2019 Infiniti QX50 Long-Term Arrival: Luxury Makeover

Before its latest redesign, the Infiniti QX50 was a hard car to recommend. The 2016 refresh added some much-needed rear legroom, but the cabin and infotainment system still felt dated, and we never quite came around to the styling. Even though we appreciated the rear-drive layout and powerful V-6, fuel economy was far from competitive.

The new QX50, though, is something completely different. It’s legitimately good-looking and boasts a standout interior. It’s built on a new front-drive-based platform. It comes with Infiniti’s latest suite of active driver aids and safety features. Oh, and it uses an ultra-advanced engine that changes its compression ratio to strike the right balance between power and fuel economy in any given situation.

In fact, the 2019 QX50 is so different, Keith St. Clair, Infiniti’s director of project strategy, called it the brand’s “most important launch ever or right up there with the Q45.” When an executive says something like that, you pay attention. Or in our case, you follow up a successful first test by adding one to the Motor Trend long-term fleet.

Once we decided to order a QX50, though, we had to figure out which one we wanted. The front-drive Pure starts at $37,545 and includes 19-inch alloy wheels, power-adjustable front seats, and keyless entry. The midlevel Luxe adds a panoramic moonroof, LED foglights, roof rails, a self-dimming rearview mirror, and blind-spot monitoring for $40,395. Topping out the range is the Essential, which starts at $44,300 and adds leather upholstery, navigation, front and rear parking sensors, a surround-view camera system, remote start, and three-zone climate control.

Ultimately, the desire to see the QX50 at its best won out over hypothetical frugality, so we ordered a QX50 Essential with all-wheel drive and loaded it up. It is a luxury vehicle, after all. But beyond that, it gives us the opportunity to figure out which options are worth the money and which ones we recommend skipping.

In addition to the QX50 Essential’s standard equipment, we added the Sensory package ($7,500), which has a long list of upgrades, including 20-inch wheels, semi-aniline leather, heated and cooled seats, and a Bose Performance Series sound system. The Autograph package ($2,000) adds quilted leather stitching and blue faux suede accents. Then there’s the ProAssist package ($550) and the ProActive package ($2,000), which add adaptive cruise control with steering assist, a suite of other active safety features, a head-up display, and a drive-by-wire steering system called Direct Adaptive Steering. To cap it all off, we added illuminated kickplates ($465) and welcome lighting ($425). That brought the price up to $59,085.

So will the QX50 prove to be as competitive a compact luxury crossover as we first thought? One month and only a few thousand miles in, I’m still a long way from having the answer. It is, however, already clear that I have a lot of questions to answer.

For example, is the powertrain as impressive as it looks on paper? How will the blue suede interior hold up? Is ProPilot Assist a legitimately helpful feature, or is it just an expensive gimmick? Perhaps most important, will all this cutting-edge technology continue to work reliably? And if not, how expensive will it be to repair?

No matter which way it goes, I look forward to finding out.

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