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66 | FireFlyz
Car
Review
O
r
is it Blue Bull since
automakers tend to
equate blue to ‘green’
cars? Infiniti is Nissan’s
premium marque; a
little late to the game
but they’re playing
catch-up. One way of building up their
brand is by being the title sponsor of
the Red Bull Racing Formula One team,
which happens to be the team to beat
at the moment. Another is to present a
finely packaged product. The Q70 Hybrid
(formerly the M35H) is their first hybrid
based on the sedan.
Looks
Its appearance can certainly be called
distinctive especially when compared to
its rivals which have gone for the squared
look. It has the classic long front but where
the others are angular, the Q70 is curvy
with bulging haunches reminiscent of a
felinewaiting to pounce. The rear however,
looks a little plain bar the trunk lid with
the sculpted duck-tail spoiler and the twin
exhausts that hint at some performance.
Power
The Q70 sports the reliable 3.5 liter V6
engine found in Nissans. This is paired
with a 68hp electric motor in a parallel
arrangement between the engine and
transmission which does without a torque
converter. There are 2 clutches in its place
– a dry one between the engine and motor
and awet one at the transmission that helps
turn the motor to charge the battery.
Drive
The car is capable of surviving on the
batteries for up to 2km, at speeds near
100kph. Even though it takes awhile to get
there in full electric mode, it’s astonishing
and eerie at the same time. It takes a while
to get used to the absence of engine roar
at highway speed. Engine kick-in is almost
seamless and unobtrusive with only a
Green Bull Racing
ZacharyHo
goes beyond participating in EarthHour 2014 in his efforts to save the earth
with the Infiniti Q70Hybrid.
muted roar and a noticeable jump in the
tachometer needle.
The Q70 claims to be the fastest
accelerating hybrid with a 0-100kph time
of 5.5 seconds. A claimyouwill not dispute
once you’ve stepped on the accelerator.
The combined torque pulls the car so
effortlessly to highway speeds that you’re
always tempted to break at least one law.
Yet, it was a rather refined rush rather than
a monster drive.
Yes, quite a fewpremiummarques now
have hybrids but none seem to work it as
well as Infiniti has. The trusty VQ series
engine is a repeat offender inWard’s 10Best
Engines list and themotor andbattery come
off the efforts of Nissan’s development of
the full electric Leaf.
The battery pack sits behind the rear
passengers and adds weight to the car. But
this is good weight because being over the
rear axle gives it an almost 50:50 front-rear
weight distribution. This results in better
cornering although you can still feel its heft.