Boy, I have a beauty for you this week, especially if you like large, luxury, SUVs. It is the all-new, completely redesigned for 2025 Infiniti QX80. It has been a decade since Infiniti did a huge re-do of its flagship SUV, but it was worth the wait. For a long time, people have basically chosen between the Escalade and Navigator, some opted for the Jeep Wagoneer, and now the decision became a little more difficult.
My beautiful review vehicle is the Sensory edition, which is the next to the top-of-the-line. The QX80 comes in four trim levels starting with the Pure, the Luxe, the Sensory which is this week’s review vehicle, and finally the Autograph, the pinnacle of the lineup.
Exterior
Starting with the exterior, the QX80 retained its roots as boxy, but designers did a wonderful job making it look more modern, less top-heavy, and sleeker.
LED lighting illuminates the front and rear, and a new grill features a lit Infiniti emblem. 22” machined aluminum alloy wheels are monstrous and beautiful, and I love the addition of pop-out door handles as you approach the SUV.
This QX80 features a beautiful Grand Blue paint scheme, and a large spoiler finishes off the rear, and yes, you know I love it when the rear wiper is tucked nicely underneath the spoiler.
Powertrain
A lot has changed under the hood, too. You V8 lovers will be bummed, but it’s time for us all to get on the efficiency band wagon. Like so many other big pickups and SUVs, the QX80 now has a 3.5-liter V6 with twin-turbos and a 9-speed shiftable automatic transmission. The numbers are impressive: 450-horses and 516 pound-feet of torque. This 5,600-pound SUV will get up and go when you bear down on the gas pedal. If you are keeping score, that is 50-horses more than the old, antiquated V8, and a very noticeable 103 more pound-feet of torque.
Interior
Open any door to reveal a truly outstanding interior. The diamond-quilted leather power seats are just beautiful. They are heated and air conditioned and will even massage you, and you can control the intensity of the massage. The interior attention to detail is impressive, especially across the dash into the door panels. There is laser-etched aluminum accenting the leather materials across the entire SUV and it is a work of art.
There is a 14-inch digital gauge cluster that you can configure from the steering wheel. You can get a lot of information from the driver info center and can access settings for the safety systems and a myriad of other settings. There is a large round tachometer on the left side, and a large round speedometer to the right side. Gauges are colorful and easy to read, and the layout can be changed if you choose to.
Center dash is another 14-inch touchscreen that operates the 1200-watt 24-speaker Klipsch sound system, which is astounding by the way. It also controls the Google navigation, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, wireless Android Auto, wireless Apple CarPlay, Google Assistant, Alexa, and one of the better back up camera systems I’ve seen. It even comes with a built-in dash cam feature, which I would personally have on 100% of the time There is a huge head-up display on the windshield that has traffic sign recognition.
A little more about the Klipsch sound system: It offers Individual Audio, leveraging the beautiful metal-trimmed speakers mounted to the front seat headrests. When enabled, Individual Audio allows for focusing only certain audio elements – such as navigation directions, music, or phone calls – just to the driver's seat. For example, the driver can make a phone call while passengers continue listening to music, or the driver could listen to a favorite playlist and hear map guidance without disturbing those sleeping in the rear seats. Brilliant!
More about this amazing camera system: It has an Invisible Hood View, which uses advanced image processing to take footage from the vehicle's exterior cameras to project an image of what's directly underneath the vehicle onto the in-car displays. The result is as if you can see right through the engine bay, helping spot curbs in narrow drive-through lanes, car wash tracks and lots of other hard-to-spot obstacles on the ground. It’s about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
28” of screens not enough across the dash ? NO WORRIES. There is another 9” touchscreen that is part of the center console that operates the climate control system, and the heated and cooled seats. It is simple to operate and not distracting. Just below that are PRND buttons. They look great and make it simple to go from park, to reverse or neutral, and if you hit the drive button twice, you can shift the QX from the steering wheel paddles. To the right of the tranny buttons is one button to raise and lower the entire vehicle, and another to activate the surround-view cameras. By the way, this steering wheel is beautiful, has a ton of detail, is flat-bottomed, and feels really great in your hands. Oh, it’s heated and power tilting and telescoping, of course.
Second row occupants are going to be really happy campers. The second row captain’s chairs are very comfortable. Get this: In a segment-first, the QX80 has Biometric Cooling technology that works with the Tri-Zone Climate Control System to monitor each passenger’s individual temperature, adjusting automatically for optimal comfort. The two captain chairs are heated and cooled, they are power adjusting, and they recline. There is another screen back there, on top of the big center console to control the seats, and rear passengers control their own temperature, they have USB-C ports and a 12-volt charging outlet. People in back will want for nothing.
Second row captain’s chairs slide electronically to make it simple to get to the third row. Once seated, there is room is good for two good-sized adults, or three kiddos, there are USBs for them, there are air vents in the ceiling, the 3rd row seat power reclines, and in a rarity, it is also heated! Leg and headroom are exceptional.
Cargo area is ample at best behind the third row, but there is storage underneath, and the third-row seats fold down with the push of a button from the rear. The same goes for the second row seats, and when all is said and done, you have 101-cubic feet of cargo area with a flat load floor.
While you are back there, you can raise and lower the QX for ease of loading, and there is a 110-volt power outlet. This is a great setup all around and I wouldn’t trade the 3rd row seat room for more cargo, but that’s just me.
This Sensory edition virtually comes with everything you can think of, including a panoramic moon roof with a power sliding cover, a power hands-free liftgate, remote start, electronic rearview camera mirror, front and rear parking sensors, trailer hitch and wiring hookup, air suspension, welcome lighting, 64-color ambient lighting, and much more.
On the safety front, you get predictive forward collision warning with emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, a terrific rearview camera with rear cross traffic alert, and rear automatic braking. For a hefty charge, you get the Pro Pilot Assist 2.1, which is a hands-on driver assist system that combines Nissan's Intelligent Cruise Control and Steering Assist technologies and includes a stop and hold function that can bring the vehicle to a full stop, hold in place, and can bring you back up to speed when traffic starts moving again. It works terrific. It has blind spot warning to cover the length of your trailer if you are towing. The semi-autonomous driving system works well.
Options include the $3,200 Pro Pilot Assist, so if you don’t care about a semi-self-driving system, save that money. It also has the Interior Lighting package which is lit scuff plates in rear, and extra lighting in the headliner for $1,020 and umbrella holder for $355, and the paint will set you back $695.
Ride and Drive
This SUV is incredibly quiet inside, and the ride and handling are about as good as anything I’ve ever driven. The steering is responsive, acceleration is really good, and it will tow 8,500 pounds. This is a true large, luxury SUV all the way. Infiniti thought of everything.'
Fuel economy is 16 in town, 19 on the highway, and 17 overall, but I am getting slightly more without really trying. MSRP is $107,215 on this ultra-loaded SUV. That’s a lot of money, especially if you haven’t shopped lately in the large, luxury, SUV category. I reviewed a Jeep Grand Wagoneer two years ago that was almost $110,000 and a Navigator last year that was over $120,000. Escalade comparably equipped tops them all.
This is an outstanding SUV, the folks at Infiniti have a real home run here.
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