Infiniti Q30 1.6t GT 2016 Review

This deceptively large hatch from Nissan’s prestige arm has all the hallmarks of a luxury car, but without the luxury brand to back it up. On the plus side, its elegant design is more attractive than the Mercedes-Benz it borrows much of its interior from and it’s a dream to drive – smooth, quiet and comfortable on the road. But what’s in a name? A fair amount, actually.

My friend recognised the logo on my Infiniti Q30 hatch immediately. It was an impressive feat, even for someone who prides himself on knowing all about cars.

I’m not ashamed to admit when I first learned I’d be driving an Infiniti I had to do a thorough Google search to acquaint myself with the Japanese brand.

“How much would you pay for it?” I asked my keen-eyed friend.

“It’s a hatch right? Maybe around $20,000?” he responded.

“Guess again,” I responded.

“No – more than $20,000? But it’s an Infiniti. If you’re paying more than $20,000 you’re kidding,” was his brutal, yet honest, retort.

When I told him it was closer to the $40,000 mark than the $20,000 mark, the only response he could muster was, “OMFG”.

Therein lies Infiniti’s main problem: it’s an Infiniti. Slap a three-pointed star on its bonnet and it would probably sell like hotcakes.

Five other people I surveyed – a mix of family and strangers – all eventually guessed the car was an Infiniti, although one originally identified it as a Mercedes, and most said they’d pay between $20,000 and $30,000.

All agreed the car’s fancy design was a drawcard, as was its roomy interior.

Five out of five wasn’t bad brand recognition for a car company that’s only been in Australia in its latest iteration for a few years. In fact, the latest Q30 itself only arrived this year.

My first impression of the car was a good one. Considering the interior bears an uncanny resemblance to a Mercedes Benz GLA-Class (they share a platform) the Infiniti has instant luxury car vibes, providing you can ignore the fabric seats.

I loved the Q30’s exterior – it’s understated and elegant and looks just as expensive and stylish as one of my other favourites (aesthetically) in this class, the Volvo V40.

The size is interesting – while it’s billed a hatch, from certain angles it looks like a small station wagon and the interior is surprisingly spacious. Back seat legroom is excellent and the boot space is impressive.

The Infiniti’s parking brake takes the cake for the most obscurely located parking brake ever. You’ll find it’s a small electric lever down below the steering wheel to your right. I sat there fumbling for an embarrassing amount of time. Plus I asked one family member to try finding it on their own and they were stumped, so I know I’m not alone.

The silver lining? It’s very unlikely your car will be stolen because no one is making a quick getaway unless they know precisely where that brake is.

The Q30 has a touchscreen entertainment system that takes a little too long to start up once the ignition is on. Once it does start up, the way the logo is displayed on the screen reminds me of Batman Begins, so that’s an added bonus for any superhero fans out there.

The entertainment system is operated by a frustratingly varied number of controls. You’ve got the touchscreen and dash controls, then the rotating control located near the gear stick for scrolling and selecting while driving. Finally, there are steering wheel controls for volume.

Whilst audio quality is excellent, irritatingly there’s no way to change the track when you’re listening to music through your phone via Bluetooth connection. Or at least, none I could find. Instead, you have to change the track on the phone itself which, obviously, is inadvisable given road rules.

In fact, despite its brand-new design, the Q30 is notably lacking in a few modern must-haves. Even in base-level models of other new cars I’ve come to expect a few things the Q30 didn’t have – keyless entry, push-button start (the ignition on the Infiniti is unnecessarily cumbersome), rear vision camera, front parking sensors and auto wipers (although there are auto headlights).

The car has a single indicator set-up and the wiper controls are also located on this indicator, which takes some getting used to. Climate control is very effective and intuitive to use, warming up (or cooling down) the entire car in a matter of seconds.

On the road the Q30 is a dream to drive. It’s smooth and quiet, although a little slow to take off. Although the advertised fuel economy is 6.0L/100km, my trip computer said I was using roughly 9.0L across my week of mostly city driving.

Visibility is all right, neither here nor there. I struggled to reverse park in the Infiniti, a problem not helped by the lack of a reverse camera. The car has parking sensors of course, but they’re not incredibly helpful. In fact, I found them surprisingly vague – they didn’t really give you a good concept of exactly how far you were from a certain obstacle until you were nearly on top of it, when they started going crazy.

I learned when a cheeky driver snuck in front of me on a freeway lane that the Infiniti also has a forward collision warning system. If you’re not expecting it, the sound the car makes is enough to cause a collision in itself.

The car also warns you when there’s a speed camera coming up, but isn’t so great with run-of-the-mill directions – something I discovered when I used the sat-nav for the first time and wound up turning it off because it was both confusing and slow.

At the end of the day, I didn’t really care that the Q30 was from a car brand lacking in street cred. I think its X factor comes from its attractive design and from the fact no one else you know will be driving it.

Would I pay nearly $40,000 for it? Well, despite my well-documented loyalty to all things Nissan, probably not. Firstly, I can’t afford it! I’m 24 years old and if I manage to scrounge together 40,000 big ones they’re going towards my unrealistic dream of property ownership.

However, aside from obvious financial limitations, I also wouldn’t buy the Infiniti because, to be honest, I’d sooner spend a little bit more to get a brand-name car.

I have a similar aversion to knock-off designer handbags. I’d rather buy the real thing and, if I can’t afford that, I’d rather buy something affordable but completely unique and appealing in its own way.

Based on aesthetics alone, it’s clear Infiniti has the ability to craft a car that’s a little more exciting and eye-catching. That might mean ditching some of its Mercedes-derived features or at least offering a more competitive price.

At the moment, it’s a solid but unremarkable option overshadowed by similarly priced peers with more-established names and loyal followings.

Take a risk, Infiniti – it might just pay off. After all, as Oscar Wilde said, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”.

It’s going to take a little bit more to get the Infiniti conversation started.

2016 Infiniti Q30 1.6t GT pricing and specifications:
Price: $38,900 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Outputs: 115kW/250Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 6.0L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 139g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP

Also consider:
>> BMW 1 Series (from $43,300 plus ORCs)
>> Audi A3 (from $40,100 plus ORCs)
>> Volvo V40 (from $36,990 plus ORCs)