2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph Edition

Interior

Does Size Matter?

With the massive exterior of the QX80, I was a bit surprised that the interior didn’t have more usable space. Don’t take me wrong, the Infiniti QX80 is very large - with lots of space for each passenger - but I think with all the luxury features it possesses there was less time spent on family usability. But, then again, is the QX80 really a family hauler?

The third row is definitely usable - even for adults - but with it in use you are loosing pretty much all of your storage capabilities in the far back. I suppose I should be comparing with the GMC Yukon and similar full-size SUVs, but I can’t help but think that if I’m spending $114,000 dollars I might as well go for a fully tricked out Yukon XL where I have more space in the back (and almost as much luxury bling to boot!).

Leather And Lighting Abound

It seems everything in the Infiniti QX80 is wrapped in leather, giving it a really nice look and feel. The interior accent lighting adds a very classy touch - lighting up the speakers and the nooks and crannies of the door. Oh, and the trim on the dashboard lights up with "Infiniti" and some diagonal lines that again add a really nice ambiance.

Comfort & Entertainment & Convenience

Seats are wide and plush and very comfortable - heated and cooled and again wrapped in lots of leather. Obviously the steering wheel is also leather wrapped.

The Klipsch Reference Premiere 24-Speaker Premium Audio System is massive. Included in the 24 speakers are individual speakers in the frontseat headrests - yeah, the headrests up front have two speakers in them, sending music waves directly into your ears. Obviously Infiniti doesn’t want to blow your eardrums out, so those speakers are adjusted accordingly - but it does give the audio engineers a lot of maneuverability when it comes to noise.

There’s a lot of space in this car - even though my earlier comment about the interior space not matching what the exterior eludes to still holds true. There’s ample space between the two front seats - cup holders and buttons abound, there’s even a mini fridge within easy reach.

The rear captain’s seats are heated and cooled as well, and very wide and very deluxe, just like the two up front. As a road trip vehicle for four adults this would be a superb choice. The second row seats are even electronically controlled - meaning that you should have no problem finding a very comfortable position, whatever your preference.

However, for a family with more than two kiddos, the luxurious-looking center console will become a problem. Instead, I would probably suggest a walk-through center aisle so that kids can make it back to the third row easily. Not only because the touchscreen on the center console back there will get cracked within a month of kiddos climbing over it (touchscreen controls the seats and other convenience features for the back), but also because the electronic folding of the second row captain’s chairs are just not fast enough for the hectic family life.

With that said, if you only have two kids or you aren’t planning on driving kids in this car at all, then by all means it’s very luxurious to have that center console for the second row. It’s like flying in business class, with some space between you and the other passenger.

When the third row is in use, which by the way could probably be used by adults for around town and maybe even a short day-trip, the luggage compartment is severely shortened. You can do some light shopping but definitely not a full-on Costco-run if you’re third row is up and in use.

As noted (multiple times, sorry), the Infiniti QX80 is a very large vehicle - which becomes evident when getting in and out of the car. Conveniently, there are oh-shit handles strategically placed for you to grab and pull yourself into the car with. They are needed for most, kids and (older) adults alike.

Technology

The 2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph Edition comes loaded with a bunch of tech. It is, after all, an SUV for $114,000, so it better have a lot of technology in it.

Driver assistance features include Infiniti(/Nissan)’s ProPILOT Assist 2.1++ which does a decent job at driving the vehicle for you. On the screen the system let’s you know if it’s in "assist" mode (green) or in the more "autonomous" mode (blue). The assist feature will kinda drive on its own, but it yells at you if you like the steering wheel. For the self-driving feature you’ll have to wait for the lights to turn blue in your cockpit.

The self-driving feature (blue) is pretty impressive - as is the case with most other vehicles with this installed. It will let you know that it has taken over, and then it’ll drive until you tell it that you want to take control - or until the system doesn’t feel it can handle the conditions and releases control to you again.

While I am impressed with the self-driving feature, and enjoy riding along when it’s doing the driving, I must say that the assist feature and I don’t always get along. It feels a little rough around the edges, with a bit too aggressive - or sharp - inputs and corrections for my taste. Sometimes making corrections a split second too late and having to overcorrect a little bit is also a bit nerve-racking.

On several occasions the assist system - which, by the way, felt like it was sometimes fighting me rather than fluidly working with me - actually put the vehicle too close to the side of my lane and then beeped at me to tell me that we were too close to the side of the lane. I kept yelling at the car that "you put us here", but it wasn’t listening.

I’m comparing to some of the assist programs offered by other manufacturers and just feel that they are more fluid in working together with the driver, accepting driver input rather than battling it. At least more so than the Infiniti system which seems to think it knows better. When I adjust it, it doesn’t listen and instead tries to fight me a little on my input - making for more than one occasion where we battle it out, with the result being a fairly rough ride.

Driving Characteristics

Driving this beast is both awesome and not, all at the same time. It is very large, as you now know, and unless you have it in the sport mode, it will definitely handle like a very large car. Actually in sport mode it is still a large vehicle and you can’t really win over the laws of physics - so it still handles like a large vehicle.

I find it somewhat intriguing that a vehicle of this size is even allowed to have the mode "sport", since you can’t really be doing any sporty driving with it anyway. Maybe it should be rebranded as the "Sportier" mode instead? (To be fair, this goes for all the large vehicles, not just the Infiniti QX80).

The Infiniti QX80 definitely has a sufficient amount of power to get going - onto freeways and to make safe passes on two-lane highways. The 3.5-Liter V6 Twin-Turbo Engine with (up to) 450 horsepower & 516 lb-ft of torque looks good on paper (those are big numbers) and definitely will move this beast right along - in a very smooth manner, I should add. The numbers almost hint towards a very fast vehicle. This is not the case, however (the QX80 is large, remember?). The QX80 accelerates more than fast enough, but not fast enough to win any records.

A trip up into the mountains? The QX80 will do it in style. However, it will definitely handle like a large car on twisting roads - body roll is definitely there. Less so with the sport mode switched on, but that doesn’t get rid of it altogether. A smaller SUV doesn’t roll around as much (obviously), and there are some full-sized SUVs that feel like they stick better to the road… but again, this is physics and it’s really hard to win when those forces are working against you.

The Infiniti QX80 Autograph Edition does not lend itself to whipping around corners or showing your friends how fast you can come out of a roundabout. This car is made for luxury cruising - road trips perhaps, and arriving in style and comfort.

If you have a dirt road leading up to your house the QX80 will do just fine. It’ll actually be a pretty smooth ride for you as you approach your home - or your estate or ranch. The suspension does a good job at smoothing out the bumps on the road.

Exterior

The front of the Infiniti QX80 is massive and very much "in your face!". Together with the rest of the vehicle design - sharp lines and a very large silhouette - the Infiniti QX80 will get more looks than your everyday full-size SUV. Opinions may differ on looks, but objectively we can all agree that it definitely makes its presence known.

The length of the hood is massive, and the rear of the car doesn’t taper at all - it just cuts down where the car ends. This makes for maneuvering around parking lots a bit of an ordeal. Thankfully, the top down camera can we switched on with a flip button and that makes life so much easier. At least I’m not hitting the curbs when showing up in an eye-catching vehicle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Infiniti QX80 Autograph Edition a good vehicle for road trips? Yes, the QX80 will do well on a road trips - either for a family with (lots of) kids or for a total of four adults sitting in the four captain’s chairs.

Is the Infiniti QX 80 Autograph Edition a luxury vehicle? Yes, there is no doubt that the QX80 is a luxury - and very large and massive - vehicle. With that said, one should add that there are other strong contenders where you can spend $114,000 that are definitely worth looking into. This type of money puts you in a price class with a lot of very high-end vehicles.

Is the Infiniti QX80 a family vehicle? The Infiniti QX80 probably is a family vehicle. However the Autograph Edition with the captain’s chairs in the second row and the center console blocking the aisle back to the third row might not keep up with the fast pace of life with kiddos - jumping in and out of the car might be a bit of an endeavor. The Autograph Edition is a large car, but the focus isn’t necessarily on ease of parenting or driving with kids, but rather luxury appointments and features for adults in the car, including in the rear seat.

Is there a lot of space in the Infiniti QX80? The QX80 is a large vehicle, yes, However, with the third row up and in use you have fairly limited space for cargo.  Furthermore, a lot of the space is consumed for luxury features and comfort, not always being used for hauling stuff.