2024 Infiniti QX55 Review and Test Drive
Infiniti's small SUV has a sporty, coupelike shape but a relaxed driving style.
Tim Stevens
QuickTakes:
The rise of the coupe-styled crossover has come quickly — and curiously. I've never understood why people willingly pay more for an SUV with less cargo space, but options now abound. With sportier looks and often extra performance to match, these machines have proven popular among those who want the driving position of an SUV and are willing to sacrifice some practicality for the sleek line of a cropped roof.
Cue the Infiniti QX55, a coupelike version of the company's smallest crossover, the QX50. The QX55 may look sportier, but as I'd find out after a week behind the wheel, the driving character doesn't match its more aggressive look.
Tim Stevens
The 2024 Infiniti QX55 Starts at Just Over $50,000
The 2024 Infiniti QX55 comes in Luxe, Essential, and Sensory trim levels, each featuring standard all-wheel drive (AWD). Base prices range from the low $50,000s to around $60,000, including the destination charge to ship the SUV from the Aguascalientes, Mexico, factory that builds it to your local dealership.
For this QX55 review, I test-drove the QX55 Sensory in upstate New York. Optional equipment highlights included the Lighting Package, Cargo Package, Accent Package, and Radiant White paint, bringing the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $62,725, including the $1,195 destination charge. Infiniti provided the vehicle for this QX55 review.
Tim Stevens
Organic Styling and Flowing Shapes Define the 2024 QX55
Striking even in the test vehicle's understated Radiant White paint, the QX55's grille makes a strong first impression, as it's filled with eye-catching, overlapping shapes. The large intakes surrounding the foglights give it a sporty appearance, while a few strips of chrome add further visual flair. The most distinctive detail, though, are the taillights, which reach up over the rear fenders, their internally illuminated fins spreading like the wings of a bird.
Overall, the QX55 is an appealing SUV, and that impression only strengthens once you settle in behind the steering wheel. The pronounced hood bulges remain well within sight, and the rest of the interior has just as much presence, especially when outfitted with the Monaco Red upholstery. The crimson, perforated leather surfaces look and feel great, and I love the red strip of upholstery running up the armrest and curving delightfully around the touchscreen from the right.
The overlapping shapes create an exciting space, and the materials generally live up to expectations. But you won't have to look long to find hard plastic surfaces. They're down low on the transmission tunnel and doors and run up the dashboard, framing the steering wheel.
Tim Stevens
Comfortable Seating and Ride in the 2024 Infiniti QX55
Despite the QX55's sporty look and the pronounced bolstering on the front seats, you'll likely find this SUV comfortable. Those power-adjustable seats are soft and welcoming, and there's no need to fear they'll squeeze you too tight. For added comfort and convenience, the test model had heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and two memory settings on the driver's side.
With the ability to recline and even slide both seats forward and backward, the back seats are nearly as well appointed. When pushed towards the rear, there's plenty of legroom, and despite the sweeping roof, there's also decent headroom. Rear passengers can control their thermal destiny with dedicated rear-seat temperature controls, a pair of vents, and heated seating left and right.
As for the controls, the small, pucklike shifter is within comfortable reach, as is the rotary controller used to control the top display of the curiously split infotainment system. They convey quality when used. Four USB ports are aboard, one A and one C each for the front and rear seats. If you prefer charging wirelessly, there's a pad for that, newly added for the 2024 model year.
Tim Stevens
Cargo Space Is Modest but Smart in the QX55
Regarding interior storage space, all four doors offer wide and deep lower-door panel storage, perfect for thirsty-sized water bottles. Open the rear liftgate, and you'll find 26.9 cubic-feet of cargo space. Thanks to that dramatic roofline, the cargo space is wide and broad but necessarily a bit short of what you'll find in the similar QX50 (up to 31.4 cu-ft).
You'll find a handy grocery bag hook on the left, helpful in keeping your apples from escaping and bruising on the way home. Unfortunately, with only one hook, the rest of your produce is left to fend for itself. Integrated tie-down hooks are useful for securing your cargo, and under the load floor, you'll find a small secondary storage area ideal for first-aid kits or anything else you want to keep out of the way.
Flop the 60/40-split folding back seats down using the levers in the cargo area, and you'll create 54.1 cu-ft of cargo volume, compared to up to 65.1 cu-ft in the QX50.
Tim Stevens
2024 Infiniti InTouch Is an Infotainment System Divided
The 2024 QX55 offers an infotainment user interface split across two display screens, an approach I found clumsy and inefficient. The upper 8.0-inch touchscreen is used primarily for navigation and felt basic and dated. But if you connect a compatible smartphone (with a cable), Android Auto or Apple CarPlay takes over that display.
Down below, the second touchscreen measures 7.0 inches and provides access to vehicle settings and information while also displaying media information. Confusingly, you can choose media inputs on either the top or bottom screen and select points of interest on the top or bottom through entirely different-looking user experiences.
In addition, should you bring up the native navigation map on the top screen, hiding Apple CarPlay or Apple CarPlay, you must tap an icon on the bottom screen to switch back to your smartphone platform.
Unfortunately, it's all a bit disjointed and confusing, but system performance is good, at least, and the necessary functionality is here, too. InTouch even offers a CD player in addition to SiriusXM satellite radio and access to a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Thankfully, nothing is confusing about the 16-speaker Bose sound system, which is bright and crisp and offers excellent, well-rounded sound without requiring any fiddling with the integrated graphic equalizer.
InTouch offers an integrated voice recognition system, but its capabilities are limited. For example, you can turn the climate control system on or off by voice but not adjust the temperature or heated surfaces. You can search for points of interest by type, but nuanced commands such as "I'm hungry" don't work. Likewise, the system failed to understand any address I tried. It struggled even with basic commands. When I asked to quit, it presented me with a list of veterinarians.
If you ignore the integrated navigation system and exclusively use the upper display for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, the dual-display layout is a reasonably nice solution. But I found everything gets a bit muddy whenever you bring the native Infiniti software into the mix.
Tim Stevens
2024 Infiniti QX55 ProPilot Assist Proves It's Comprehensive but Unreliable
In addition to the advanced driver-assistance systems you expect to find as standard equipment on a compact luxury crossover SUV, every 2024 Infiniti QX55 includes ProPilot Assist. This technology is a hands-on semi-autonomous driving aid pairing adaptive cruise control with lane-centering assist.
During my testing, ProPilot Assist's lane-centering system did a great job of keeping this SUV in the middle of freeway lanes. Unfortunately, on secondary roads, it often lost track of road markings, even freshly painted ones, making the assistance from that system intermittent at best and difficult to trust or rely on. The other piece of the puzzle, the adaptive cruise control, posed no problems.
Crash test results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are incomplete, and the SUV hasn't undergone evaluation in some of the newest assessments. However, in the updated side-impact test, the 2024 Infiniti QX55 earns a rating of Acceptable rather than Good.
Similarly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hasn't published a full rating for the QX55. In frontal-impact testing, the SUV earned four stars out of five for driver and front-passenger protection.
Tim Stevens
Small Displacement and All-Wheel Drive in the QX55
The 2024 QX55's turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 268 horsepower burns premium fuel and pipes power to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).
The QX55 offers four drive modes: Eco, Standard, Sport, and Personal. In Personal, you can change how the steering effort feels and the aggression level of that CVT as well as activate or deactivate some of the safety features.
Infiniti calls the QX55's engine VC-Turbo because it has variable-compression-ratio technology designed to provide power when you need it and improved fuel economy the rest of the time. Unfortunately, in my experience, it struggles on both fronts.
Tim Stevens
A Relaxed Character Behind the Wheel
Infiniti tries to make the QX55 feel as energetic as possible. For example, in Sport mode, the throttle response is sharp, and the CVT snaps to attention to augment acceleration. But after the initial surge of power, the engine quickly runs out of steam.
In my opinion, it won't run out of sound, though. It emits a constant drone that sounds like it gets a little help from the Bose sound system. Unfortunately, I found the resulting racket is far from rewarding.
While the CVT is reasonably quick to respond to a driver's demands, you can also make requests with the steering wheel paddles. But even in the pseudo-manual mode, the QX55's transmission will readily retake control should you go anywhere near the turbo four's redline, meaning there's little point in overriding things.
Tim Stevens
When it comes to handling, the QX55's overall feel is slow and relaxed, with plenty of body roll in the mix. This isn't an SUV that likes to hustle, which isn't necessarily the end of the world. On the highway, it's calm and comfortable, quiet and smooth, and handles road imperfections without issue. It's a pleasant, even poised drive, but far from engaging.
According to the EPA, the QX55 gets 22/28/25 mpg in city/highway/combined driving. In my mixed testing, I came up short of all those figures, scoring 21.6 mpg.
Tim Stevens
Sporty Looks but a Relaxed Drive in the QX55
The 2024 Infiniti QX55 cuts a striking shape in the parking lot, and that dramatic Monaco Red interior will also get your heart pumping. But while the QX55 is calm and comfortable, its driving character is inoffensive but unremarkable.
Mind you, a calm and comfortable driving dynamic is not a bad thing. The QX55 is a pleasant cocoon on the highway and a welcome sight in the parking lot, which is more than you can say about many crossover SUVs. My biggest complaints concern the dated and clumsy InTouch user interface, but that's mitigated if you use smartphone projection to bypass it.
So, while this Infiniti isn't a standout, the QX55 is a competent performer and a great beauty. But it would benefit from a host of updates.
