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Video: 2025 Infiniti QX80 Up Close: Bigger; Better?

05:52 min
By Cars.com Editors
March 28, 2024

About the video

We got up close and personal with the new 2025 Infiniti QX80 at the 2024 New York International Auto Show. Let West Coast Bureau Chief Conner Golden give you the “MTV Cribs” -style tour of the palatial three-row SUV.

Transcript

With all this talk of downsizing and efficiency, it's clear the 2025 Infiniti QX80 has not been a victim of that because it's big, it's brash. I wouldn't call it beautiful, but it's certainly striking. And it's here at the 2024 New York Auto Show.
Let's talk about it. Yeah, this thing really is huge. I mean on my 5'11" frame, it just comes up to mid chest here. Pretty big, though looks can be kind of deceiving, as while this is bigger than the old QX80, which was no shrinking violet, it's only by a few inches in every direction. Infiniti aim to integrate a number of Japanese design motifs around the, well, design of the new QX80, starting with this very large, again a common theme, grill here inspired by a bamboo forest in Japan. Around back there are some LED taillights that are inspired by moonlight rippling on a surface of a pond, allegedly. And there is a four wheel drive badge on the rear decklid that Infiniti says is inspired by a hanko style Japanese stamp, which I really hope I'm saying that right. A couple more technical things to talk about on the front. If you see here, it has a very interesting headlight set up. These very striking lights up here are just the daytime running lights, the full strength, actual headlights following in mod. The modern trend is pushed further down on the front fascia. We have a double stack beam design here. And this is right above one of the more interesting parts of the front, which is this massive air curtain here that you can actually see all the way through for airflow and you can stick your whole paw in there if you really want to. Now take a look at the redesigned Infiniti badge up front. It is illuminated, and like I said, it is of a slightly evolved design versus the old one. And it's kind of curvier, wraps up inside itself, kind of like infinity, get it? All this body and bulk definitely needs some stump pulling power to get it moving. And the new QX80 has that in spades, but it might not be the engine you're expecting. The old QX80 and the current Nissan Armada have and had a natural aspirated 5.6 liter V8. This has a twin turbo 3.5 liter V6, and while it is down displacement, and it is way up on power, with an extra 50 horsepower and 103 pound feet of torque for a total of 450 horsepower and 516 pound feet. And what you see here is the top shelf autograph trim. But no matter how you spec your QX80, it's always gonna have a nine speed automatic transmission and it will tow up to 8,500 pounds, not bad. And you're probably gonna be pretty comfortable while you're towing your boat, your boulder, your elephant, whatever you want behind it, because the QX80 is available with a active air suspension that Infiniti says offers a five inch delta between the lowest and highest setting. That's pretty crazy. And it's not just that ride quality that's gonna keep you comfortable. At least in the top shelf autograph trim that we are in, the materials and interior is fantastic. Even for the segment, we've got rich, nice leather here. This one is nice, beautiful red and black deviated color. And there's this nice illuminated panel right here. Pretty cool. My favorite bit of material in the interior is this laser etched wood trim with metal inserts. Pretty nice. And as you'd expect, it is loaded to the gills with all sorts of niceties expected of a vehicle of both this size and price, including heated, cooled and massage seats, heated steering wheel, and you've got cool features, like, well, a cool box here in the center that's keeping my phone nice and frosty for no reason. But spec it right, and one of the showcase pieces of at least the autograph QX80 is this 24 speaker Klipsch sound system with 1200 watts, that also has, among other speakers, a integrated sound setup here in the headrests, that, and I have tested this at a separate event, will isolate your music or sound or whatever you have playing so you can blast music while you talk on the phone and the person on the other end of the line has no idea. And from the tech and infotainment front, well, there's lots of screens in here, as is the modern trend. So we've got double 14.3 inch screens, one for the digital instrumentation here for the driver, and you've got the 14.3 inch screen for infotainment, which does include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and all climate functions are handled by a nine inch screen here on the center console. And this is also kind of the area in which you activate the many, many camera systems on the outside of the vehicle with this hard button here. Check this out, you've got all the standard stuff like, rear view, front view, of course the full 360 camera, but you've got this one here, which is kind of what Infiniti calls the invisible hood. And as you can see, because this thing is so large, you can see pedestrians and cones and signs that are right in front of you so you don't run them over. Boy is it nice here in the second row, but that's really not a surprise, as all of the niceties and accountrements have moved from the front to the second row, at least on the top shelf autograph trim. And that does include heated, cooled, and massaged seats. Just about the only thing that doesn't transfer is the cool box, which, I guess that's fine. And it's a whole lot roomier in here. And Infiniti says that's because there is 18% extra cargo space behind the second row and 30% cargo space behind the third. Usable third row for a full size adult, absolutely, we've got the same nice upholstery featured in the first, second, and now third row. We've got heated seats back here for both sides. Double cup holders for both sides. And each side has a USBC charge port. Pretty nice. Bigger truck, bigger price tag. So while prices do start at $85,000 for the base QX80, top trims like this autograph will breach $112,000. That's pretty crazy. But if that sounds like it's in your price range, you can pick one up starting later this summer. And for my full breakdown and details, you gotta go to cars.com/news.

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