The 2017 Infiniti Q60: Entry Level Luxury and Sports Car At An Excellent Price
Guest Contributor
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The New Q60 is a Big Sexy Coupe
We could start with the fact that as much as I would love for Kit Harrington to sell me a car, I’d be naïve to allow Jon Snow from the Game of Thrones to attempt to sell me a car, even though Infiniti’s clever advertising is simply is a poetic piece of marketing. That said, Infiniti created an impressive impression, much as they did with the redesign of the 2017 Infiniti Q60 sports coupe. The new Q60 is a sleek sexy coupe with an approachable price tag.
The overall interior design is beautiful. The lines are sexy and sleek. The exterior lines of the car are stunning: the shoulders are strong; the double-arched grill is sleek and sculpted. It’s elegant and strong, and well priced, starting at $39,000 and topping out at about $54,000. It has appeal for both men and women, much like Kit Harrington.
It’s Not Just Sexy, It’s a Performer
I recently spent a weekend outside of San Diego driving the newly redesigned 2017 Infiniti Q60 to see how well the new lightweight, sophisticated 3.0-liter V6 twin turbo engine performs. This third generation of the Infiniti sports coupe doesn’t disappoint performance-wise. I took the Q60 through the wine country hills of southern California and experienced some of what she has to offer in terms of performance and suspension. The 400-hp 3.0-liter twin turbo V6 Red Sports 400 model certainly has some pick up and makes zero to 60 mph feel quite fast at about 4 seconds. This entry-level luxury sports car is lower, more powerful, and more efficient than its predecessor. One of the things I was really impressed with was the handling. The Q60 features the company’s new Dynamic Digital Suspension adaptive system that delivers a luxury feel while handling tight curves more like a race car.
When you see this grille, you know something sexy is on its way. Photo: Jana Seitzer
Taking a Break from my Mom Car
Driving through the hills of wine country I nearly forgot that I have four kids. Without four kids, I would love to own this car. The way it handled was dreamy. You get behind the wheel and power whisks you away from the mundane in your life. This coupe is sexy. So sexy in fact I wanted people to notice me while driving this sports coupe. Mom car what? Not a chance. I REALLY didn’t want to give the keys back at the end of the day. This is the kind of car I would drive to meetings and appointments when I didn’t have to haul the kids around. If I were in the market to own a third car that wasn’t a mom vehicle, this would definitely be toward the top of the list.
The 2017 Infiniti Q60 is sexy coming and going. Photo: Jana Seitzer
Who This Car Is For
During the drive, as much as I liked the way this Q60 handled overall (honestly, I could have kept driving for a few more hours—the seats are extremely comfortable with all of their micro adjustments), I thought a lot about who this car is targeted to:
- Drivers who are upgrading to their first luxury car
- Buyers who want a luxury car at a non-luxury price; base model pricing starts at about $39,000
- Buyers in the market for a fully-satisfying luxury sports car; the model I tested was priced at $53,000 for the AWD Red Sports 400 model (all wheel drive, 400-hp, twin turbo 3.0 liter V6, exhaust tip design)
- Drivers who only occasionally have passengers in the second row
- Singles or couples
- Early adopters who love to be the first with a cool new thing
- Urban drivers who need agility and flexibility in the city
- Drivers who love a performance driving experience
Surprisingly, there’s no stick shift version available, it’s all automatic. Photo: Jana Seitzer
What’s Missing From This Design
I thought it interesting that Infiniti has eliminated the manual option in this car. You can no longer buy a version with a stick shift. If you’re dead set on a sports car with a manual option, this won’t be the car you choose. This is honestly the biggest deterrent for me. The lack of a stick option kind of boggles my mind.
There were also some minor yet seemingly obvious features missing from the interior design. While the interior has gorgeous lines and a stunning interior overall, there is nowhere to put a phone except in the cup holder or the glove box. You could barely fit a hand in the one teeny compartment we can only assume was designed for the key fob. If you are a woman, your handbag has to go on the backseat or floor behind your seat if you are traveling with a companion.
Many of the buttons of the gauges and buttons didn’t feel as special as the rest of the car, especially for the price of the car given it’s a luxury vehicle with a lot of thought put into so much of the rest of the design, both inside and out. I also found dual screen infotainment center difficult to navigate, but this is something I struggle with on all Infiniti vehicles.
Ladies, the purse will need to go in the back seat if you have a passenger along. Photo: Jana Seitzer
The Pluses
It’s sexy. Did I mention that? The trunk space and cargo room are quite expansive for the size of the vehicle; you can easily fit luggage for a weekend and beyond in the trunk of the car, and the back seats fold down if you want to haul something long. While I was out experiencing the back roads of California wine country I could have easily thrown a few cases of wine in the trunk. The back seat while small, is still plenty big enough to fit passengers. You wouldn’t want to pack in two adults for a weekend, but you can easily cart your girlfriends for a night on the town or a wine tasting adventure and no one will lose circulation in their legs. The back seat was fairly easy to get in and out of, considering.
I listened to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton on the Bose 13-speaker sound system while roaming southern California; maybe I should have had Kit Harrington purring in my ears instead.
I’d love to own this car and I’d be excited to walk up to its powerful elegance in a parking lot and say, “Yes, that is MY sexy coupe over there.” And if Kit is behind the wheel? Well, he’s just going to have to hand me the keys.
Sexy in every color! Photo: Jana Seitzer
Jana Seitzer is a mom to four kids (including twins), owner of a marketing/communications and graphic designer firm, and freelance photographer. She runs on coffee, good food, wine, and life. Recently relocated to Oregon from the East Coast, she loves to travel both with her family and on her own. She’s always ready for the next adventure.