LED headlights give the Q60 a distinct light signature and I like the exclusive kink in the C-pillar. My Red Activity 400 receives 20-inch aluminum-alloy wheels that are tucked up subsequent to the fenders, building for a tight silhouette. I think it is a single of the ideal-wanting cars and trucks on the highway these days.

My first trace that the Q60 could possibly not be much more than a really experience comes for the duration of my commute residence from downtown San Francisco. I’m just toddling along in the Normal generate mode at a middling rate of twenty five to forty five mph. For whichever purpose, this seven-pace computerized transmission just can not manage it, regularly upshifting and downshifting like an undecided youngster confronted with 31 diverse ice product flavors.

Items get greater on again roadways, but only marginally so. Here, I switch concerning the Activity and Activity Furthermore modes for greater handling and a much more aggressive change sample. The handling part is excellent, but it is wholly overshadowed by unpredictable transmission mapping. Occasionally the Q60 downshifts on braking, but other situations it waits until my ideal foot asks for the power. The transmission typically upshifts at the mistaken instant, specially when I’m just biding my time to get about a convert — I can not be on the gas all the time, Infiniti. Occasionally I have to have a small patience as a result of a convert, but all this upshifting is just hoping my patience.

Thankfully, the Red Activity 400 has paddle shifters so you can move as a result of the gears on your possess phrases. Though the transmission continue to will not change as speedily as I would like when employing the paddles, this is much much more partaking. There is lots of robust engine sounds coming into the cabin, as properly — ample that I convert down the radio and just revel in the racket.

The steer-by-wire Direct Adaptive Steering method is absent from my tester, for which I am grateful. I’ve skilled DAS on other designs and it leaves me experience disconnected from both equally the vehicle and the highway. The regular electric powered power steering setup is practically nothing to write residence about, both, but there is a awesome heft to it, and it gives a bit much more responses than the extravagant-pants stuff.

Normal driver-assistance characteristics on the Red Activity 400 are a bit light, consisting of ahead collision warning, crisis braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot checking and backup-collision intervention. More sophisticated characteristics, such as entire-pace adaptive cruise management, blind-spot intervention and lane-retaining help, are part of the $2,850 ProAssist Bundle, which sadly incorporates the aforementioned steer-by-wire “upgrade.”

On the tech aspect, the very good information is that Apple CarPlay and Android Car are now conventional, as is a Wi-Fi hotspot — at least on this Red Activity 400 trim. The Infiniti InTouch infotainment method takes advantage of two screens: An eight-inch higher display shows only your smartphone interface or, if not linked, the navigation map. The reduced display is an inch scaled-down and requires treatment of other capabilities. I like the two-display setup in this article, as it is awesome not getting to toggle again and forth concerning Apple CarPlay and the native method, but Infiniti’s embedded tech is clunky and surely showing its age. An upgrade is desired tout suite.

In-vehicle charging responsibilities are offered to a single USB Type-A and a single Type-C in the middle console, whilst twelve-volt stores are living in the dash and the middle console. Wi-fi charging is not offered and again seat travellers are remaining seeking for juice — not that everyone will want to ride again there. Inspite of there getting two cup holders for rear seat travellers, seating is really cramped many thanks to a sloping roof line. Heck, my hair brushes the roof in the front, far too.

Cargo space is in the same way sparse. The trunk has a very small nine cubic toes — much more than a Miata, absolutely sure, but much a lot less than the fifteen.7 cubes in the BMW 4 Collection. Heck, even the Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe and Lexus RC have much more. Interior storage is just as stingy, with only a compact cubby in the middle stack large ample for your keys that’s straight behind the gearshift and not really available. There is a very small bit of storage in the door pockets, far too, but just about each pocket in this vehicle is on the compact aspect. The interior materials and suit and end are all excellent. Having said that, the general interior style and design is really dated, irrespective of the addition of carbon fiber trim and contrasting stitching throughout.

However, the Infiniti Q60 is a handsome vehicle and a single that strikes a really serious pose out on the highway. My funds would be on the center Luxe trim, as it commences virtually $twelve,000 reduced than the Red Activity 400, and I can not justify paying out virtually $120 per excess horsepower. I’m also sticking with rear-wheel generate because I are living in California and don’t have to offer with snowy weather. I would increase the Edition thirty deal, commemorating thirty yrs of Infiniti income in the US, to get a couple physical appearance upgrades as properly as entire-pace adaptive cruise management, blind-spot checking, heated seats and steering wheel, parking sensors and a Wi-Fi hotspot. That delivers my overall value up to $fifty,725 such as destination, much underneath the $sixty five,950 value of my Red Activity 400 AWD tester.

If you get truly nitpicky about the competitors, there are not that numerous luxurious two-door activity coupes about these days. The BMW 4 Collection and Audi S5 both equally have much more engineering, greater cabins and provide superb driving dynamics. As a reward, both equally are offered as convertibles. In the meantime, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class can be AMG-ified with up to 503 horsepower, though it receives mighty pricey up there. If you are willing to increase two much more doorways the alternatives open up up in a large way, with the Audi S5 Sportback getting an exceptional example.

It is really a shame the 2020 Infiniti Q60 Red Activity 400 will not carry out at the very same degree as its looks. But at least it’s going to continue to convert heads.