Infiniti Q30 VS Land Rover Discovery Sport
Infiniti Q30
Likes
- Concept car looks
- Willing engine
- Standard safety
Dislikes
- Concept car practicality
- Lacking multimedia
- Priced in the big leagues
Land Rover Discovery Sport
Likes
- Cabin is both large and practical
- Economical to run
- Mostly smooth to drive
Dislikes
- Paying extra for features may irk
- More expensive than flagship model
- Some tech needs work
Summary
Infiniti Q30
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.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Premium Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.3L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Land Rover Discovery Sport is the sort of Land Rover you consider if you're not that serious about going off-road but still want something capable, but you don't want a car as large as it's Range Rover cousins.
Bonus points, the P300e mid-spec model I'm testing this week is a plug-in hybrid. So, you get the best of all worlds - capability, decent size and economy.
The new powertrain pits it against the Lexus NX450+, Volvo XC60, Audi Q5 and even the BMW X3 but while the P300e is great on paper, how does it stack-up in real life?
Read more about
- Land Rover Australian sales through the roof: Defender, Discovery and Range Rover Evoque star in spectacular year-on-year increases that leave competitors like Jeep, Mercedes-Benz and Audi in the shade
- England's pricey answer to the Suzuki Jimny? Baby electric version of Land Rover Defender coming by 2027 - report
- But what does it stand for? Land Rover brand axed as Jaguar Land Rover renamed 'JLR' to launch Range Rover, Discovery, Defender and Jaguar as individual brands
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 1.5L turbo |
| Fuel Type | — |
| Fuel Efficiency | 2.1L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Infiniti Q306.9/10
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.
Is the Q30 Sport different enough that you’d consider it over its premium hatch rivals? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Land Rover Discovery Sport7.6/10
The Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e has a beautiful and practical cabin space. The powertrain didn't always convince me on the road but it does offer decent economy, if you charge it often.
The media system left a lot to be desired and having to pay around $15K extra for all of the customisations means it's not as affordable as what it initially seems. Still, if you’re looking for a plug-in hybrid with a great cabin and on-road looks, this is a good option.
Design
Infiniti Q307/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The updated Disco Sport gets new underpinnings which are shared with the Range Rover Evoque.
The body has seen a minor facelift but honestly, it’s so slight only die-hard fans will notice anything different. Overall, it still has the styling that people know and love.
It’s once you head inside that the facelift becomes far more apparent. Gone is the more traditional looking e-shifter and in its place is a rather nubby-looking one.
The dashboard looks more streamlined and features wider padded accents and in our test model, we have the Oyster and Black upholstery which does make it look quite luxurious. There are a few too many blank spaces for me personally but it looks slick.
Accentuating the dashboard is a floating-effect multimedia system and a large digital instrument cluster – both of which look great but there are no other control buttons or dials. I’m not a fan of the fact that you’re 100 per cent reliant on the tech screens and I'll explain why in the Practicality section.
The optioned panoramic roof makes the cabin feel airy and it's cool that it has a memory function – it will close when you turn off the car but reopen upon starting again.
Practicality
Infiniti Q306/10
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…
Land Rover Discovery Sport
With it's 4597mm length, 2173mm width and 1727mm height, the Discovery Sport is technically classed as a medium SUV but the cabin space is much larger than it has any right to be.
Both rows have ample head- and legroom for both my 168cm (5ft6') height and those much taller. When you have a co-pilot, you’re also not jostling for elbow room and it’s easy to slide in and out of because of the 212mm ground clearance.
The amenities up front are good with the update seeing more decent sized individual storage options.
There are two cubbies in the centre console as well as two cupholders and a medium-sized middle console. The glove box can hold more than a manual and the storage bins with their single drink bottle holders are also larger than before.
The powered front seats are comfortable and the optioned heat functions are most welcome on the cooler days we've been having lately.
The back seats also have superior padding comfort but you sit on top of, rather than in, them which is typical of an SUV.
The amenities and storage are what you would expect for the grade level with a fold-down armrest with two cup holders and small storage cubby, directional air vents, reading lights, map pockets and small storage bin in each door.
There is also an accessory hole to attach device holders on the backs of the front seats - perfect for hooking up a screen for little ones on a long journey.
The P300e loses points on its practicality with the multimedia system. You eventually get used to using it while on the go, even though the lack of buttons/dials means more time is spent with your eyes on the screen.
That's when the screen turns on. The display has cut out a few times this week and the wireless connectivity for Bluetooth and the connection for Apple CarPlay (wireless or wired) drops out a lot.
The P300e I'm driving is brand-spanking-new, so it may just be a case of something that needs calibrating but for a lot of the Land Rovers I've sampled in the past, the media system seems to be the area with the biggest teething issues.
That being said, the built-in satellite navigation is top-notch and easy to use. The directions also get displayed on the instrument cluster and optioned HUD.
The charging options are excellent with the front row getting three USB-C ports and a large wireless charging pad. The rear gets two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports plus a 12-volt socket and the boot also has a 12-volt socket. Totally spoiled for choice.
The boot is a great size at 897L with all seats in use and that jumps up to 1749L when the rear seats are folded flat. The rear row also has a 40/20/40 split, which opens up storage opens.
There is a temporary spare tyre housed underneath the flat floor and a powered tailgate comes standard in this model, which I always like.
Price and features
Infiniti Q307/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Discovery Sport is offered in four grades and the model on test in this review is the plug-in hybrid mid-level P300e.
The P300e is priced from $102,125 before on road costs but the addition of the plug-in hybrid powertrain means that it is actually $8855 more expensive than the flagship HSE.
In terms of its rivals, the P300e sits towards the middle of the line-up with the Volvo XC60 Recharge Plus PHEV coming in as the most affordable at $92,990 before on-road costs, then the Lexus NX450+ PHEV at $93,498. Sitting at the more expensive is the Audi Q5 55 TFSIe at $106,600 and then the BMW X3 xDrive30e M Sport PHEV at $111,800.
However, our test model does have a few optioned extras which ups the price tag and its position in the pack.
Those options include:
- A Technology Pack for $4700 which adds a digital rearview mirror, head-up display, and a 360-degree camera system with wade sensors.
- A fixed panoramic roof for $3040.
- Upgraded Meridian Surround Sound System for $2220.
- Upgraded 20-inch alloy wheels for $2080.
- Heated front seats for $860.
- Home charging cable for $520.
- Titanium mesh trim for $420.
All of that brings the grand total to $117,290, before on roads. Which is no small lump of change for what is essentially just a baby Land Rover.
Standard luxury and practical features include powered front seats with a three-position memory function for the driver, synthetic leather upholstery, keyless entry, push-button start, powered tailgate, temporary spare-tyre, and dual-zone climate control.
Technology includes an 11.4-inch touchscreen multimedia system, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, Android Auto, wireless charging pad, Bluetooth connectivity, and DAB+ Digital Radio.
The update also sees wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay, an Amazon Alexa app, as well as new USB-C ports, as opposed to USB-A ports from the previous model.
Under the bonnet
Infiniti Q307/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Discovery Sport P300e has a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder plug-in hybrid turbo-petrol engine with an eight-speed auto transmission and is an all-wheel drive.
The engine produces a combined power output of 227kW and 540Nm of torque. On paper, it’s punchy and can do a 0-100km/h sprint in 6.6 seconds but in practice, it’s not always great at using that power.
Efficiency
Infiniti Q306/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The official combined fuel cycle consumption figure is 2.1L/100km and my real-world usage sits a 4.8L/100km after doing some open-roading and lots of urban trips this week. For an SUV of this size and with it's power, that's pretty darn good.
The trick is to regularly charge it for maximum fuel economy gains and that's not always practical.
Officially, you get up to 66km of pure electric range in this but expect closer to 47km in the real world.
The P300e has a Type 2 CCS charging port which means you can hook this up to a fast charger. On a 50kW system, you can go from 0-80 per cent in as little as 30 minutes but on a 7kW system, going from 0-100 per cent jumps up to to two hours and 12 minutes.
Expect to leave it on charge overnight on a standard domestic socket.
The driving range based on the official combined fuel cycle is obscene, and I can't see it happening in real life - so, based on my fuel economy figure and the 58L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of up to 1208km.
Driving
Infiniti Q307/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Discovery Sport P300e has the goods on paper when it comes to power and it does... once you're up to speed. That's when you can punch it and feel confident at overtaking or keeping your speed consistent on hills.
It's when you're accelerating from a full-stop that it becomes a bit lacklustre as there's serious lag between accelerating and actually moving forward. Accept that you will have to accommodate for this inaction whenever you are joining or crossing traffic from a standstill.
Besides this little hiccup in the power delivery, handling on the whole is good.
The Disco Sport is easy to manoeuvre and you don’t feel like you’re driving something big, despite the ample cabin space. It also handles itself well in corners without too much roll.
The switch between the electric and petrol components isn’t always the smoothest but when it’s in its electric mode it’s blissfully quiet. The cabin feels refined too because you don’t get a lot of external noise in the cabin at all.
The wide windows and higher ride means visibility is great and the optioned digital rearview mirror adds another viewpoint if the back window isn’t clear.
The Disco Sport proves to be nimble and easy to park with the optioned and clear 360-degree camera system, and the sensors at the front and rear are sensitive.
Safety
Infiniti Q307/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Discovery Sport plug-in hybrid variant is not covered by its siblings' five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022, so the P300e is unrated but features some good safety gear.
Standard items include AEB, blind spot monitoring, driver attention alert, tyre pressure monitoring, rear collision warning, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping aid, traffic sign recognition, intelligent seatbelt warning, and adaptive cruise control.
The traffic sign recognition tech is dreadfully intrusive, which impacts the driving enjoyment. I turn the warning sound alerts off each time I hop in as it's like a small child is hitting the same piano key over and over again - just to give you a sense of the sound itself and resulting annoyance.
It has seven airbags but interestingly, and unusually, the seventh one is a pedestrian airbag.
This model misses out on lane departure warning but for any families, there are ISOFIX mounts on the rear outboard seats plus three top tethers and you should be able to get three seats back if they’re not too big.
Ownership
Infiniti Q308/10
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.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
The Discovery Sport comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year/ 160,000km warranty which is a usual term to see for this class now.
There is a five-year capped-price servicing program which costs a flat $2100, or $420 which is both reasonable for the class and is more affordable than a pay-as-you-go option. There is also a five-year roadside assistance program as a part of your servicing plan through Assist Australia.
Servicing intervals are great at every 12 months or 20,400km, whichever occurs first.