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2014 Infiniti QX60: Buying & ownership experience

31st May 2022, 13:10 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

For the money paid, the car turned out to be a better deal than the 2015 Nissan Pathfinder.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

This is the story of an elegant, yet practical three-row luxury crossover – the Infiniti QX60, that came into the family in Nov-2014 in the UAE. The next few posts include shortlisting, purchase and ownership experiences with the car.

Disclaimer: I was not present when the car was being evaluated as an option and would therefore beg your pardon if some fine details on the car have been omitted or erroneously reported.

The itch to upgrade

Circa end-2014: A family member, M, was looking to upgrade from his Mazda CX-9 that had rendered flawless service over four and a half years and approx. 1,15,000km. There was no pressing need to change from this car except the itch to move ahead with something else.

Options considered

Mazda CX-9 – rejected as the 2015 model was not hugely different from the car he was currently holding.
Lexus RX350 – not much of a change over the earlier avatar, ridiculously priced, no warranty and service package beyond standard, a general casual approach and poor focus on new customers.
VW Touareg – rejected because of M's sub-par experience with his 2006 VW Passat.
Nissan Pathfinder – Full options variant priced at AED1,76,000 with standard warranty of 3 years/60,000km; M shortlisted this for the novelty on the 2015 model as some updates of the 2014 QX60 were featured on the Pathfinder. However, the overall experience at the showroom was lacklustre – typical disinterested approach of salespersons since the Pathfinder was anyways a popular model.

Nissan Pathfinder - sample image

Dealership - sample image

Enter the Infiniti QX60

After M had just finished seeing the 2015 Pathfinder, he walked around the partition into the adjacent Infiniti showroom to take a look at the new QX60 crossover, which was hitherto being offered as the JX35. He experienced a 180 deg. shift in experience from the Nissan side to the Infiniti side. The model on sale was the 2014 one. I understand while Nissan’s and most other manufacturers' new year models get on sale towards the end of the previous year (like the 2015 model came on sale at end-2014), Infiniti’s year model would typically come on sale in the same year.

Here are some bits of information that the dealership gave on the QX60:

Options – Base, Mid, Luxury
Shades – as listed in the attached brochure
Leather upholstery – Beige, Java and Graphite leather unlike the only beige leather-leatherette combo on the Pathfinder

M took a test drive of the JX35 (that was the test drive car but was basically the same car as the QX60).

Shade options

Exterior shade options - Moonlight White, Liquid Platinum, Glacial Silver, Midnight Garnet, Diamond Slate, Emerald Graphite, Black Obsidian
Interior Leather – Wheat, Java, Graphite
Interior trim options – Kasane Washi, Maple Accents

There was this interesting story around the Glacial Silver shade, which was like a greenish silver. M was initially keen on this shade, but the salesperson recommended that this shade not be selected (not one car in that shade had been sold until then). The salesperson went on to mention that although he would get an award for selling the first car in that shade then, he added that from the customer’s perspective, this shade could even fetch a lower resale in the future.

Shade trims with two alloy options based on variant

Option packages

Decision taken and car delivered

M finally chose the AWD car with the following options:

Liquid Platinum shade with Java leather interiors
Premium Plus + Theatre + Maple Accents + Deluxe Touring options
Did not opt for Driver Assistance and Technology Package

The car with these options was priced at AED 1,92,000 which included:

Five-year unlimited km warranty
Three years/60,000km service package
Complimentary window tint
Complimentary paint protection package and interior trim protection package for 3 years
First year’s insurance part of the deal
Acceptance of credit card payment as a down payment provided M with a lot of air miles that were subsequently used to purchase an air ticket for an India trip.

For this money and the add-ons offered, the 2014 QX60 thus turned out to be a better deal than the 2015 Pathfinder. A car was in ready inventory with the exact same options, and it thus turned out to be a case of no waiting. The car, made in the United States with GCC specs, was delivered in 2 days and thus the search for the new car culminated in a good all-round package.

Front View