2018 Infiniti Q60S 3.0t Long-Term Arrival

In a bit of Motor Trend irony, our fleet overlords have decided to trust me with what can be considered a luxury sports car in the form of a 2018 Infiniti Q60 3.0t Sport coupe. In previous updates and verdicts, I’ve professed, somewhat piously, to not having a primal need for speed. But am I susceptible to temptation? I guess we’ll see. This second-generation of the Infiniti Q60 just looks like it wants to be driven fast.

Its long, sleek, and low profile suggests a nautical weapon, and its light blue paint job reminds of a fast fish or shark. It screams “GO,” not “GROCERY.” Ideally it can do both, as this will have to be my daily driver.

Under the hood our Q60 is powered by a 3.0 liter twin-turbo V-6 that can send 300 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque to its rear wheels through a seven-speed automatic transmission, placing it in the middle of the Q60’s performance line, between the base 2.0t model and the no-doubt-about-it sports car version that is the Red Sport 400.

To bolster its sports car bona fides the Q60 also comes with 19-inch sport design wheels, paddle shifters, dynamic digital suspension, sport brakes, a drive-mode selector, and some other performance goodies, all to assist in corrupting my conservative driving persona.

On the luxury front, the white interior nicely compliments the light blue exterior with plenty of leather on the eight-way power front sport seats and steering wheel. Genuine carbon-fiber accents on the center console and doors give the interior both a lush and sporty vibe. Dual-zone automatic temperature control, heated mirrors, and a host of other aesthetic and comfort features come standard with the Q60.

The Infiniti features a 13-speaker Bose sound system with USB and aux audio connections, Bluetooth streaming, and Sirius XM–compatible radio all integrated into Infiniti’s InTouch dual-display system.

On the safety side, we’ll have plenty airbags protecting the driver and passenger from the front and the sides. Vehicle dynamic control and traction control systems with tire-specific pressure monitoring aim the keep the Q60 from ever having to deploy those airbags.

The base price for our Q60 comes in at $48,300, and to that total we added three option packages that bolster our Q60’s comfort (heated seats and steering wheel) as well as its navigation and parking functions (InTouch navigation services with Sirius XM traffic and the Around View Monitor) along with a bevy of safety additions (front and rear sonar, forward emergency braking, lane departure prevention) and many more bells and whistles I’ll call out in later updates. The three packages totaled $7,350. To that add cargo nets and illuminated kick plates for $685, and that brings us to our grand total of $57,330 for our price as tested.

So is the Q60 as sporty and classy as it thinks it is? How will I deal with driving a coupe every day? Will its sporty emphasis change my driving habits? Will I get pampered and never be able to return to the world of the nonluxury sedan? There’s one way to find out. To paraphrase Frank Booth from Blue Velvet. “Let’s hit the freakin’ road!”

Uh oh. Looks like the corruption is already taking hold.

2018 Infiniti Q60S 3.0t
BASE PRICE	$49,295
PRICE AS TESTED	$57,330
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, RWD, 4-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE	3.0L/300-hp/295-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
TRANSMISSION	7-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)	3,878 lb (58/42%)
WHEELBASE	112.2 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT	184.4 x 72.8 x 54.9 in
0-60 MPH	5.4 sec
QUARTER MILE	13.9 sec @ 101.5 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	109 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	0.93 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT	25.4 sec @ 0.73 g (avg)
REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB	20.8/31.4/24.5 mpg
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	19/28/22 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY	177/120 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	0.87 lb/mile

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