Despite its flaws and antiquated interior, we love the Infiniti QX80. It's luxurious, fast, and large-and-in-charge. Last year saw a nice, more streamlined exterior refresh, but nothing really changed about its rather unattractive dash and center stack. Now, for the 2020 model year, the interior gets its due. Although we wouldn't consider it a full interior redesign, the changes make the QX80 more modern and more appealing to buy for the family who wants almost everything.
The first thing you notice is the totally redone infotainment system. Gone is the dull main screen, replaced by a higher resolution 8" with a 7" below it. It also now comes standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot for convenience for the whole family. The entire center stack looks different, and the control buttons for infotainment flank the lower screen compared to the old version and its odd button and control wheel.
Infiniti also ditched the painfully low-res driver info screen between the analog gauges. It now has a seven-inch TFT display that's vivid and doesn't look like it was pulled off a 1990s handheld videogame. The gauges also look cleaner and more legible, losing those weird and unnecessary blue rings and the odd fuel and temp gauges at the lower outer corners of the cluster.
There's also a new available Smart Rear View Mirror that can double as the rear camera view, and there's also standard backup collision intervention, blind-spot warning, lane departure warning, and a rear door alert for passenger safety. There are new interior trims with charcoal burl wood, and two new paint colors join the array, Coulis Red and Mineral Black.
You can also up the style quotient with what's known as the Edition 30 package that comes with a black mesh grille and dark chrome trim. The package also includes big 22-inch dark aluminum wheels. We had them on our 2019 review vehicle and loved them.
The engine is the same as before, but that's not a bad thing since it's a big 5.6-liter V8 good for 400 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque mated to a seven-speed automatic across all trims. Prices do increase for the 2020 model year, up a little from the 2019 model. Both Luxe and Limited trims jump by $1,250 to $66,570 and the Limited rises to $91,450. Destination charges also jump by $100 from $1,295 to $1,395.
What the interior refresh effectively does is extend the viable life of this model by at least a couple of years. The QX80 really is a capable and comfortable 7-passenger luxury SUV, and now you don't have to accept a dated interior when you drop a lot of coin for the purchase. We have no clue when Infiniti will totally redesign the QX80, but they've got bigger things to worry about right now, along with parent company Nissan.
