**Infiniti QX80 Review: A Smooth Ride with Some Cuts to Potholes**

The Infiniti QX80 is a new generation of luxury SUV that has been fine-tuned to provide a smooth ride and exceptional comfort. The vehicle's air suspension system, which replaces the traditional coil spring setup, offers a more comfortable and responsive driving experience. The digital suspension, available on higher trims, reads the road ahead to adjust the dampers for optimal handling in various road conditions.

I had the opportunity to test drive the QX80, and I was impressed by its smooth ride and advanced features. The vehicle's new platform is stiffer than its predecessors, providing a more dramatic driving experience, especially when cornering or navigating rough roads. However, it still feels relatively comfortable compared to some other luxury SUVs on the market.

One of the standout features of the QX80 is its adaptive suspension system, which adjusts to the road conditions in real-time to ensure a smooth ride. This feature is particularly noticeable on bumpy roads or during highway driving. The vehicle also features Infiniti's ProPilot Assist 2.0, a hands-free driving system that allows drivers to take their eyes off the road and focus on other tasks.

The QX80 also boasts an impressive infotainment system, featuring a 24-speaker sound system with 1200 W of power. The system is capable of producing clear and detailed sound, even when listening to music or voice guidance from the navigation or phone calls. Additionally, the vehicle features advanced safety features such as lane tracing adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning.

When it comes to practicality, the QX80 has some limitations. While it offers a spacious interior and comfortable seating for up to eight passengers, it still falls short of the Jeep Grand Wagoner in terms of cargo space and overall size. This may be a concern for those who need a vehicle with ample storage space.

Another competitor to consider is the Lexus LX, which shares similarities with the QX80 in terms of design, powertrain, and interior features. However, ultimately the decision comes down to individual preferences and priorities.

**Hands-Free Driving**

One of the most advanced features of the QX80 is its ProPilot Assist 2.0 system, which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel for up to a certain distance on highways. The system uses a combination of cameras, sensors, and radar to monitor the vehicle's surroundings and adjust speed and steering accordingly.

When engaged, the system will alert the driver that it is ready to take control, with a blue display on the head-up screen indicating its readiness. This feature takes some stress out of highway driving, allowing drivers to focus on other tasks or simply enjoy the ride.

**Sound System**

The QX80's sound system is another standout feature, particularly in the higher trims that come equipped with a 24-speaker setup producing 1200 W of power. The system also features headrest speakers for the front driver and passenger seats, providing an immersive audio experience.

The sound system can be customized to prioritize music playback or voice guidance from the navigation or phone calls. While I found the Macintosh stereo in the Jeep Grand Wagoner to be impressive, I would need to test drive the QX80 further to truly appreciate its capabilities.

**Is Infinity Worth $100,000?**

The Infiniti QX80's premium price tag of over $100,000 may raise some eyebrows. While the vehicle has made significant strides in terms of technology and comfort, it still falls short of some of its competitors in certain areas.

Ultimately, whether or not the QX80 is worth the investment depends on individual priorities and preferences. If you value advanced features, luxurious amenities, and exceptional comfort above all else, then the QX80 may be worth considering.

However, if cargo space, overall size, or practicality are top of mind, there may be better options available in the luxury SUV market.

**Competitor Comparison**

The Lexus LX is a direct competitor to the Infiniti QX80, offering similar design, powertrain, and interior features. However, the decision ultimately comes down to individual preferences and priorities.

While both vehicles share similarities, they each have their unique strengths and weaknesses. The QX80's ProPilot Assist 2.0 system and advanced safety features may give it an edge in terms of tech and innovation, but its cargo space and overall size may be a concern for some buyers.

On the other hand, the LX offers more practicality and versatility, making it an excellent choice for those who prioritize storage space or want a more laid-back driving experience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enInfiniti finally has an allnew full-sized luxury SUV to compete with the latest competitors from Cadillac Jeep Lexus and Lincoln and perhaps even BMW or Mercedes the 2025 QX80 is a groundup redesign of one of the Brand's most iconic and revered models and the price certainly Rises with the added levels of luxury let's check it out so yes while the new QX80 is more expensive than before infinity tells us that its lowest two trims are now comparably equipped to the outgoing model's most expensive trim the prices on your screen include the $1,995 destination fee we are only getting to drive the tiptop autograph trim on this drive which comes standard with every new feature Infiniti has thrown at this thing heated third row seats heated and ventilated massaging first and second row Captain's chairs their level two hands-free propilot assist 2.1 system the clips reference 24 speaker audio system an exterior light show they call Infinity Light path an air suspension and dynamic digital suspension and Nissan and infiniti's new Android automotive infotainment system with Google built in there's actually a lot more than that but I need to catch my breath don't worry Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto are both standard and like every other iteration of this system you do get built-in Google Maps and Google Assistant as well as the ability to download apps from the Google Play Store such as Spotify and ways but since this is not an electric car from GM I presume you'll just stick to tethering your phone the infotainment system has a few other features and Camera views that make it easier to park the car and to have a more enjoyable road trip experience for example there is that super wide front camera view like you saw in the opening shot that helps with seeing things that you might not be able to in front of that massive nose like a C8 Corvette with its memory linked suspension lift system you can geotag spots where this camera will always pop up on your screen in case you regularly Park in a difficult spot and you don't want to run over any valuable items like children there are also the usual Bird's eyee and Hood views you'll find in other luxury cars and even some non-luxury cars it even has a built-in dash cam that features a separate selfie camera you can use to record carpool karaoke and whatever else you might want to memorialize from your time in the car you can fold all of the rear seats up or down from here open your garage and control the comprehensive ambient lighting the only two complaints I would file here are the fact that this UI though sharp and snappy looks a little too much like what you might find in a Nissan product though to be fair Lexus uses a nearly carbon copy of Toyota's audio multimedia system in its products too also those cameras are cool but the stitching of the multiple angles and the overall quality doesn't seem to keep up with what others are putting out there oh and I guess I'll complain about the separation of the two screens here in the middle I do hope that in a future update Infiniti picks up the same supplier Genesis has used for its latest Interiors so that we can have a full wide screen in here as far as the interior goes Infinity clearly did a lot to make sure this felt elevated over the outgoing QX80 and it absolutely feels like the fanciest Infinity that they've ever made and while I'm pretty impressed with what they've done there are some areas where you know there are materials that are hard where other competitors might have soft stuff now keep in mind this is a pre-production model so some of that might change but on the back of the seats this is soft but a lot of the materials down lower on the door panels and in the cabin are completely hard plastic I'm also not a huge fan of the excessive use of piano black plastic up front on the dashboard but that could be a personal taste to thing I'm just not a huge fan of it because well it gets scratched easily I do think this is still a step above what you'll find in the Lexus LX and Lincoln Navigator though the automatic biometric heating and cooling system is a unique feature and the fit and finish overall is topnotch you get powered seats with the heating cooling and massaging on the upper trims but the lowest two trims are still available with the bench back here if you want a passenger cap capacity cargo space is generous but not as big as a grand Wagoner Escalade ESV or Navigator L even the standard length versions of those models are bigger than this the closest competitor in size and shape would probably be that Lexus LX for 2025 there's 6% more overall cargo space than before here in the QX80 177% more behind the second row and 28% more behind the third row the third row also feels much more accommodating than before and on top trims you get heated seats the new power plant in the qx8 follows a common Trend there is no longer a big V8 Under This Hood it is now a new Nissan sourced 3.5 L twin turbo V6 making a lot more power than the old V8 450 horsepower 516 lbet of torque it's made it to a new 9-speed automatic transmission well not a brand new one but one of Nissan's newer NSP speeds and that replaces the old seven-speed and it definitely feels like it shifts quicker and is a little bit smoother than that old transmission the switch to the twin turbo V6 from the V8 does yield improved fuel economy figures but not quite as much as you'd expect you now have 16 MP gon in the city 20 on the highway and 18 combined for rear wheel drive models and 15 City 19 Highway 17 combined for the four-wheel drive models this engine also enables up to 8,500 lb of Towing which is a little bit better than a Cadillac Escalade but less than the regular Jeep Wagoner if you do go for the more luxurious Grand wagon ear this does beat that out by a little bit and is a closer competitor to this anyway it's important to note that we are in the top autograph trim which does give you the air suspension and the digital suspension that is their version of an Adaptive suspension that reads the road ahead to adjust the dampers to give you a smooth ride in all road service conditions and I I can feel it working it's definitely a pretty smooth experience but you do still feel Jitters in the road if the pavement is a little bit rougher than usual uh however the air suspension is nice because we don't really crash over uh big undulations in the road and the body roll is pretty well controlled Infinity actually wants us to push this in the corners so I'm going to do that right now this all new platform that the QX80 rides on is much stiffer than the outgoing models and you definitely feel that out on the road especially one like this this feels a little bit more dramatic than before perhaps not quite as dramatic as the actual Germans but close enough that I think it does allow you to justify the higher price of this new generation also on sensory and autograph trims you get infiniti's new propilot assist 2.1 hands-free Drive Assist it is mainly restricted to highways right now it's not going to be as expansive as super cruise from GM but it is a level two system so once it is engaged I can actually take my hands off the wheel but I have to keep my eyes on the road just like any other level two system unlike super Cruise though there is no handsfree Lane change assist you do actually have to put your hands back on the Wheel to do that but it does still assist you in that process taking the stress out of highway driving all right so I've taken my hands off the wheel the system in front of me on the head-up display and the instrument cluster will turn blue that's how you know that it is engaged or it is ready to engage so all I have to do now is uh just keep my eyes on the road stop looking over at you and enjoy the ride if you don't get a car with the 2.1 system you will still have propilot 1.1 that is a level one Hands-On system but it's a pretty Advanced one it'll still do the lane tracing adaptive cruise Lane keeping assist all of that stuff that you're used to and it will also not require you to have to like jiggle the steering wheel every time you take your hands off the wheel and you you know want to do that intermittently some cars will make you do that whole like to let it know this you actually only have to just tap the steering wheel it has haptic feedback and it has a sensor in there that only only looks for the touch of your hand so that's nice compared to some other systems out there as we come to a stop here the last thing I'll point out is the new clips reference sound system on the sensory and autograph trims you get a 24 speaker version of this lower trims will get a 14 speaker one with 600 WTS this one's 1200 WTS and is very very powerful we even have headrest speakers for the front driver and passenger you can actually set the sound system to only play music up front which you've seen in other cars before but that actually also directs the music you hear into these speakers otherwise it's mainly used for voice guidance from the navigation or other like things like Bluetooth phone calls for the driver uh specific driver or passenger situations like that it's pretty cool I will say though I think the Macintosh stereo in the Jeep Grand Wagoner is a little bit more impressive than what I've heard in this so far but I'd have to take it home for more testing to really get a good idea of how this sounds the 25 QX80 goes on sale at the end of July but before you decide on pulling the trigger you'll need to ask yourself a few important questions is any Infinity worth over $100,000 this is the first one to ever do it and while I do think they have made a bunch of cool changes that help justify that premium there's a lot of technology in here that is not quite as polished as what you'll find in a Cadillac Escalade or Jeep Grand Wagoner you'll also have to ask yourself is it big enough a grand Wagoner completely dwarfs this especially especially in cargo and the third row so if that is something that's important to you yeah you might want to go look over there instead I think the closest competitor to this is the Lexus LX it's similarly designed shaped it has a very similar powertrain and a very similar interior it's of course always up to you to decide what your heart desires in your next vehicle I can't tell you what that is I can only help guide you so with that thank you so much for watching and we'll see you on the next one ohInfiniti finally has an allnew full-sized luxury SUV to compete with the latest competitors from Cadillac Jeep Lexus and Lincoln and perhaps even BMW or Mercedes the 2025 QX80 is a groundup redesign of one of the Brand's most iconic and revered models and the price certainly Rises with the added levels of luxury let's check it out so yes while the new QX80 is more expensive than before infinity tells us that its lowest two trims are now comparably equipped to the outgoing model's most expensive trim the prices on your screen include the $1,995 destination fee we are only getting to drive the tiptop autograph trim on this drive which comes standard with every new feature Infiniti has thrown at this thing heated third row seats heated and ventilated massaging first and second row Captain's chairs their level two hands-free propilot assist 2.1 system the clips reference 24 speaker audio system an exterior light show they call Infinity Light path an air suspension and dynamic digital suspension and Nissan and infiniti's new Android automotive infotainment system with Google built in there's actually a lot more than that but I need to catch my breath don't worry Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto are both standard and like every other iteration of this system you do get built-in Google Maps and Google Assistant as well as the ability to download apps from the Google Play Store such as Spotify and ways but since this is not an electric car from GM I presume you'll just stick to tethering your phone the infotainment system has a few other features and Camera views that make it easier to park the car and to have a more enjoyable road trip experience for example there is that super wide front camera view like you saw in the opening shot that helps with seeing things that you might not be able to in front of that massive nose like a C8 Corvette with its memory linked suspension lift system you can geotag spots where this camera will always pop up on your screen in case you regularly Park in a difficult spot and you don't want to run over any valuable items like children there are also the usual Bird's eyee and Hood views you'll find in other luxury cars and even some non-luxury cars it even has a built-in dash cam that features a separate selfie camera you can use to record carpool karaoke and whatever else you might want to memorialize from your time in the car you can fold all of the rear seats up or down from here open your garage and control the comprehensive ambient lighting the only two complaints I would file here are the fact that this UI though sharp and snappy looks a little too much like what you might find in a Nissan product though to be fair Lexus uses a nearly carbon copy of Toyota's audio multimedia system in its products too also those cameras are cool but the stitching of the multiple angles and the overall quality doesn't seem to keep up with what others are putting out there oh and I guess I'll complain about the separation of the two screens here in the middle I do hope that in a future update Infiniti picks up the same supplier Genesis has used for its latest Interiors so that we can have a full wide screen in here as far as the interior goes Infinity clearly did a lot to make sure this felt elevated over the outgoing QX80 and it absolutely feels like the fanciest Infinity that they've ever made and while I'm pretty impressed with what they've done there are some areas where you know there are materials that are hard where other competitors might have soft stuff now keep in mind this is a pre-production model so some of that might change but on the back of the seats this is soft but a lot of the materials down lower on the door panels and in the cabin are completely hard plastic I'm also not a huge fan of the excessive use of piano black plastic up front on the dashboard but that could be a personal taste to thing I'm just not a huge fan of it because well it gets scratched easily I do think this is still a step above what you'll find in the Lexus LX and Lincoln Navigator though the automatic biometric heating and cooling system is a unique feature and the fit and finish overall is topnotch you get powered seats with the heating cooling and massaging on the upper trims but the lowest two trims are still available with the bench back here if you want a passenger cap capacity cargo space is generous but not as big as a grand Wagoner Escalade ESV or Navigator L even the standard length versions of those models are bigger than this the closest competitor in size and shape would probably be that Lexus LX for 2025 there's 6% more overall cargo space than before here in the QX80 177% more behind the second row and 28% more behind the third row the third row also feels much more accommodating than before and on top trims you get heated seats the new power plant in the qx8 follows a common Trend there is no longer a big V8 Under This Hood it is now a new Nissan sourced 3.5 L twin turbo V6 making a lot more power than the old V8 450 horsepower 516 lbet of torque it's made it to a new 9-speed automatic transmission well not a brand new one but one of Nissan's newer NSP speeds and that replaces the old seven-speed and it definitely feels like it shifts quicker and is a little bit smoother than that old transmission the switch to the twin turbo V6 from the V8 does yield improved fuel economy figures but not quite as much as you'd expect you now have 16 MP gon in the city 20 on the highway and 18 combined for rear wheel drive models and 15 City 19 Highway 17 combined for the four-wheel drive models this engine also enables up to 8,500 lb of Towing which is a little bit better than a Cadillac Escalade but less than the regular Jeep Wagoner if you do go for the more luxurious Grand wagon ear this does beat that out by a little bit and is a closer competitor to this anyway it's important to note that we are in the top autograph trim which does give you the air suspension and the digital suspension that is their version of an Adaptive suspension that reads the road ahead to adjust the dampers to give you a smooth ride in all road service conditions and I I can feel it working it's definitely a pretty smooth experience but you do still feel Jitters in the road if the pavement is a little bit rougher than usual uh however the air suspension is nice because we don't really crash over uh big undulations in the road and the body roll is pretty well controlled Infinity actually wants us to push this in the corners so I'm going to do that right now this all new platform that the QX80 rides on is much stiffer than the outgoing models and you definitely feel that out on the road especially one like this this feels a little bit more dramatic than before perhaps not quite as dramatic as the actual Germans but close enough that I think it does allow you to justify the higher price of this new generation also on sensory and autograph trims you get infiniti's new propilot assist 2.1 hands-free Drive Assist it is mainly restricted to highways right now it's not going to be as expansive as super cruise from GM but it is a level two system so once it is engaged I can actually take my hands off the wheel but I have to keep my eyes on the road just like any other level two system unlike super Cruise though there is no handsfree Lane change assist you do actually have to put your hands back on the Wheel to do that but it does still assist you in that process taking the stress out of highway driving all right so I've taken my hands off the wheel the system in front of me on the head-up display and the instrument cluster will turn blue that's how you know that it is engaged or it is ready to engage so all I have to do now is uh just keep my eyes on the road stop looking over at you and enjoy the ride if you don't get a car with the 2.1 system you will still have propilot 1.1 that is a level one Hands-On system but it's a pretty Advanced one it'll still do the lane tracing adaptive cruise Lane keeping assist all of that stuff that you're used to and it will also not require you to have to like jiggle the steering wheel every time you take your hands off the wheel and you you know want to do that intermittently some cars will make you do that whole like to let it know this you actually only have to just tap the steering wheel it has haptic feedback and it has a sensor in there that only only looks for the touch of your hand so that's nice compared to some other systems out there as we come to a stop here the last thing I'll point out is the new clips reference sound system on the sensory and autograph trims you get a 24 speaker version of this lower trims will get a 14 speaker one with 600 WTS this one's 1200 WTS and is very very powerful we even have headrest speakers for the front driver and passenger you can actually set the sound system to only play music up front which you've seen in other cars before but that actually also directs the music you hear into these speakers otherwise it's mainly used for voice guidance from the navigation or other like things like Bluetooth phone calls for the driver uh specific driver or passenger situations like that it's pretty cool I will say though I think the Macintosh stereo in the Jeep Grand Wagoner is a little bit more impressive than what I've heard in this so far but I'd have to take it home for more testing to really get a good idea of how this sounds the 25 QX80 goes on sale at the end of July but before you decide on pulling the trigger you'll need to ask yourself a few important questions is any Infinity worth over $100,000 this is the first one to ever do it and while I do think they have made a bunch of cool changes that help justify that premium there's a lot of technology in here that is not quite as polished as what you'll find in a Cadillac Escalade or Jeep Grand Wagoner you'll also have to ask yourself is it big enough a grand Wagoner completely dwarfs this especially especially in cargo and the third row so if that is something that's important to you yeah you might want to go look over there instead I think the closest competitor to this is the Lexus LX it's similarly designed shaped it has a very similar powertrain and a very similar interior it's of course always up to you to decide what your heart desires in your next vehicle I can't tell you what that is I can only help guide you so with that thank you so much for watching and we'll see you on the next one oh\n"