Audi Q7 vs Infiniti Q50: which is more reliable?

The Infiniti Q50 is clearly ahead of the Audi Q7 on the federal record: 76/100 against 65/100 across every model year we score.

The record, side by side

Audi Q7
Audi Q7 · Wikimedia Commons

Audi Q7

65/100 mean
  • 12 model years scored
  • 816 owner complaints on record
  • about 11 complaints per year on the road
  • 48 recall campaigns, 29 safety-critical
  • best year 2013 (88/100) · worst 2017 (29/100)
Infiniti Q50
Infiniti Q50 · Wikimedia Commons

Infiniti Q50

76/100 mean
  • 10 model years scored
  • 482 owner complaints on record
  • about 5 complaints per year on the road
  • 23 recall campaigns, 13 safety-critical
  • best year 2020 (94/100) · worst 2014 (37/100)

Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.

Year by year: Q7 against Q50

The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.

YearQ7Q50 Gap
202560 CAUTION——
202386 BUY92 BUY-6
2022—93 BUY—
202131 AVOID91 BUY-60
202079 BUY94 BUY-15
201962 CAUTION87 BUY-25
201843 AVOID79 BUY-36
201729 AVOID66 CAUTION-37
2016—79 BUY—
201586 BUY44 AVOID+42
201487 BUY37 AVOID+50
201388 BUY——
201286 BUY——
201187 BUY——

What owners actually complain about

Audi Q7

  • Engine — 164 complaints
  • Exterior Lighting — 156 complaints
  • Electrical System — 147 complaints

Infiniti Q50

  • Steering — 119 complaints
  • Electrical System — 86 complaints
  • Power Train — 69 complaints

They do not fail the same way: the Q7's complaints concentrate in Engine, the Q50's in Steering. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.

Years to avoid on each

Audi Q7 — avoid: 2017, 2018, 2021.

Infiniti Q50 — avoid: 2014, 2015.

A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.

What each costs today

A recent used Audi Q7 prices at about $55,100 and a Infiniti Q50 at about $46,600 — the Infiniti Q50 is roughly $8,500 less, and they return 22.0 against 23.0 MPG combined.

Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.

FAQ

Is the Audi Q7 or the Infiniti Q50 more reliable?

On the NHTSA record the Infiniti Q50 scores 76/100 against the Audi Q7's 65/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Infiniti Q50 carries about 5 complaints per year on the road against 11 for the Audi Q7.

Which Audi Q7 and Infiniti Q50 years should I avoid?

Audi Q7: 2017, 2018, 2021. Infiniti Q50: 2014, 2015. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.

What goes wrong on the Audi Q7 and the Infiniti Q50?

The largest complaint group on the Audi Q7 is Engine (164 complaints); on the Infiniti Q50 it is Steering (119).

Is the Audi Q7 or the Infiniti Q50 cheaper to own?

A recent used Audi Q7 prices at about $55,100 and a Infiniti Q50 at about $46,600, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.

More head-to-heads