Vehicle Overview
Infiniti’s midsize sedan gets a makeover and welcomes a long-wheelbase version for 2015. The Q70 follows in the smaller Q50 sedan’s footsteps with more fluidic styling outside, an emphasis on luxury inside and a host of additional convenience features and safety systems for the 2015 model year.
Exterior
Like its recently redesigned smaller Q50 sibling, the Q70’s fresh face is the first thing you’ll notice about the new version. Infiniti’s signature double-arch grille is again front and center, but for 2015 it’s more prominent with a “waved mesh” finish and extra chrome. It joins upswept standard LED headlights and a revised bumper with integrated fog lights for an overall more dramatic look.
Infiniti also upped the Q70’s visual drama with more flowing, wavelike body side lines, a new LED taillight design, more chrome trim in back and a slimmer, more streamlined bumper. Sport trims add a lower, wider bumper; 20-inch wheels and high-gloss black paint trim.
Interior
Inside, real wood and leather trim and surfaces carry over from the outgoing model, so too does the gauge and control layout with a large color touch-screen screen highlighting the panel along with traditional buttons as well as a lower control knob for audio and navigation functions.
Standard features include heated leather seats (driver and front passenger); a Bose 16-speaker surround system; Infiniti’s Enhanced Intelligent Key system, which remembers last-used audio, navigation and climate control settings for each key; Bluetooth streaming, dual-zone automatic temperature control and navigation.
The regular model’s interior dimensions carry over, and the new long-wheelbase model rides on a 5.9-inch-longer wheelbase for increased back passenger space. Infiniti says the new LWB version offers best-in-class rear knee room of 32.4 inches. Backseat upgrades include rear door auto closure, heated seats, reading lights and a 12-volt power outlet.
Under the Hood
The 2015 Q70 is again available with rear- or all-wheel drive. All three powertrains carry over from last year, including the 330-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6; the 420-hp, 5.6-liter V-8 and the hybrid model, which pairs a 3.5-liter V-6 with a 50-kilowatt electric motor for a total of 360 hp. The seven-speed automatic is again standard across the lineup.
Infiniti says the 2015 Q70 is quieter than the outgoing model thanks to added sound insulation and better seals.
Safety
Like the Q50, the revised Q70 adds a host of new safety features to its options list. A predictive forward collision warning system alerts the driver of a crash beyond the driver’s line of sight. The Around View Monitor system displays a 360-degree view of the car using four cameras and works with a system that detects moving objects to alert the driver of moving objects in the car’s path. Backup Collision Intervention can intervene and automatically apply the brakes to stop an impending backup collision. Lastly, forward emergency braking works in a similar fashion to stop a crash with a vehicle ahead of the Q70. These new systems join existing ones like lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, blind sport warning and blind spot intervention.
