Video: 2014 Infiniti QX80 Review

It doesn't get an eight liter V12 or anything, sticks with the V8. We're gonna cover capability, we'll cover some of its luxury features, and finally, we'll take you through value. If big equals luxury to you, then the three row QX80 gives you a Texas sized portion of it, about 208 inches long bumper to bumper, about 80 inches tall, it's about a foot longer than the JX turned QX60, which also has three rows of seats, the largest vehicle by a significant margin in Nissan's luxury division lineup here in the US. Also the droopiest looking vehicle. The headlights, the tail lights, they kinda meander down on the car, they sit about six or eight inches lower than you think they should sit. It's like Infiniti took this car and put it in a microwave before producing it, a really, really big microwave. The QX80 is a big SUV, but it also has a big engine, 5.6 liter V8, 400 horsepower, 413 pounds feet of torque, and plenty of passing in just about all situations, editors agreed. One thing we disagreed on was the 7-speed automatic transmission. Some editors found it plenty responsive, others said it hunted for gears too much, took too long to kick down. Editors did agree on steering. A nice combination of feedback and power assist to make the QX80 very maneuverable at low speeds. Not quite the same story at higher speeds though, where on the highway, the QX80 is a little twitchy, hard to maintain, kinda going in a straight line, it doesn't settle in all that well. Ride quality is generically soft, it can get a little bit clumsy over stretches of broken pavement where the QX80 reveals its truck based body on frame routes. Otherwise though, not a ton of complaints on that front. For an SUV that starts over $62,000, the QX80 better have a lot of luxury. It does a pretty good job of it, chem materials are pretty handsome overall. You've got ornamentation like stitching here down the sides of the center controls, you've got soft padded stuff all the way down here to foot level. A couple of cheap areas here along the center console, and the all wheel drive knob don't really feel up to snuff, but generally everything else does. Seating is for seven or eight people, depending how you configure the second row. There's plenty of room in both the first and the second rows, plus a nice upright tall seating position that gives you a commanding view of the road. It would be nice to see a sliding second row in the QX80 with some sort of walk-in feature to the third row. Unfortunately, these are fixed in their tracks, but they do tumble forward pretty easily, check this out. Just pull that lever, wait for it to stop moving, and then you go, and here we are on the third row. A little tight for adults, especially in terms of leg room. That's where a sliding second row would be nice to negotiate a little more room out of the second row people. Head room, not really great, it's okay. Overall, the seat does sit really low to the ground though, not a real comfortable spot. If you're looking for more third row room, SUVs like the Mercedes GL Class, the Lincoln Navigator have more generous confines back here. There's not a ton of cargo room, less than 17 cubic feet behind the third row, which is basically in QX60 territory. There's about 50 cubic feet with the third row folded, and maximum volume redeems things with about 95 cubic feet overall. You get there through a power-folding third row seat, and a tumbling second row. Large families who want luxury and passenger room will find a lot to like about the QX80, so will anyone who needs to tow, 'cause this thing tops out at 8,500 pounds. Now, you will need to weigh that against limited cargo room behind the third row as well as pricing. Now, we can see where the 80 comes from, the QX80 starts north of $62,000, but our test car here, tops out very, very close to $80,000, so keep an eye on that bottom line, because those options, they do add up. (car engine revving)