Infiniti Q30 (2015-2020) Review

If you like the idea of a premium hatchback in the mould of the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series or Mercedes A-Class, but you also want your car to be a talking point, then it might well be. Buy any one of the German offerings, and any conversation starting with “what are you driving these days” will be very short indeed, as these cars need no introduction. The Infiniti Q30, meanwhile, will take rather more explaining, because there are lots of people who’ve never even heard of this Japanese luxury carmaker.

It will also suit you if you want your premium hatchback to be more of a left-field, out-there choice than its rather ubiquitous rivals. After all, not everyone wants to follow the herd. However, there’s a reason that the established contenders are established: because they’re pretty darn good. In truth, the Infiniti is less so, and in a great number of areas, so you will pay a price for daring to be different.

The engine you want is very easy. The 1.5-litre diesel is the quieter and smoother of the two diesel engines, and it’s also the most efficient. It keeps the car’s purchase price down and it’s perky and powerful enough to have you rolling along at a very decent rate. We’d also stick with the (slightly notchy) manual gearbox in order to minimise purchase prices, but we wouldn’t blame you if you upgraded to the seven-speed twin-clutch automatic.

The trim level you want is less clear-cut, because there were so many of them over the car’s lifetime, and each had rather strange differences in spec. Go For a version with the word Tech in the name, and it’s likely to have all the luxury kit that you’d want. Bear in Mind, though, that Sport Tech cars will be considerably more expensive than Premium Tech or Luxe Tech cars, and won’t come with any more than a few styling goodies.

We’ve already mentioned them a couple of times in this review, and we’ll mention them lots more by the time we’re through, but there’s no harm in mentioning them again here. The Q30 has three main rivals, those being the established premium hatchback triumvirate of the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes A-Class. There are others vying for your cash, though. Lexus is a company that’s similar to Infiniti in a number of ways, and those guys have a contender in the Lexus CT 200h. You might also consider other posh(ish) hatchbacks such as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Volkswagen Golf or Volvo V40.

Depending on the trim level you choose, the Q30’s interior is designed to deliver either a feeling of luxuriousness or a feeling of sportiness. Regardless of which you choose, the cabin looks reasonably smart, with some nice soft-touch materials on display, and some glitzy-looking finishes to brighten things up.

 However, once you look beyond the places where your eyes and fingertips fall most regularly, you’ll find other surfaces that aren’t of the same high standard. It doesn’t ruin the illusion of classiness by any stretch, but it does mean the Q30 doesn’t feel as posh as rivals from Audi, BMW and Mercedes, which have materials of a uniformly high standard throughout. That said, the standard of assembly feels very tight and together, so it should wear well.

All versions of the Q30 come with the same 7.0-inch screen for the infotainment system, but the amount of functionality it supports will depend on your choice of trim. Entry-level Pure versions have Bluetooth, voice control, three USB sockets and six speakers. Conspicuous by their absence, especially given the price of the car, are a DAB radio and sat-nav. 

You get these on Luxe and Sport models, while Luxe Tech and Sport Tech models also add an upgraded ten-speaker Bose sound system. Conspicuous by their absence on all models, though, are Apple Carplay and Android Auto. This isn’t available, regardless of trim.

Unlike most other cars of this type, the Q30’s system isn’t a touchscreen. You scroll through the various on-screen menus using a rotary dial mounted on the central partition between the front seats, which is far less distracting. However, the Q30’s user interface is still far from ideal. The graphics are fuzzy, the screen transitions are slow and the menus aren’t hugely intuitive. It all makes the system feel rather dated and user-hostile.

The front seats - as always - have loads of space, but from then on, the news isn’t quite so rosy. The rear seats have enough leg room and head room for adults to fit, but even moderately sized ones will find their knees pressing against the front seats, while tall passengers will feel even more short-changed for space. To make matters worse, the roof curves downwards a long way on either side of the car. 

Your passengers will have to duck underneath it when getting in and out, and there’s a good chance they’ll knock the side of their head on it every time you go around a bend. The limited shoulder space, bulky transmission tunnel and a middle seat that’s hard, raised and narrow, also make carrying a fifth person a rather uncomfortable experience. Having said all that, you should still be able to fit a pair of bulky child seats in the back, and there are a couple of Isofix points for tethering them down effectively. 

The boot is a decent size for the class, but the load space is hard to get at due to a narrow boot opening and a high load lip. The rear seats fold more-or-less flat when you need to boost capacity though, and they do so in a handy 60-40 split configuration.  

There are four engines to choose from - two petrol and two diesel - and the diesels were the more popular choices. The 109PS 1.5 is the pick of the pair, and we reckon it’s also the best engine in the entire range. Sure, it doesn’t make the Q30 all that quick, but it’s nice and flexible, making your progress easy and relaxed most of the time. The manual gearshift is a little on the notchy side, but it’s nothing that’ll annoy you. Infiniti calls its other diesel offering a 2.2, but it’s actually a Mercedes-sourced 2.1-litre unit. With 170PS, it’s faster than the 1.5, but it’s not actually that much more flexible, so isn’t really worth the considerable amount extra you’ll pay.

The petrol range kicks off with a turbocharged 1.6, which bizarrely, has 120PS if you stick with the manual gearbox, but gets 156PS if you specify the seven-speed twin-clutch automatic. We’ve not tried the auto’, but we can tell you that the manual isn’t worth bothering with. It feels as flat as a pound-shop battery at the bottom of the rev range, meaning you need to keep the revs high for half-decent acceleration, and the engine also takes an absolute age to build revs, making it feel even more lethargic.

The 211PS 2.0-litre petrol also feels a little underwhelming. It doesn’t feel particularly quick considering its impressive on-paper output, and it’s paired exclusively with the twin-clutch gearbox, which isn’t a particularly happy union. The gearbox becomes rather schizophrenic in character; it feels too lazy in Eco mode, too hardcore in Sport mode, and there’s no happy medium in between. 

On top of all that,  you’ll find that the Q30’s accelerator is strangely calibrated so that the first third of the pedal movement is effectively useless. A simple thing, but it can make the car feel more sluggish than it already does, when in actual fact, all that’s needed is a heavier right foot.

The 1.5-litre diesel does a decent job here. It can get a bit vocal if you really work it hard, but you’ll very rarely bother because of its low-down flexibility, coupled with the fact that thrashing it doesn’t ultimately make the car go that much faster anyway. You won’t feel too many vibrations coming at you through the controls or the floor either. 

The bigger diesel engine isn’t actually as quiet as the 1.5, but it’s more refined than it is in the several Mercedes models in which it also sees service. You feel less vibration through the controls, and thanks to active noise cancellation technology (this emits sound waves from the stereo to counteract external noises), it’s quieter too.

The 1.6 petrol isn’t overly noisy at reasonable revs, but the fact you have to work it so hard for so much of the time to make decent progress makes it a rather thrashy-sounding companion. More disappointingly for what’s supposed to be the sportiest version, the 2.0 petrol also sounds decidedly wheezy and whiny. The levels of wind and road noise you hear on the motorway aren’t terrible, but there’s more of both than you’ll hear in most rivals.

All Q30s come with a total of seven airbags to help keep you safe in a smash, along with a wide range of systems to help prevent you from having one in the first place. Importantly, this includes automatic emergency braking, while stability control, tyre pressure monitoring and advanced anti-lock brakes are all standard.

 Upgrading to Premium/Luxe trim also earns you a lane departure warning function, while upgrading a notch further will add a blind spot monitor. The Q30 has been crash tested by Euro NCAP, and has achieved the maximum five-star rating. A pot of tyre sealant is included as standard, but there’s no spare wheel, not even a space-saver.

The Q30 might cost you a ludicrous amount to buy, but at least it shouldn’t be too pricey to insure. Insurance groupings start at group 12, and rise to 26, with most versions sitting in the late teens. Sticking with the cheapest, least powerful versions will keep your premiums down, with our favourite engine, the 1.5 diesel, being cheapest of all on that score.

Buy a post-facelift Q30, and it’ll cost you £150 per year to tax. That’s because a flat rate for that amount was introduced for petrol and diesel cars in April 2017, and the facelift took place in 2018. All other cars registered after that date will pay the same amount, but if it was registered before, then you’ll pay VED based on the CO2 emissions of your car.

 For most versions, that’s good news. Most of the diesels qualify for an annual VED rate of between £20 and £30, and only the most expensive all-wheel-drive versions of the bigger diesel are subject to a £125 annual charge. All 1.6 petrol buyers will pay £150 per year, while buyers of the bigger petrol will pay between £165 and £205, depending on the version. 

To begin with, the Q30’s trim structure was baffling. Essentially, the levels on offer were based on SE, Prestige and Sport trims, but upwards of Prestige trim, there were all sorts of sub-trims that gave you kit with one hand, and took it away with the other, substituting it for different kit. A facelift in 2018 simplified things. 

The trims became known as Pure, Luxe, Luxe Tech, Sport and Sport Tech, and option packs were offered on top, rather than having dozens of extra trim levels. The new trims roughly reflected the specifications of the previous trims, with a few minor differences.

Pure-grade Q30s come with four electric windows, manual air-conditioning, automatic headlights, remote locking, alloy wheels cloth upholstery and leather wrappings for the steering wheel and gear lever, while Lux trim added rear parking sensors, cruise control, navigation, DAB radio and powered door mirrors. 

Considering the price of the car, neither of these look particularly generous. Luxe Tech was much more like it, with two-zone climate control, heated front seats, rain-sensing wipers, keyless go, electrically adjusting front seats, leather upholstery, adaptive cruise control, an automatic parking function with reversing camera and the upgraded stereo system. Sport and Sport Tech trims were pretty much the same as Luxe and Luxe Tech, just with a sports suspension and various sporty styling goodies thrown in on top.