Indianapolis — It’s construction season in the Midwest, and there’s no better way to navigate it than in a mega-ute. Not in a sedan (WHUMP! Those road seams are harsh). Not in a compact SUV (YIKES! Those semis are huge!). Not in a sport scar (YIKES! Those road seams are harsh and those semis are huuuuge!).
In a mega-ute. Like my 2026 Infiniti QX80 Sport tester.
With three palatial rows of seats, tons of cargo room, 38-inches of tech-tastic digital screens, and 450 horsepower in the engine room below decks, this ocean liner was the perfect family hauler for my five-hour trip to Indianapolis for a Father’s Day weekend racing cars with my two boys.
Well, almost the perfect vehicle. The made-in-Japan QX80 Sport is the luxury brand’s latest volley as it takes on Detroit’s formidable foursome of luxury mega-utes: the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon, Lincoln Navigator and Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
Like asking Karl-Anthony Towns to guard fellow 7-footers Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant and Victor Wembanyama, it’s a tough ask. The Knicks center is talented but lacks key attributes that make the others MVP candidates.
So, too, the talented QX80.
BRAWWRRGGH! I stormed around an interstate cloverleaf like an SUV two classes smaller. Like GM’s athletic truck chassis that undergirds Escalade and Yukon, the 17½-foot-long, 3-ton Infiniti was balanced and fun to drive. Especially in SPORT mode, which activated the air suspension to lower the beast’s center of gravity.
BRAWWRRGGH! I floored the right pedal and lashed the 450 horses in front of me. The quiet cabin suddenly filled with the glorious bass of a twin-turbocharged V-6 engine. The mega-ute class was defined by mega-V8s, but QX80’s 3.5-liter mill packed plenty of punch when I needed to:
1) Merge onto the interstate
2) Pass on a two-lane road
3) Enjoy myself after miles of 60-mph orange-construction-barrel zones
Ugh. Construction barrels. Miles of them down Interstate 475, U.S. 24, I-69 and the I-465 beltway that surrounded Indianapolis like a tourniquet. The injured roads exposed the downside of the nimble QX80’s stiff chassis: a rough ride.
Ladder frames are less flexible than unibody SUVs like the compact QX60, and QX80’s suspension couldn’t mask the bumps like Detroit’s deft mega-utes. WHUMPA WHUMP WHUMP went Infiniti over a series of seams.
“I could feel that in my lower back after a while,” said my 34-year-old son in the rear seat after an interminable Indy construction zone.
My $107K QX80 Sport’s roomy, blue-leather interior and high-tech, however, are made for long road trips.
I (and my 6-foot-plus sons) could easily sit behind myself in the second row and third row. Generous legroom is augmented by QX80’s independent rear suspension that (like the IRS designs in the Cadillac, GMC and Lincoln models) is a major upgrade to the solid-axle pickup platform on which these land yachts are based.
The design allows for better third-row footwell space as well as better driving dynamics as previously noted. It’s a leg up for Infiniti on chief Japanese mega-ute rival Lexus GX — which, oddly, neglects IRS.
Notice how much easier it is to pass time on family road trips? I’m from the counting-cows generation, when there was nothing to do but tally heifers or play 20 questions. Sigh.
Today we have Google.
“Hey, Google, is Caitlin Clark playing in this weekend’s Indian Fever game?”
“Who is the Fever playing?”
“Is Raising Cane’s chicken available in Indiana?”
“Hey, Google, how many cows in Indiana?”
The conversation is endless, thanks to rapidly advancing AI tools. Like the GM twins, Escalade and Yukon, QX80 comes standard with the Google Built-in operating system. That means an interface familiar to my Android Auto app (Mrs. Payne uses Apple CarPlay) that doesn’t suck the juice from my phone while in operation.
On rural I-69, I engaged the native Google OS.
“Hey Google, find fast food on my route.”
“I’m sorry, something went wrong,” repeatedly came the reply.
Seems Android Auto had a better connection for the 315-mile journey, so I stuck with that. Using speakers embedded in the driver’s headrest, Google Maps fed me instructions and info across the fruited plain. That meant keeping my hard-working phone charged on Infiniti’s wireless charging pad — a pad not up to the task.
It was the first of a series of tech tics where QX80 lagged its Detroit competitive set.
Not only did the charging pad fail to maintain adequate phone charge (a problem I’ve not had in other modern cars), but my phone became overheated, provoking a warning on the center touchscreen.
No worries, I moved on to Plan B. Or Plan USB, if you will. I pulled out a USB charging cord I travel with, and … QX80 only provides USB-C connections. Oh.
Plan C. I looked for a 110-volt plug like King Caddy provides in its second row. QX80’s solution? A dated, 12-volt, cigarette-lighter port. Happily, I carry that auxiliary item in my laptop bag too, so that my phone stayed charged for the duration of the trip.
The QX80 suffers other ergonomic blind spots. Second-row seats had automatic recline buttons, but no quick-collapse buttons like Caddy. It offered a gorgeous console climate-control screen, but clumsy console shifter buttons instead of a convenient steering-stalk shifter.
Applause, on the other hand, for its Invisible Hood View feature that allowed me to precisely place the wheels in my crowded Indy race paddock. And you thought only Superman had laser vision.
The biggest arrow missing from QX80 Sport’s quiver is hands-free driving.
Cadillac, GMC and Lincoln offer this mapped feature across their lineup, making road trips a breeze. QX80? It’s only available on the top, $113K Autograph trim. My Sport tester’s adaptive cruise control was fine — but lagged the capability of ACC systems in compact SUVs like the Kia Sportage at half the price.
Unmapped construction zones require hands-on driving in vehicles not named Tesla — but on long stretches of freeway, GM Super Cruise and Lincoln BlueCruise take fatigue out of driving while allowing me to, say, enjoy my Raising Cane’s chicken strips and a Snapple while the big ocean liners drive themselves.
Crossing the border into Indiana from Ohio, the price of premium gas (required by that powerful V-6) suddenly dropped from $5.30 a gallon to $4.30.
“Hey, Google, why is gas so much cheaper in Indiana?” I asked.
“Gov. Braun suspended the state’s gas sales tax to provide financial relief to drivers following the Iran conflict,” came the Google reply.
Perfect for mega-ute road trips.
Next week: Value face-off, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid vs. Honda Civic Sport
2026 Infiniti QX80
Vehicle type: Rear-or-all-wheel drive, seven-passenger mega-SUV
Price: $85,940, including $2,245 destination charge ($107,815 Sport as tested)
Powerplant: 3.5-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6
Power: 450 horsepower, 526 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.1 seconds (Car and Driver); towing capacity, 8,500 pounds
Weight: 6,127 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 16 mpg city/19 highway/17 combined
Report card
Highs: Bold road presence; three roomy rows
Lows: Rough ride; lags competition in tech
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Payne: Road trippin’ in the Infiniti QX80 Sport mega-ute
Reporting by Henry Payne, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Henry Payne, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
