Sunday, July 6, 2014

THE 2014 INFINITY Q50S HYBRID

The 2014 Infiniti Q50S Hybrid steps up the tech for good fuel economy, handling, driver-assistance features, and cabin infotainment in a premium sport sedan.

Powered by the Q70 Hybrid's 3.5-liter V-6 and electric motor combo, the 2014 Q50S Hybrid is the most potent member of the Q50 lineup. Its drivetrain is good for a combined 360 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque – 32 horsepower more than the non-hybrid Q50. As is the case with the rest of the Q50 lineup, power is routed through a seven-speed automatic.

As comfortable, capable, and confidently styled as this new Q50S is, ours, optioned to the hilt with electronic elves, kept us at a robotic arm’s length, never really pulling us into the fun as it pulsed and lurched and shivered to its own internal programming. The computers have moved in and taken over. Are you a driver or a passenger? In the Q50 hybrid, you’re both.

Now that Infiniti has scrambled its model designations, converting a dull but familiar roster of part numbers into a new and thus confusing roster of part numbers, the Q50 succeeds the G35 and G37. Except that the newly created and christened Infiniti Motor Company Limited still produces the said G37 as an automatic-only, reduced-content stripper, at least through the end of this year and possibly beyond. Why? Its dealers need a placekeeper in the important circa-$35,000/sub-$300-lease-payment arena while they await a smaller sedan, not due for another two years.

The Q50 starts at $37,605 for a base rear-drive model and, as does its competitors, heads past $40,000 fast. The Q50 hybrid begins at $44,855 and hits $50,000 quicker than its 13.8-second quarter-mile run. The Q50S you see here carting its copper around Copper Harbor packs a $5000 whopper of a “Deluxe Technology package,” which helped boost its bottom line to $53,655. And this one doesn’t even have four-wheel drive, available on all Q50s for $1800.

The tech package offers a new technology for today's electronic systems, most intended to studiously keep you out of danger, including: Moving Object Detection, Distance Control Assist, Blind-Spot Intervention,  Predictive Forward Collision Warning,Backup Collision Intervention, Forward Collision Warning, ,Forward Emergency Braking, and Lane Departure Prevention with Active Lane Control. If you predict that you will need a warning of every approaching threat to feel secure, this is your must-have package.

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