EVO Drives the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge Prototype

Word on the street is that Nissan will eventually be producing the Q50 Eau Rouge, which we first saw back at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. While the car looked pretty great at the time, we were more impressed with its shiny red paintjob than anything else. Fast forward several months, and the functional prototype of the Q50 is complete – and it’s got the same impressive power plant under the hood as the Nissan GT-R. But does it drive like a GT-R, or does the Q50’s size and steer-by-wire system take the edge off? The guys at EVO recently spent some time behind the wheel of the Q50 Eau Rouge prototype and shared their opinions on the sporty super-sedan.

Brimming under the hood of the car is a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V6 with about 560 horsepower, but unlike the GT-R, the car lacks a dual-clutch transmission. Instead, it’s got the same 7-speed auto found in the Q70, and the same all-wheel drive system as that car as well. Its these sort of changes that make the car less trackworthy than the GT-R, but more luxurious and refined than Godzilla. Apparently, it’s quite powerful in its current form, but doesn’t have the excitement factor or agility of the GT-R. Hopefully, Infiniti will take that feedback to heart as they refine the car for production.

We’ll be very curious to see where Infiniti goes with the Q50 Eau Rouge as it continues to evolve.