10 Best Things About the 2025 Infiniti QX80

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

It’s a big year for big luxury SUVs. For the 2025 model year, the two biggest sellers are enjoying comprehensive updates – the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator. But it’s also the year of the first all-new Infiniti QX80 in nearly a decade and a half. 

The 2025 Infiniti QX80 looks familiar, but it retains little from its predecessor under the skin or in its cabin. For this review, we spent a week testing the redesigned QX80, which is priced from $82,450 before a $1,995 destination charge. Keep reading as we share our 10 favorite things about this new full-size luxury SUV. 

1. First Full Redesign Since 2011

The previous-generation QX80 hit the market back in 2011 under the name QX56. It arrived as a luxury version of the Nissan Patrol – Nissan’s overseas answer to the Toyota Land Cruiser, which eventually joined the U.S. in 2017 under the name Armada. The old QX80 offered lots of high-end features and a quiet ride for less money than the leading competitors (it started at $74,150 last year), but it had fallen behind for interior decor, passenger space, driving manners, fuel efficiency, and technology. 

The all-new 2025 QX80 changes that. And it sets the stage with a more chiseled body – slimmer LED headlights, a new grille whose diagonal slats replace last year’s chrome honeycomb, side windows that now wrap visually around the rear of the car, and pop-out door handles that give the SUV a sleeker look while moving or parked and locked. Overall, the QX80 looks a lot like the old model but with enough nips and tucks to stay contemporary. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

2. Turbo Power

The old QX80 had a mighty 5.6-liter V8 engine that produced 400 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque. This engine sounded great and moved the big Infiniti with suitable exuberance, but it guzzled gas. In EPA testing, it returned a dismal 14 mpg in the city, 20 mpg on the highway, and 16 mpg combined with rear-wheel drive and 1 mpg less with four-wheel drive. 

This year, the V8 is gone, but we don’t miss it. In its place is a 3.5-liter V6 with twin turbochargers, 450 hp, and 516 lb-ft of torque. It doesn’t quite sound like a V8, but it remains rich and throaty. What’s more, in addition to its improved output, this turbo engine is more economical than the V8 as well. The EPA estimates an improvement of roughly 2 mpg: 16 mpg city, 20 mpg highway, and 18 mpg combined with rear-wheel drive and 16 mpg city, 19 mpg highway, and 17 mpg combined with 4WD. We matched that overall estimate with our 4WD test vehicle, and we saw up to 21 mpg on the open freeway. This still is no fuel-sipper, but we welcome the improvement – especially when it also comes with more power. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

3. Improved Ride and Handling

In addition to its improvements under the hood, the new 2025 QX80 delivers better ride and handling than before, too. The old QX80 jiggled on smooth pavement and changed direction only with great reluctance – like the big, old truck that it was. Thanks to a reengineered suspension, available air suspension, and available automatically adjustable dampers, the new QX80 is a big step forward. 

Now, let’s keep things in context. The new QX80 is also a big truck. It’s not a light-duty car-based crossover, and it’s far from petite. Don’t expect the corner-carving of a Porsche Cayenne, or even a BMW X7. But it’s more composed than before, whether you’re cruising in a straight line or tackling a winding road. The steering is more natural – not too heavy at low speeds or too light at higher speeds like before. And the already-quiet cabin has become quieter than ever. This is a relaxed, comfortable vehicle to eat up miles of highway, yet it has become more capable of taking care of itself on a cloverleaf interchange as well. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

4. Let Infiniti Take the Wheel

As nice as the QX80 is to drive, some folks would rather not drive it at all. And now, Infiniti can take over more of those functions than ever. 

Using a system called ProPilot Assist 2.1, Infiniti lets drivers take their hands off the steering wheel on pre-mapped controlled-access highways. That’s an advantage over Tesla’s better-known Autopilot and Full Self Driving systems, which still require hands on the wheel. However, unlike General Motors and Ford’s Super Cruise and BlueCruise, ProPilot Assist 2.1 can’t fully change lanes without your hands on the wheel. ProPilot Assist 2.1 is an extra-cost option on the QX80, but a simpler system called ProPilot Assist 1.1 is standard equipment. It still automatically accelerates, brakes, and steers the QX80, just while drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 ・ Photo by Infiniti

5. Elegant New Dashboard

The old Infiniti QX80 had easy-to-use controls and mostly high-end cabin materials. But there was little verve to its design. The new generation takes a new approach. 

Instead of a high dash with a vertical center stack, the new 2025 model adopts the more horizontally spread style of a modern luxury car. The digital gauge cluster and center touchscreen connect across a single panel in the latest fashion, but they’re smoothly integrated into the dashboard rather than sticking out. The flowing lines toward the passenger side evoke a Lexus LS 500, while a secondary touchscreen for the climate controls reminds us of a Range Rover. Materials are top-notch, and the dash’s design allows for a hidden storage area under the center console next to the driver’s knee. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

6. Triple-Screen Infotainment

Let’s dwell further on the new digital experience. The previous-generation QX80 had a decent 12.3-inch touchscreen atop its dashboard, which Infiniti retrofitted in 2022. It was easy to use, but it had none of the electronic dazzle that many buyers now expect (and some cringe from). 

The 2025 QX80 splits the difference between screen-resistant design and in-your-face flash. As we mentioned, the screens fit seamlessly into the dashboard. That’s a 14.3-inch digital gauge cluster next to a 14.3-inch touchscreen, with a 9-inch touchscreen below it dedicated to the climate controls. The system splits up the display smoothly and efficiently, so you don’t have to constantly change views or power through menus to call up certain information or functions. The Google-based infotainment system includes easy-to-search GPS navigation, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support further use of mobile apps. The graphics aim for simple rather than stunning, but we think the overall effect works well – considering the beauty of the cabin surrounding the screens. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

7. Decadent Seating for Eight

The Infiniti QX80 can seat up to eight passengers (when equipped with a second-row bench seat) or seven passengers (with second-row captain’s chairs). The three-seat third row has a bit less space than a Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator, but it’s otherwise more adult-friendly than most luxury SUVs. Seat heaters are available even in the way back. 

Still, the best QX80 seats are in the front two rows. We love the new extra-adjustable front seats, which are cushy yet supportive. Adjustable-width bolsters help them fit your form whether you’re slim or stocky, so no one is left sliding around on a big easy chair of a seat. Both the front seats and the second rows are available not only with heating but also with cooling and massaging. And wherever you’re sitting, you can enjoy the standard 14-speaker Klipsch sound system or our test vehicle’s available 24-speaker upgrade. The QX80 can be a big family car, or it can be a VIP’s chauffeured ride. 

2024 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

8. Bigger Cargo Hold Than Before

The QX80 has plenty of space for your stuff, too. Even with the third-row seat in place, you get 22 cubic feet of cargo room – not incredible, but nearly as much as a compact Infiniti QX55 has behind its second row. Fold down the third row and you get 59 cubic feet (more than the QX55 has in total), and dropping the second row opens up 101 cubic feet. Both the second and third rows fold at the touch of a button even on the base model. 

A few competitors have even more space, but this is an amply proportioned cabin. And it’s much more than last year’s QX80, which fit 17 cubic feet behind its third row, 50 cubic feet behind its second row, and 95 cubic feet in total. Towing capacity holds steady at 8,500 pounds, among the best of any SUV. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt

9. Lower Prices Than the Competition

As we mentioned, the 2025 Infiniti QX80 starts at $82,450 before a $1,995 destination charge. That’s not an affordable SUV, and it’s $8,000 more than the 2024 model. Still, with the competition also rising in price, the QX80 retains an edge in relative attainability. 

The Cadillac Escalade starts at $89,590, the cheapest Mercedes-Benz GLS is $90,350, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer opens at $91,945, the Lexus LX 600 starts at $92,915, and the Land Rover Range Rover costs $107,900 and up. The 2024 Lincoln Navigator is the closest to the new QX80 at $83,265, but a big price bump is widely expected for the redesigned 2025 Navigator. 

The QX80 isn’t as roomy as its American competitors, but it’s otherwise a credible contender in this field. And it doesn’t keep prices down by skimping on amenities. The base Pure model has synthetic leatherette rather than genuine cowhide, but it provides big 20-inch wheels, the 14-speaker Klipsch stereo, along with GPS navigation, adaptive cruise control, a panoramic moonroof, power-folding second- and third-row seats, and heaters for the front seats, second-row seats, and steering wheel. This is as fancy as many SUVs get. The Luxe, $89,550, adds genuine leather along with an adaptive suspension, 22-inch wheels, and ventilated front and second-row seats. The Sensory, $100,645, has upgraded trim, massaging front seats, and the 24-speaker stereo. And the Autograph like our test vehicle, $110,595, upgrades the decor further while adding second-row massaging, heated third-row seats, an air-conditioned center console, and the hands-free ProPilot Assist 2.1 system. 

2022 Lexus LX 600 ・ Photo by Brady Holt

10. A Freshly Desirable Full-Size Infiniti

If the main selling point of an $82,000 luxury SUV is that it costs a few thousand dollars less than a truly desirable competitor, we wouldn’t be impressed. That’s not really the case with the 2025 Infiniti QX80. 

The QX80 doesn’t have many points where it trounces the competition. But nor does it have many points where it’s embarrassed by them, either. With its new engine, suspension, interior, and amenities, the new QX80 stands with the rest of its class so you can pick your favorite based on style preferences and spaciousness needs. And if it gives you a lower monthly payment as well, so much the better. 

2025 Infiniti QX80 Autograph ・ Photo by Brady Holt