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What's the difference?
Welcome to the future - where your Mercedes-Benz is a Nissan and your Nissan is a Mercedes-Benz.
Lost already? Let me catch you up. Infiniti is the premium arm of Nissan, in much the same way Lexus is the premium arm of Toyota, and the Q30 is Infiniti’s hatchback.
Thanks to the state of various global manufacturing alliances the Q30 is mechanically, largely a previous-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class, with a similar arrangement seeing the new Mercedes-Benz X-Class ute comprised largely of Nissan Navara underpinnings.
Recently, the Q30 has had its range of variants trimmed from a confusing five down to two, and the one we’re testing here is the top-spec Sport.
Make sense? I hope so. The Q30 Sport joined me on an 800km trip along the east coast in the height of summer. So, can it make the most of its German/Japanese roots? Read on to find out.
If you look at Hyundai Australia’s current line-up there are some key pieces missing. Perhaps the most obvious is the lack of a Tucson Hybrid to compete against the popular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, as well as the likes of the newer Kia Sportage Hybrid, and Nissan X-Trail e-Power.
Fortunately for Hyundai there is a solution that will fill the missing piece - the Tucson Hybrid. It’s been available in overseas markets for several years but only with the steering wheel on the left-hand side… until now. Hyundai Australia has finally confirmed that it will be adding the hybrid powertrain to its local line-up in 2024.
But we wanted to get a headstart to find out if this new model has what it takes to challenge the RAV4 and others. So CarsGuide.com.au headed to Los Angeles, California for an exclusive drive of the Tucson Hybrid to give you an idea of what to expect when it does arrive down under.
Obviously at this early stage we don’t have concrete details of what exactly we’ll be getting in Australian showrooms, but the US model is reportedly a very similar example of what we’ll get. But with that in mind, our scores for each category and the model overall should be taken as a preliminary judgement - not a definitive verdict.
The Q30 Sport is a left-field choice in the premium hatch segment. For those who don’t care about badge equity and are looking for something different, the Q30 provides maybe 70 per cent the feel of its well-established competition while offering decent value courtesy of standard safety and spec inclusions.
The biggest letdown is how much better it could be with just a little extra in every department. Even in this top-spec the drive experience is a bit generic, and it’s missing an up-to-date multimedia experience limiting its appeal to a younger audience.
Even with its promising mixed heritage, the Q30 hardly feels more than the sum of its parts.
As Toyota has found with the RAV4, these types of ‘self-charging hybrids’ are popular with customers because they offer more performance, lower fuel economy and require no change in behaviour - no plugging in or managing battery range.
There’s a very good reason for Hyundai to add the Tucson Hybrid to the local line-up, because it will expand the appeal of what is already a popular SUV. Many buyers have turned off diesel in the wake of the Volkswagen emission scandal, so hybrids such as these have greater appeal.
Especially if Hyundai can keep the price difference between the hybrid and diesel to a similar level to what we’ve already seen with the Santa Fe. In these current times of high petrol prices and cost-of-living pressures, anything that can make driving better financially we welcome.
The Q30 drew more than just looks for its badge. It genuinely looks like a concept car from a motor show stand. Not the paper mache Mars rover early prototype kind, more like the six-months-before-production kind.
It’s all swoopy with curves cutting all down the sides, and Infiniti has done a good job imprinting the brand’s signature design queues – like the chrome-framed grille and notched C-pillar - on the front and rear three-quarter views.
It’s genuinely hard to tell it shares major componentry with the last-gen (W176) A-Class from the outside and I’d place the overall look somewhere between Mazda and Lexus’ design languages for better or worse.
While the front is swoopy and resolved the rear is a bit busy with lines everywhere and bits of chrome and black trim all over the place. The tapered roofline and high bumpers set it apart from your regular hatchback fare.
It might grab the eye for the wrong reasons, but it certainly gives the Q30 a slick look when viewed in profile. I wouldn’t call it a bad looking car, but it is divisive and will appeal only to certain tastes.
Inside is simple and plush. Perhaps a little too simple when compared with the new (W177) A-Class with its entirely digital dashboard or the 1 Series with its M bits. One could even argue the Audi A3 has done ‘simplicity’ better.
The seats are nice in the two-tone white-on-black trim and the Alcantara roof is a premium touch, but the rest of the dash is a bit too basic and dated. There’s a smattering of buttons down the centre stack which are replaced with more intuitive touchscreen functions on most rivals, and the 7.0-inch touchscreen looks small, distantly embedded in the dash.
The materials are all nice to the touch, with most important touch-points clad in leather, but it also feels a little claustrophobic, with the abundance of dark trim, thick roof pillars and a low roof-line, especially in the back seat. The switchgear, which is mostly dropped straight out of a Benz A-Class, feels good.
What’s interesting about the design is that there isn’t anything unique about it, at least not overtly different from the rest of the Tucson range. As electrification becomes the norm rather than the exception, car makers have realised car buyers don’t need or want their electrified cars to be styled dramatically differently.
As Toyota's decision to drop the Prius in Australia and instead relying on the Corolla to cater to buyers looking for a hybrid model demonstrates, buyers have evolved with their tastes.
Instead both outside and in, the Tucson Hybrid is a regular-looking SUV that will appeal to anyone looking for a fuel-efficient model.
Infiniti calls the Q30 a “crossover” rather than a hatchback and this is best reflected through its pumped ride height. Rather than hugging the ground like the A-Class or 1 Series, the Q30 sits propped up, almost like a small SUV.
There’s also the QX30 which is an even more pumped version of this car complete with plastic guards in the vein of Subaru’s XV. The QX30 is also your only way to all-wheel drive now that the Q30 is front-wheel drive only.
While the extra ride height means you won’t have to worry about scraping expensive body panels on speedbumps or steep ramps you won’t be wanting to get too brave off the tarmac.
Interior space is fine for front passengers with plenty of arm and legroom, but back seat passengers are left with a small, dark space which feels especially claustrophobic. Headroom is not great no matter which seat you’re in. In the front seat I could almost rest my head on the sun-visor (I’m 182cm tall) and the back seat was not much better.
Rear passengers do score nice seat trim and two air-conditioning vents though, so they haven’t totally been forgotten.
There’s average amounts of storage up front and in the back, with small bottle holders in each of the four doors, two on the transmission tunnel and a tiny trench – useful for keys maybe – in front of the air-conditioning controls.
Even the centre console box is shallow, despite a large opening. Once I had collected enough loose objects on my trip I started to run out of room for things in the cabin.
There are nettings on the back of the front seats and an odd extra one on the passenger’s side of the transmission tunnel.
Power outlets come in the form of a single USB port in the dash and a 12-volt outlet in the centre box.
The boot is a much better story despite the swoopy roofline with 430 litres of space available. That’s bigger than the A-Class (370L), 1 Series (360L), A3 (380L) and CT200h (375L). Needless to say, it ate up two large duffle bags and some extra items we brought with us for our week-long trip.
This is due to its impressive depth, but it does come at a cost. The Q30 only has the sound system’s base and an inflator kit under the boot floor. There’s no spare for long distance trips.
One irritation I have to mention is the shift-lever, which was annoying in its tilt-shift operation. Often when trying to change to drive from reverse or vice versa it would get stuck in neutral. Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with a shifter which locks in position…
Despite the addition of the hybrid powertrain elements the Tucson remains a practical family car. While it’s not the biggest SUV in its segment it offers adequate room for a family of four or five.
The front seats are comfortable and there’s good small item storage, as you’ll find in the existing Tucson range, with cup holders, a wireless smartphone charging pad, lidded console box and deep door pockets. The rear bench is good too, with enough room for my 180cm frame to fit in relative comfort, as well as cup holders in the fold-down armrest and a bottle holder in the door.
Crucially, the boot capacity is the same in both the petrol and hybrid Tucson in US specification, which means it should translate to the same 539-litres offered here. The boot floor is flat, which will make loading and unloading easier, but it’s worth noting that the US-spec model we drove had no space for a spare tyre and instead relied on a puncture repair kit.
If you’re shopping in this segment, there’s a good chance you’re not looking for a bargain buy, but the Q30 shines in some areas its competition doesn’t.
A promising start is the complete lack of a lengthy and expensive options list with items which should be standard. In fact, apart from a reasonable set of accessories and the $1200 premium 'Majestic White' paint, the Q30 has no options in the traditional sense.
The base Q30 scores 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights with high-beam assist, heated leather seats, flat-bottomed leather steering wheel, leather trim on the doors and dash, Alcantara (synthetic suede) roof-lining and a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen supporting DAB+ digital radio and built-in navigation.
Our Sport adds a 10-speaker Bose audio system (which could have been better…) dual-zone climate control, a fixed panoramic sunroof, fully-electric front seats and Nissan’s 360-degree ‘around view monitoring’ parking suite.
It might have premium aspirations, but value-wise Q30 is still specified like a Nissan.
The standard safety suite is also reasonably impressive, and you can read more about it in the safety section of this review.
Our Q30 Sport comes in at a total of $46,888 (MSRP) which is still premium money. The price pits it against the BMW 120i M-Sport (eight-speed auto, $46,990), Mercedes-Benz A200 (seven-speed DCT, $47,200) and fellow Japanese premium hatch act - the Lexus CT200h F-Sport (CVT, $50,400).
Herein lies the Q30’s biggest problem. Brand recognition. Everybody knows the BMW and Benz hatches by virtue of their badges alone and the Lexus CT200h is known by those who care about it.
Even without the extensive options list, it makes the price of entry against such established competition tough. While you might see a couple of them around Sydney, the Q30 is a relatively rare sight which garnered more than a few quizzical looks in the towns of NSW’s mid-north coast.
The standard spec is also missing the all-important Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. It rendered the 7.0-inch multimedia screen clumsy and largely useless, although the old-fashioned built-in nav gives peace-of-mind when you’re out of phone reception range.
If you have an Apple phone you can make use of the iPod music playback feature via the USB port.
While Hyundai may have confirmed the impending arrival of the Tucson Hybrid, the details are still under wraps. That’s likely because the hybrid will coincide with an as yet unseen mid-life refresh of the Tucson that was first revealed back in 2020.
Because of that there’s no public confirmation of pricing and specification for this new addition, but we can extrapolate what to expect based on the rest of the Hyundai line-up. Based on the recently added Kona and Santa Fe Hybrids, it’s a safe bet there’s likely to be two variants of the Tucson Hybrid. Expect an entry-level model - likely just called Tucson Hybrid - and a more luxurious variant - probably carrying the Tucson Hybrid Premium name, or possibly the Highlander badge.
Precisely what specification they will include and how much they will cost remains to be seen, but again we can probably take an educated guess based on what we’ve seen with the Kona and Santa Fe. The Kona Hybrid carries a $4000 price premium over its petrol-powered equivalent, while the Santa Fe Hybrid costs $3000 more.
So if the 2024 Tucson prices stay flat (which is possible but not guaranteed) expect the Tucson Hybrid to start around $46,900 and the Tucson Hybrid Premium/Highlander at $53,900.
For 2019 the Q30 has had its list of engines trimmed from three to just one. The diesel and smaller 1.6-litre petrol engines have been culled, leaving a 2.0-litre petrol.
Thankfully, it’s a strong unit producing a once-V6-range 155kW/350Nm across a wide band from 1200-4000rpm.
It feels responsive and isn’t let down by a slick-shifting seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission.
The new-generation A-Class equivalent, even in 2.0-litre A250 guise produces less torque with outputs of 165kW/250Nm, so for the money the Infiniti scores a solid serving of extra punch.
This is the heart of the matter, with the Tucson Hybrid combining a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with a small electric motor. The petrol engine makes the same power as the ‘SmartStream G1.6’ in the current Tucson, 132kW/265Nm. But the addition of the 44kW electric motor takes the total powertrain output to 168kW/349Nm.
The powertrain is paired to a six-speed automatic transmission as standard as well as Hyundai’s HTRAC all-wheel drive system.
Over my week-long test the Q30 returned a figure of 9.0L/100km. I was a little disappointed with this figure given much of the distance covered was cruising at freeway speeds.
It’s made worse when you pitch it against the claimed/combined figure of 6.3L/100km (not sure how you could achieve that…) and the fact that I left the irritating stop-start system on for much of the time.
For a leader in the luxury hatch class consider the Lexus CT200h which makes full use of Toyota’s hybrid drive and pitches a fuel consumption figure of 4.4L/100km.
The Q30 has a 56-litre fuel tank and takes a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded.
Hyundai USA rates the Tucson Hybrid fuel economy at between 6.1L/100km and 6.3L/100km depending on the variant. It must be noted that US fuel economy figures do alter to Australian numbers, but as a guide those figures are competitive without being class-leading.
The X-Trail e-Power returns the same 6.1L/100km, but the RAV4 Hybrid uses just 4.8L/100km so there’s room for Hyundai to close the gap.
But at 6.1L/100km the hybrid would be the most fuel-efficient member of the Tucson range in Australia, with the diesel managing 6.3L/100km and the 1.6 turbo petrol using 7.2L/100km. So there’s reason to think adding this hybrid option would expand the appeal of the Tucson.
The US-spec models have a 51-litre fuel tank which means a theoretical driving range of up to 835km on a single tank.
Thanks to its shared underpinnings with the A-Class the Q30 Sport drives largely like you would expect a premium hatch to drive. It’s just lacking a bit of character.
The engine is responsive, the transmission is fast and the availability of peak torque from just 1200rpm will lead to spinning the front wheels if caution is not applied. Power is no real issue.
Although Infiniti says it has tuned the Q30 in Japan and Europe, the ride has an undeniably Germanic flavour. It doesn’t feel quite as tight as the A-Class or 1 Series but it doesn’t feel as soft as the CT200h, so it strikes a decent balance.
The Q30 uses MacPherson strut suspension in the front and multi-link at the rear, more suited to a premium car than the torsion bar rear on the new Benz A 200.
The wheel has a nice amount of feedback, and thankfully doesn’t use the larger Q50’s strange ‘Direct Adaptive Steering’ which has no mechanical connection between the driver and the road.
If you’ve driven a decently-specified A-Class before the drive experience will feel familiar. The added ride height seems to remove a bit of feel from the corners, however.
There’s also the inclusion of three drive modes – Economy, Sport and Manual. Economy mode seems to be the default with Sport simply holding gears for longer. Steering-wheel mounted paddle-shifters could be used to mill through the seven gears in 'Manual' mode, although this didn’t add much to the experience.
The addition of active cruise control and adaptive high beams proved to be fantastic for reducing fatigue on long highway stints during the night, but the lack of a padded surface on the inside of the transmission tunnel proved uncomfortable for the driver’s knee on longer trips.
I persisted with the stop-start system to test it, but it proved slow and irritating. Under normal circumstances it would be the first thing I’d turn off.
Visibility was also a bit limited out the rear three quarter courtesy of the low, swoopy C-pillars.
The extra power and torque makes for a notable improvement in performance over what’s currently offered in Australia. The Tucson Hybrid feels quite punchy off the mark whenever you engage both the engine and motor. While it’s not exactly a ‘N Performance’ model, it does feel sprightly for a mid-size SUV.
Plus there’s the added bonus that the electric motor can do all of the work some of the time.
So if you do a lot of urban driving and can be careful with your right foot you may be able to get close to, or even beat, the claimed fuel economy.
It’s difficult to make a definitive comment on the handling, because the version we drove had the US suspension tune, which felt softer than what we’ve experienced here to deal with America’s very average road conditions. Even so, our test drive did demonstrate that the addition of the hybrid system, and the added weight it brings, doesn’t have a negative impact on the way the Tucson drives. It still feels like a well-balanced and responsive SUV and we’d certainly expect that to be the case of Australian-bound models.
The Q30 scores some decent active safety goodies alongside the usual refinements. Active safety items include auto emergency braking (AEB) with forward collision warning, blind spot monitoring (BSM), lane departure warning (LDW) and active cruise control.
There’s also Nissan’s signature ‘Around View Monitor’ 360-degree reversing camera which sounds more useful than it is. Thankfully there is also a standard reversing camera.
The Q30 carries a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as of 2015 but has not been tested to the more demanding 2019 standards.
The rear seats also benefit from two sets of ISOFIX child seat mounting points.
As previously mentioned, there’s no spare wheel in the Q30 Sport, so best of luck with the inflator kit if you end up with a flat in the outback.
Again, this is an area where we don’t know any specific details, but it’s almost certain that the Tucson Hybrid will follow the same safety features as the rest of the range.
There’s all the usual acronyms you expect these days, such as AEB (autonomous emergency braking), ESC (electronic stability control), BSM (blind spot monitoring) and RCTA (rear cross-traffic alert).
The biggest difference between the current range and the hybrid is likely to be the loss of the full-size spare wheel. Given the unique Australian conditions, if Hyundai can find a way to fit even a spacesaver spare it would be more appealing and safer than the puncture repair kit.
The addition of an all-new engine variant typically requires a new crash testing program under the ANCAP safety ratings, but the rest of the Tucson range is five stars and there's no reason to think the hybrid would be dramatically worse.
As with all Infiniti products, the Q30 is covered by a four-year/100,000km warranty and a three-year service program can be purchased with the car. Pricing was not available for the 2019 Q30 model year at the time of writing, but its 2.0-litre turbo predecessor averaged $540 per service once a year or every 25,000km.
Credit where credit is due, the Q30 edges out the European competition by a year of warranty length and general service pricing. This market segment is still wide open for a manufacturer to take the lead offering five or more years of warranty coverage.
It’s safe to assume that Hyundai Australia will offer its standard five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for the Tucson Hybrid.
Servicing costs are unclear but it’s probable that the more complex hybrid powertrain would mean a higher price. But Hyundai Australia will likely offer a servicing plan, so you’ll know up front what you’re in for.