Roadtripping in my dream car – Infiniti QX70 S Design

Years ago, must have been in 2007, I saw a car parked near my apartment building in Krakow. I couldn’t stop staring at it. That was pre-smartphones so I couldn’t take a photo and ask the world – what is this beauty? The rest of the way home I was chanting to myself fx35-fx35-fx35, so I remember what I’m supposed to look for in google. That was the day I discovered the brand Infiniti, fell in love and didn’t stop loving them since (even though I’ve never been inside any Infiniti car).

Last October everything has changed. No, I didn’t stop loving Infiniti. Quite the opposite. I was given the opportunity to take one for a road trip. MY OWN INFINITI! (well, not quite my own, but let’s not burst my bubble, it was my OWN for 5 days, ok?)

We were given QX70 S Design – which has an almost identical look to the old fx35. It’s one of the newest models in the Infiniti family and truly is my dream car.

Sitting in the comfy, leather passenger chair, made me a little bit sad. I should finally get my driver licence… – I was thinking for most of the trip envious of Hubby being able to drive MY car. At least, I was able to focus on the car itself. So, from my perspective: there’s enough space to hand-dance, the sound system is very good, the built-in navigation is ok, but the search & location setup is lengthy and annoying. After 8-ish hour drive, I was very grateful for the cooling system in the seats but would appreciate it more if there was a massage option.

From Hubby’s perspective:

I’m not a typical car-guy, as in I don’t care much about numbers and statistics when it comes to cars. I care about comfort and experience. In that department Infiniti delivers, as you’d expect from a circa $100k car. The car was quiet, accelerated quickly when needed and was equally pleasant to drive on the highway (Bruce Highway must be one of the most boring roads in Victoria) as well as on smaller streets in the city or in Blue Mountains.

It was also the first time I drove a car with adaptive cruise control and let me tell you, I love it. Having to constantly adjust the speed as the cars in front of you accelerate and slow down ever so slightly sounds like a minor annoyance at most but in reality not having to worry about it changes the experience profoundly. Infiniti doesn’t just adjust the speed, it can also hit the brakes automatically when needed and bring the car almost to a standstill.

The cameras around the car (and the bird’s eye view) when parking are a very neat and useful feature, although navigating the control to switch to the right one took some trial and error.

On a final note, when looking at pictures I didn’t immediately like the interior design of the car, deeming it more appealing for someone a generation or two older than me. The round analogue clock in the central console and heaps of buttons seem outdated at first, but it all grew on me with time and I began to appreciate it.

The QX70 S Design (and probably other Infiniti cars too) is a head-turner. It all started with one of my neighbours (who never spoke to me before), when we parked in front of our building – What a beauty. Did you just buy it? Cars were slowing down on lanes next to us just so the drivers and passengers can have a better look at our car. When we were passing a restaurant to park behind the building, everyone stopped eating and stared at us. In the beginning, it was a weird feeling but then we got used to it – we would stare too if we weren’t already driving this beauty!

—

Thank you to Infiniti for providing the car for our road trip.