wheels

Motoring | Test Drives

Long-term review: Infiniti QX 56 - Week 2

Our long-terming Infiniti QX 56 has a rough week at wheels towers

By Amit Benjamin, Editor, wheels
Published: 01:51 November 11, 2012

Image Credit: Grace Paras/ANM
It's big and comfortable, but incredibly thirsty too.

This week has brought tidings of sorrow for our Infiniti QX. I’ve managed to graze a wall with the front bumper of our gargantuan long-termer, leaving it slightly scarred. This, as I’d predicted earlier, was a mishap waiting to happen, given the size of this thing.

The damage isn’t as dramatic as the opening line would have you believe, but in a car that costs about Dh400,000, even the tiniest scratch can have reasonable financial implications. Luckily, Infinitis famously have something called self-healing paint. So, in theory, minor nicks and scratches should repair themselves within a few days.

Unfortunately though, the gash on our car is too deep to magically disappear and the option, in fact, is not available on the QX. The only choice now is a good old re-spray. Even though insurance would cover the costs, I reckoned it would be worthwhile calling up a few private garages to get an idea of how much it would set the owner back to get minor cosmetic repairs done on this car.

The lowest quote I got was from a body repair shop in Al Quoz who offered to do the job for just Dh900 — fairly reasonable for a car this large. But here’s a top tip: If you’re thinking of buying a QX 56, best stick with light hues such as white and silver.

In other news, the QX is turning out to be one of the thirstiest long-term cars we’ve ever ran. No matter how judicious you are with the throttle or how carefully you feather the brakes, this thing is expensive to run. It swigs over 20 litres of 98 octane petrol every 100km and a full tank doesn’t last nearly as long as you’d hope. No, it’s not been a good week.

The progress

Facts

Driven by: Amit

Start mileage: 10,921km

Recent cost: Fuel

Average fuel economy: 20 litres-per-100km

Highs: Great engine

Lows: The sheer size of it makes it difficult to manoeuvre, fuel economy

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