Infiniti is to Nissan what Lexus is to Toyota: a brand, a range and an entire network dedicated to winning over part of their clientele from the three German premium specialists. However, you cannot be blamed for never having heard of it, as its dissemination remains confidential. And not just in France. Consider that with 1,295 cars sold in Western Europe during the first eight months of the year (against 2,129 the previous year), Infiniti is behind its compatriot Lexus which, with 14,002 cars sold during the same period, however, does little better than the Jaguar XF alone (13,274 copies according to JATO Dynamics). A score that nevertheless leaves the English far from the 69,899 BMW 5 Series delivered from January to August 2013.
Infiniti is therefore starting from afar and it is because it has nothing to lose that it has decided to play the card of originality. First of all, aesthetic originality, with a Q50 sedan adorned with a bodywork with almost sensual curves. Technical originality then with a hybrid gasoline-electric variant Q50 3.5h of 364 horsepower whose vigor of accelerations and liveliness of road behavior contrast with the image of the soft ecological sedan of the knee. The instant torque of its 68 hp electric motor and the 306 hp 3.5 V6 allow lightning acceleration and a 0 to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds. That's better than the Infiniti M35h, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's fastest 0-100 km/h hybrid vehicle.
| Image © Infiniti |
The will of the Q50 to stand out from its German rivals is less obvious in its Diesel variant. It must be said that it is driven by mechanics entirely borrowed from the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Daimler being linked to Renault, Nissan and Infiniti as part of a technical and industrial joint venture. We therefore find the charmless sound of the 4-cylinder 2.2d 170 horsepower (2,143 cm3), as well as a certain hesitation of the 7-speed automatic transmission in dynamic driving.
Avant-garde technology on all floors
The "steer-by-wire" revolutionWhen you open the door of the new Infiniti Q50, your gaze is immediately drawn to the console center and its two large screens. If the first is anti-reflective, the second concentrates them. Worse, it attracts fingerprints more surely than the window of a toy store in December. Normal, it controls access to almost all the menus and on-board functions, while maintaining the map displayed on the upper screen. The readability of information gains what cleanliness loses. Handy cleaning floss obligatory!
Navigation, all-round cameras for 360° panoramic view, phone and online applications, Bose Advanced Staging audio system, intelligent cruise control, intelligent lighting, lane keeping assistance, forward collision warning and rear… The high-end equipment conforms in both their number and their richness to the criteria of the premium family segment. So, very quickly, the driving enthusiast will focus their attention on the more singular adjustment of the parameters of the steering assistance.
In a very classic way, this menu is used to modulate the effort at the wheel, the idea being that firmness equals sportiness. Except that the electrohydraulic assistance of the Infiniti Q50 tends to decrease as the pace of the vehicle decreases, which gives it in town a direction that is too heavy and too sticky, devoid of any feedback. Annoying.
But there is more confusing still. Optional thousand euros (or standard on the hybrid version), the Infiniti Q50 can be equipped with steering assistance this time purely electric (and not electrohydraulic) coupled to an electric control called DAS, for Direct Adaptive Steering .
The world's first "steer-by-wire" steering
New in mass production, the DAS system has already made a lot of noise. On paper, it combines the advantages while in use, it blows hot and cold.
| The Infiniti Q50 is the first production model to feature steering without a mechanical linkage. Image © Infiniti |
Behind the name Direct Adaptive Steering hides the first automobile application of the principle of electric control (known as "by wire" in English) that the aircraft manufacturer Airbus has generalized in the air. Beware not to be confused: it is not only a question of replacing the hydraulic assistance cylinder and its circuit by an electric motor (the process has now become the norm) but of removing the traditional mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the rack. A new step.
The DAS comprises a set of sensors that inform three computers as to the angle and speed of steering wheel turn. Two electric motors at the end of the rack are responsible for giving the wheels the required steering angle. Interest of the formula? Absolute irreversibility which results in a total absence of jolts in the steering wheel when a wheel hits an obstacle or falls into a pothole. Stronger than the Citroëns of yesteryear equipped with the famous Servo Recall Steering.
The electric control also offers new freedom to both the manufacturer and the driver to set the level of assistance and the more or less direct nature of the steering. With a little time, the driver finds his happiness between the multiple combinations of settings offered. Ironically, the DAS steering thus manages to offer a more convincing consistency than the conventional electro-hydraulic steering: light in town, it strengthens as the speed increases and not the other way around. He will just be blamed for depriving the driver of the feeling of the roadway that is expected of a sporty sedan.
| The DAS direction is configurable in all directions. But contrary to popular expression, abundance harms. Image © LQA — E. Bergerolle |
The picture darkens when the ALC (Active Lane Control) lane keeping system is engaged. The latter relies on a camera that reads the white stripes and encourages the driver to correct his trajectory by tightening the direction to one side or the other. If this system is effective and beneficial in a straight line (if not pleasant), it prints resistance in the steering wheel which becomes downright annoying on a winding road. The ALC indeed sometimes loses sight of the markings on the ground and varies in an unpredictable way the degree of assistance of the direction. The driver then has only one hurry: to deactivate the ALC, which is hardly more convincing than the similar systems of the competition.
Electric control has potential that regulations prohibit from exploiting
Electric control has another potential advantage that explains its extraordinary popularity under the hood of concept cars for the past fifteen years years: by eliminating the bulky column, it saves significant space and weight. Enough to imagine a total reconfiguration of the driving position.
In practice, however, the Infiniti Q50 retains a steering column. Because the redundancy of electronic boxes is not enough to satisfy the legislator who requires for safety reasons the maintenance of a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the main steering wheels. "We have therefore developed a backup system for the very unlikely case of a total failure", explains Takeshi Kimura, who worked for six years in the development and development of the DAS. "In the event of a failure of one of the computers, the other two take over and a warning light invites the driver to go to the dealership. It is only in the event of a total electrical failure or in the event of failure of the three computers that the emergency system comes into service. It consists of an electromagnetic clutch which closes and secures the steering wheel and the column. Normally, the latter is inoperative since the clutch opens as soon as the ignition is switched on and the rack is driven directly by its two electric motors. Steering resistance is simulated by a small electric motor."
| Image © Infiniti |
In time normal, the steering wheel of the Infiniti Q50 is no longer directly linked to the steering rack, which makes it possible to vary the steering angle of the wheels independently of the position of the steering wheel. The gear ratio thus varies from 1/9 under 40 km/h to 1/24.7 on the highway. This is both more direct than on the lowest cut and less direct than on a 4x4 with a high center of gravity.
When equipped with the famous DAS steering, the Infiniti Q50 demonstrates perfect stability on the highway and, conversely, devilish agility at crossroads and during parking maneuvers. Because it only takes two turns of the steering wheel to go from stop to stop when traveling at low speed. This enthusiasm to turn short is reminiscent of the liveliness of the Renault Laguna equipped with the piloted steering rear axle. Except that the turning circle of the Nippone does not decrease: whether or not it is equipped with DAS steering with variable reduction, the Infiniti Q50 always requires between 11.20 meters and 11.40 meters to negotiate a U-turn (depending on engine and tire size).
But there is more confusing still. The variation of the gear ratio becomes problematic in the sequences of very tight turns, when the speed of the vehicle approaches the fateful threshold of 40 km/h. Remember: the steering becomes more and more direct as the speed drops, which can be surprising in some cases. Explanations.
Throwed a little too quickly into a very tight bend, an Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD enters easily and emerges in a tasty neutral posture, even slightly oversteered if the driver puts the gas back on the gas very early. Appreciable. Things go wrong when the driver eases off in the middle of a curve or brakes in the event of unforeseen danger. As the speed drops, the steering becomes more direct: the nose of the car is then suddenly sucked inside the curve, to the point of closing the trajectory dangerously. Destabilized, the rear then begins a nice drift that the ESC corrects bluntly by sending the nose pointing this time towards the outside of the bend. The amplitude of these corrections is surprising, if not frightening, the inexperienced driver who does not expect to see the Q50 accentuate the steering by itself without the steering wheel having moved.
Infiniti Q50S Hybrid (2013)Is this defect less noticeable on the two-wheel drive Infiniti Q50S Hybrid? Alas, we did not have the time to check it. However, there is no reason to consider it since the rear-wheel drive version weighs a greater part of its total mass on the front axle. Additionally, Takeshi Kimura confirms that the amount of steering gear ratio variation is the same on all Q50s equipped with DAS steering.In the same bend negotiated at the same speed, our Infiniti Q50 2.2d Diesel equipped with a conventional direction is content to drift progressively from the four irons in a fairly neutral way. By raising the tone further, it initiates a point of understeer that the ESC transforms into a pleasurable oversteer. A beautiful drift under control whose fans of sporty driving will appreciate the spectacular side.
According to Sebastien Buemi, test driver at Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Infiniti engineers wanted to create with the Q50S Hybrid AWD "a completely different driving experience from what exists on the premium sedan market. ". The objective seems to have been achieved. It remains to be seen whether the cursor has not been pushed a little too far.
An advantageous equipment price ratio, to break into Europe
The Infiniti Q50 prides itself on being "the most customizable vehicle in its class with 96 parameters spread over 10 functions". If its direction is indeed configurable in all directions, the damping laws of its suspension are not. A surprising saving at this level of the range which recalls the good memories of the driver when he approaches a first winding road. He and his passengers would then like to be able to trade some of the flexibility of the springs (which guarantees excellent comfort on the highway) for more body support. All Infiniti Q50s are fitted with run-flat casings, the rigidity of the sidewalls of which we know does not favor the filtering of small imperfections in the road. In fact, the Q50 turns out to be rather dry at low speed on the pavement fittings, even more so the Q50S AWD Hybrid variant with all-wheel drive because of its large 19-inch wheels. This does not prevent its suspension from pumping excessively on large undulations, or even coming to a stop in a tight turn approached at high speed.
The Infiniti Q50 probably pays the price for its high mass. At 1,901 kg, the full hybrid version weighs 76 kg more than the rear-wheel-drive hybrid version and 246 kg more than its rival BMW ActiveHybride 3 with two-wheel drive. Which is 109 kg lighter than the best-equipped automatic Q50 Diesel.
| Image © LQA — E. Bergerolle |
The latter makes you pay dearly for its assets, as we know. A BMW ActiveHybrid 3 of 340 horsepower which displays a standardized combined consumption of 5.9 l / 100 km (139 g / km of CO2 and 0 to 100 km / h in 5.3 s) is displayed at 54,600 euros. The 364 horsepower Infiniti Q50S Hybrid starts at 53,540 euros with much more generous equipment and a barely higher standardized consumption of 6.2 l/100 km (144 g/km of CO2). For 56,040 euros, the Q50S AWD with permanent all-wheel drive claims an average of 6.8 l/100 km in the combined cycle (159 g/km of CO2). Both have DAS steering and line-keeping assistance at no extra charge, as well as tire pressure monitoring, hands-free access, electric seats, lighting with diodes. On the other hand, they lose the possibility of folding down the backrest of the bench seat and a significant portion of their trunk (400 liters instead of 500 liters, which remains higher than the 375 liters of a BMW ActiveHybrid 5 of higher category).
Infiniti is convinced that the Q50 is a weapon of conquest in Europe. The strategy differs from that of Lexus which, after the relative failure of its IS Diesel sedan, chose to give up this type of engine which is always more expensive to depollute in order to bet everything on the dual petrol-electric engine. The Infiniti Q50 offers the alternative and the double luxury of being able to rely on the reputation of its partner Daimler's diesel manufacturer while pulling the rug out from under BMW's feet with a more efficient hybrid.
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