Infiniti QX50 Concept heads for Detroit guided by next-gen semi-autonomous tech

[themanfromvlad]

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/infi ... mous-tech/

Not sure how I feel about the new styling (It's hard to top the current EX35/37/QX50 styling) but it's good to see the tech that's being added.

[Bocatrip]

The new and improved QX50 certainly looks great, but I'm sticking with the older technology and proven mechanics of the 2017 QX50 which I plan on purchasing within a few months. I'm not really interested in a 4 cylinder turbo and possibly a FWD as well.

[XIS]

its pretty amazing what they can do with a 4 cyl turbo.... My 1st gen RDX with just Hondata reflash done to the ECU screamed. I shocked many other cars that tried to get by me on a merging lane or an on-ramp... but MPG was dismal (13-15 mpg if you drove it like it was meant to be driven) That was 2007... Fast forward 10 yrs
The Mercedes 4 cyl turbo in their A45 AMG model is more than amazing without any tuning. 381 HP and 40 MPG... Seriously? Who wouldn't want that?

[NJGuy]

I don't think that a 4 cyl turbo engine is a bad thing. Sure, a 2.0 turbo does have lots of tuning potential and can even be great on the factory tune (like the AMG XIS mentioned, or something like the 2.0 Ecoboost in the Mustang/Focus RS). Moving away from the performance side of things, 2.0 turbo engines seem to be good powerplants for daily driving. They typically are tuned to have a nice and flat torque curve and can be efficient as long as the car is driven reasonably. They've also seemed to become quite ubiquitous; Infiniti, Mercedes, BMW, VW/Audi, Ford, GM, and Hyundai/Kia put out a 2.0 turbo in a good number of their models. There are probably other automakers that have done so as well that I've missed.

My biggest concern with the turbo 4 cyl in the next QX50 is that it's the brand new variable compression engine. It looks like this is their first time they're using an engine with this technology, so I would definitely expect a few growing pains to accompany it in its first iteration.

I do agree that the QX50 would lose quite a bit of character if it switches to a FWD vs. a RWD based platform, but I don't think I've seen which direction Infiniti is leaning towards. Whether or not it goes FWD, the car does have potential to be a big seller as I beleive the luxury compact/midsize crossover market still has room to grow. I think it depends on how much marketing support the the new generation model gets. The EX35/37 got virtually zero marketing from Infiniti, and the low sales numbers reflected that. I don't think I had seen a commercial for the car until 2016, when it was the tweaked, extended wheelbase QX50 and already over 8 years old. The sales numbers did jump quite a bit in 2016 when compared to prior years.