Zander Drives Cars

Lets talk about “halo cars.” A halo car is a brand’s best, most luxurious, exciting, or interesting car that you can buy. Cars like the Acura NSX, Audi R8, and BMW i8 are all great examples of halo cars. They’re purpose-built sports/supercars meant to bring people into dealerships and buy lesser models with the thinking that those customers “will have something just like it because it’s the same brand.” In the last 20 years, most brands have had some version of a halo car, even Toyota wet their beak with the LFA. Strangely, if you look at the history of Infiniti, you’ll find a lack of a halo car. Sure, there have been some expensive QX80s or M70s, but those didn’t bring anything to the table. One might argue that the Nissan GTR is the brand’s halo car they share with Nissan, however with the GTR going out of production at the end of the year, what’s left? What is there to fill the void? Well, I have your answer. Ladies and gentlecars: the Q50 Redsport.

The base Q50 has been with us for the better part of a decade now and the platform it stands on has almost reached voting age. You might call it old, but the Chrysler 300 is older and is still around. Introduced as a replacement to the notorious G35/37 products in 2013, the Q50 and its sister coupe, the Q60, are the brand’s entry-level sedans that still 2022 look striking and different. It looks more aggressive than other cars in its class while also looking subdued without massive badging or carbon fiber bits hanging from various panels of the car. It’s sophisticated luxury that can still hang with the Germans in the style department.

Infiniti took the Polestar Engineered route when styling the Redsport, adding some noticeable details, but doing it subtly enough that the car doesn’t look flashy or gaudy. Darker wheels and red brake calipers as well as black trim around the bumpers are the only main indication that this is a high-performance car to the untrained eye.

Inside, the Redsport has virtually the same interior as the rest of the lineup, albeit with some other minor changes specific to the model. Most obvious of which is the red stitching met with quilted black leather that gives off a business-class aesthetic. Other small touches like metal paddle shifters and a brushed aluminum center console piece work to make the cabin a nice place to be. It’s also worth noting that the red stitching is also present throughout the dashboard, gear knob, and steering wheel. Everything here feels solid, and the presence of Nissan plastics is few and far between, put in places where the driver wouldn’t notice them as much.

I spent a chunk of my QX55 review talking about Infiniti’s outdated infotainment system, so I won’t go too in-depth here. To keep it short: the infotainment system, while outdated, still has everything you need on it and works reasonably well albeit slower than others in its class. Also, unlike most in its class, there’s no digital gauge screen. There is a small screen in the center of the cluster that shows your speed, tire pressure, various different warnings, and your music, but the speedometer, tachometer, and other essential functions are analog. This is a good car for the type of people who complain that everything is becoming too digital.

Even though Infinitis infotainment isn’t up to date, the rest of the cabin features most tech found on others in its class. You get heated electric seats, adaptive cruise control, voice control, dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth, plenty of USB ports, a slew of onboard cameras as well as sensors that will keep you from having an accident. There’s also a pretty handy drive mode selector on the center console that we’ll get to later.

The secret sauce of the Redsport is the engine. In this sub $60,000 car you get a twin-turbo V6 making 400hp and 350lb of torque rocketing this car from 0-60 in roughly 4.3 seconds. That power and acceleration are better than a BMW M340i and on par with the C43 AMG and Audi S4. I was able to do a 0-60 test in this car because I am a respectful being, but I was able to do a 50-70 highway pull, and let me tell you, this thing moves. It’s because it’s the same engine as the GTR, right? Well, not exactly. The GTR engine is tuned for 580hp and is made out of lighter materials. The engine in the Redsport is derived from the GTR engine, but it isn’t the same. So the next time someone tells you they drive a 4-door GTR, you can pull out this information and be the most liked man at Cars & Coffee.

Back to driving for a moment. It is a very good machine. In comfort and eco mode, the car rides pleasantly and the steering is light and airy, but you don’t care, you want Sport+. In Sport+, the whole car sharpens up. The steering turns dead hard and the ride firms up significantly. The throttle also sharpens up quite a bit making your ability to throttle with your big toe nearly impossible. It’s also worth pointing out that the noise the engine made is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. There is enough turbo whine to get you exicted but not so much that it drowns out the V6. While I can’t speak to the dynamics of the other compact executive cars, I can say that this is a very fun car to drive and worth a test drive if your dealer has one.

Back to the halo car speach at the beginning. A halo car is a fast, luxurious, and interesting. To me, this car fills all three boxes. The Q50 is a weird underdog in the market. It’s an analog car in a digital world.

I would like to send a massive thank you to Cindy Rogers of Nationwide Infiniti for letting me come in again and drive the Q50 Redsport. They have a great selection of new and pre-owned Infinitis like that Q50 Redsport. Click here to view their webiste.