QUALITY | 9 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
We couldn’t feel much of a difference between the two suspension setups; head toss and body roll were handled equally well in each of the vehicles we drove.
Car and Driver
The front seats are a kind of infinitely-adjustable guilty pleasure.
Autoblog
But there's a bit less legroom in the second row; and the third row, once ample for adults, is now best-sized for children (though a new power-recline feature makes it bearable for 6-footers on short trips).
Inside Line
If your kids' kids are teenagers, they'll find sufficient space in the third row, especially with the seatback reclined (although there isn't room for much luggage behind that third seat).
Motor Trend
The 2011 Infiniti QX56 interior is awash in the sort of creamy, soft-touch, carefully wrapped leather and precisely molded plastics and glossy wood trim that you might indeed find inside an executive jet. It's nice.
Automobile
Lower, a little bit shorter, and noticeably more refined than the Nissan Armada-based ute that came before it, this second-generation Infiniti QX56 has a distinctive interior that still seats seven passengers, with a slightly rearranged sense of priorities.
The QX56 used to be built in Mississippi alongside the Armada, but now it's a version of a vehicle that hails from Japan. It's hard to tell the difference, in terms of interior space, though. The current QX is about three inches shorter overall than before, but the interior still sports luxurious front seats, plush chairs with power adjustments and plenty of space in all directions--except possibly at the knees, where bigger passengers might make contact with the QX's center console and its softly padded side. We're big fans of ventilated seats, and the QX56 offers them; they're excellent investments for drivers in the southern third of the U.S., where they relieve some of the burden put on the climate control.
Second-row seating is almost as ample, but three adults across won't be as comfortable in the standard configuration as they will if the owner opted for the no-charge bench seat. The buckets are nicer, though, and get a center console almost as useful as the deep bin between the front seats. The second-row seats also offer heating, and a new tip-forward setup is meant to make clambering into the third-row seat a little easier. In the end, that third-row seat just isn't useful for adults, but three children will be able to jump into it and find plenty of room for themselves and their backpacks.
Behind the third-row seat, there’s as much cargo room as you’d find in the trunk of a Ford Fusion. With the power-folding third-row seat down, Infiniti counts 95.1 cubic feet of storage space. Loading is simple enough, since the QX56 sits at least 2 inches lower than the previous model, and the power tailgate relieves lightweights and shorties from having to jump and hang on for closure.
Conclusion
Adults go in the front, kids in the way-back--that way, everyone's happy in the QX56.
