Infiniti Q30 1.5 Premium Tech Manual

For this month’s motoring review, SBT’s Motoring Correspondent, Simon Skinner reviews the Infiniti Q30

I’m still moderately fascinated by the Infiniti brand. It’s a company that seems to have crept up on us through clever marketing campaigns and elements of witchcraft; aligning themselves early on, as they did with motorsports and notably, Red Bull.

All of that seems like a distant memory now and the brand has concentrated on building cars. Decent cars at that.

It’s fair to say that they have a ‘certain’ signature style. An aesthetic mixture of class and boy racer-esque flourishes and a far cry from their parent company, Nissan’s current range.

That’s certainly the case with the Q30 anyway. The Q30 is a sort of hot-hatch in essence. I took my first look at the car in the flesh and I was transported back to my youth and days of playing cars with my good friends on the banks of the school field. Hot wheels were, and probably still are, the best toy cars around. They were well built, overstated, bullish and strong. Most importantly, they rolled for longer and were faster than all of the others. No question.

It was all down to their huge, sprung wheels and that’s what caught my attention first with the Q30; ‘those’ wheels. Someone has actually designed and recreated a fully functional, real-life Hot Wheels car. Brilliant!

These 18″ light alloys came with 5 (double) spokes and were accented with red for good measure, so looking mean and punctuated by the body shape, which only served to say, “look at my wheels” and “look at me.”

Somehow though, the design team at Infiniti have managed to refine this look, resulting in a car that boasts the aforementioned class. The Q30 carries elements of styling that wouldn’t be out of place in the Jaguar range; in fact, the front grill has a lot in common. That said, this is an entirely more curvaceous car. It looks a little bit mean and sturdy but suggests that it will look after you so far as your safety’s concerned; at the same time, bullying other cars from your path.

Jumping into the driver’s seat, it’s very quickly apparent that the car also includes an impressive variety of gadgetry; fitting of the £27,550 price tag, (£28,950 with the optional Infiniti InTouch navigation system). The seats are full of pitted leather – along with the dashboard. It has electric everything and is extremely comfortable. The interior of this car really is a good place to be; you feel cocooned, safe and sound.

Speaking of sound and importantly, there’s a 6-speaker sound system, fed by your choice of CD or smartphone connectivity; rear view camera with sensors all round, voice recognition system and automatic air conditioning. Strangely, though, no DAB radio! What’s going on there? I’ve become very used to listening to my favourite BBC 6 Music station in cars of recent times and for it to suddenly disappear, is quite disconcerting.

So what about the drive? Well, as many readers will already know, I’m not a huge fan of manually operated engines with too many gears. This 1.5, 6 manual geared car from Infiniti has a 1.5l Diesel engine and maintains my philosophy on the point. Too many gears, not enough torque in at least half of them and a need to change gear with alarming frequency.

On paper, this Q30 hits 62mph in 12 seconds but felt a little slower than that – especially with the irritating extra gear changes.

In addition and with a little help from ‘those’ wheels, the Q30 from Infiniti corners incredibly well. It sticks to the road and almost urges you to push the point when it comes to the physics of traction; (let’s not forget that we’re in the embodiment of a Hot Wheels car).

Still, it’s no sports car, and for all of the attitude and styling, I couldn’t help but feel being left a little short in the performance stakes. The look of this car promises something that simply doesn’t arrive once you enter via the space age, keyless system. The grunt isn’t there and I can’t help but think that, if Infiniti had squeezed the potential of this impressive 1.5D engine into 5 gears, it would be much more fun.

Overall, and even if it doesn’t sound too much like it, I am impressed with the Q30. It’s a solid car. Too many gears, for sure, but all-round and for the money, it’s a good choice if compared to the more expensive competitors in this space like the Volvo V40 D4 (for example). All mod cons; all except for DAB radio that is, it boasts many attributes and looking across the range, some offerings at price points that may start to give some of our more recognised manufacturers sleepless nights; Infiniti is a company that is getting it right.

 

Price (inc extras): £28,950

On sale: Now

Engine: 1461cc 4-cyl diesel

107bhp @ 4000rpm, 192lb ft @ 1750-2500rpm

Gearbox: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive

0-62mph: 12.0sec

Top speed: 118mph

Economy: 68.9mpg, 108g/km CO2