(car starting) (car engine revving) Infinity hasn't had a small entry-level car since it dropped the G20 about a decade ago until now with the Q30 and QX30.
A pair of related hatchbacks, one with all wheel drive one with front wheel drive that share their underpinnings with Mercedes-Benz. We'll take you through some of our initial impressions. Now we have a QX30 right here, rides about an inch and a half higher than the Q30 and has standard all-wheel drive versus the front-wheel drive on the Q30. Also some unique elements here in the lower bumpers, but overall a really nice job integrating Infinity's design language here between the Q30, QX30 and the rest of the lineup. Notice this grill here, it comes around and kind of tucks nicely into the nose of the car without overtaking anything. Though, it is still fairly prominent. Let's come along the side. There's kind of a lot of interplay between the cut lines here. Check out this one. It kinda comes up along the door handles and sweeps really nicely into these tail lights, very sleek themselves. The lower edge kinda snakes up here into the rear window itself. A lot going on here. I gotta say it comes together pretty well though. Some materials seem kind of cheap in the QX30 here, much like in those Mercedes products. Some plastics here kind of along the middle section of the dash but there is some eye candy to look at. Stuff like stitched leatherette wrappings around the upper and kind of upper middle parts of the dashboard, soft stuff where it counts here along the upper door where your arms and your elbows sort of land. Now some big limitations inherent with the platform that we've noticed in the Mercedes products, not great visibility. The rear window, really small. The roof line is still pretty low, kinda tapers as you come forward. You might have to crane your neck kind of looking forward for streetlights and stuff like that. And not a ton of headroom in the driver's seat, especially if you like to sit high. Backseat configuration, similar to the GLA class here, not a ton of leg room. I'm six feet tall, and that's where I'd sit to drive. Headroom actually okay though, thanks to some sculpted out space here in the headliner. Now the Q30 and QX30, share their drive trains, a seven speed dual clutch automatic transmission, and two liter turbo four cylinder with the GLA and CLA class. Now both of those cars can ride somewhat firm and have a little bit of fussy transmissions. So we'll see how the Infinity versions do once they go on sale in the summer of 2016. (car trunk closing)
