From concept to reality, the brand-new Infiniti Q60 marks a brand new turn for Nissan's luxury brand as it readies to "empower the drive" for luxury car buyers looking for a luxury sports coupe that will give the Germans a run for their money. Ready or not, the new Q60 will give the stern Japanese car enthusiasts a taste of what will their new Skyline Coupe will look like.
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2017 Infiniti Q60 |
Although this is an all-new model and a two-door derivative of the Q50 saloon (which is sold in Japan as the Skyline), the Q60 name is not new to us because that was once used on the previous Nissan Skyline Coupe V36, once called the Infiniti G37 Coupe until the name change. Now that the Q60 is the two-door Q50, it features all of the stuff that you get from the Q50 saloon while delivering that sporty feeling that you get from most Germans.
The Q60's exterior design is almost similar to the concept car last year, making it an undeniable proof that the are some good cars trying to inspire its design from concept cars, not like Subaru that features a much exciting concept car at first but made it into production with such bland results.
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2017 Infiniti Q60 interior |
The interior looks very similar to the Q50; the dashboard, the two monitors, the a/c, everything, but the Q60 is themed to be a sportscar rather than a sports saloon and even though it's got two doors, it's still has room in the back as long as they can survive squeezing through the back. Also, it's boot space is big enough for stuff to go golfing. For a sportscar of such caliber, it's all business as usual for the new Q60 coupe.
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2017 Infiniti Q60 |
For a two-door version of the Q50, the new Q60 still has that clever Direct Adaptive Steering which delivers precise handling and quickly communicates road surface feedback to the driver but this is a brand new update to this clever steering stuff. It can now steer quicker and smoother as before and when driving on unstable roads, it constantly, automatically, making subtle changes for better stability, while decreasing feedback and vibration through the steering wheel. It's got a dynamic digital suspension which can change how it drives at the push of the button or it can adapt through different behaviors while cornering or going through unstable road conditions. It feels somewhat robotic, if you know what I mean?
The Drive Mode Selector offers over 336 customizable driver settings that can tailor your driving style based on its steering, engine, and suspension inputs. It can be very complicated to fiddle it on your own but if you're not sure how to fiddle it, you can select between Standard, Snow, ECO, Sport, and Sport+. This is like changing the settings of your TV set by color, contrast, brightness, warmth, etc.
Under the hood, the Q60 offers a powerhouse cast of turbocharged engines and because these turbocharged engines are proven to be quite a charm for the Q60, they can be carried over to the Q50 as well. There's the 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine sourced from Mercedes-Benz and the brand new 3.0L V6 Twin Turbo engine featuring friction-reducing technologies, and new cooling and valve timing systems. In the high-end Red Sport 400 variant, that bumps up to 400HP of power while promising a 26MPG HWY fuel consumption. They;re all mated to a 7-speed automatic with Adaptive Shift Control.
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2017 Infiniti Q60 |
The Q60, as a luxury car, offers a wide array of safety tech such as Forward Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Haptic Feedback, Blind Spot Warning, and the brand new Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection. This new update alerts the driver to moving objects detected within the display image, delivering a better perspective around the driver.
The starting price for the new Infiniti Q60 is $38,950 for the 2.0L model while the 3.0L model starts at $44,300. The Red Sport 400, the one with the 400HP 3.0L V6 turbo on it, is priced at $51,300. With that pricing, that puts it within reach of rivals such as the BMW 4-Series, Audi A5, Mercedes C-Class Coupe, and the Lexus RC.
What can I say about the Q60? Well, with the concept-turned-reality design inside and out, a wide selection of turbocharged engines with no-nonsense performance, and its dynamics that really cater the driver very well, this could be one of the best luxury sport coupes ever sold to the market today and I believe that Infiniti manage to get things right to deliver a sports coupe that delivers the right amount of performance to please the car enthusiasts everywhere. I am very desperate for one of these right now.
Available colors: Dynamic Sunstone Red, Midnight Black, Majestic White, Iridium Blue, Hagane Blue, Liquid Platinum, Graphite Shadow, Black Obsidian, and Pure White.
Photo: Infiniti