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- The Infiniti QX80 Is A Little More Powerful
- The Armada And The QX80 Are Both Sensible Options
- The Infiniti QX80 Is A Little Bit Better In Every Way
If you're looking for a bargain, a full-size, three-row SUV should be the last segment you're considering, right? These vehicles are a couple rows short of a school bus, and priced accordingly. Or rather, a brand-new three-row SUV can be prohibitively expensive. When we're buying used, we've got a little more wiggle room. This is especially true if we're looking at models that are five years old or older, as that's where we find the depreciation sweet spot where a car is selling for half its original MSRP, but it doesn't even have 100,000 miles on the odometer yet.
One of our favorite aspects of depreciation: you can potentially find a luxury model in the same price range as its mid-market variant, as is the case with the Nissan Armada and its Infiniti sibling, the QX80. If we assume that you've got $25,000 burning a hole in your pocket, and you don't want to go a dollar over that price, that brings us to the 2020 Nissan Armada, and the 2019 Infiniti QX80, based on Kelley Blue Book fair purchase pricing. So which one of these family SUVs is the better deal? Let's find out.
The Infiniti QX80 Is A Little More Powerful
It should come as no surprise to learn that the 2019 Infiniti QX80 and the 2020 Nissan Armada have quite a lot in common. The 2020 Armada is part of the second generation for the three-row, which kicked off with the 2017 model year, and it was launched before a refresh in 2021. The 2019 QX80 is similarly a second-gen model, and it follows a facelift for the 2018 model year. Under the hood, both SUVs share the same powertrain, but the QX80 is tuned to be a little more powerful.
Reviewing the 2020 Nissan Armada, we praised it as one of the largest and "most capable" SUVs on the market that year. We noted that, while the 390-horse powertrain made for capable all-terrain performance in the 4x4 models, the Armada's imposing 121.1-inch wheelbase made serious off-roading tricky. Yeah, it can climb over just about anything, but you don't want to be driving this land-yacht down narrow trails, and you're more likely to wind up teeter-tottering over a boulder than clearing it. There's a reason the Jeep Wrangler is so small.
We also noted that the entry and mid-range trims felt a bit behind the times in 2020. The SUV doesn't even feature Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, features that were a given in 2020. But, the ride is smooth, the cabin is comfortable, and it handles like a beast.
The Infiniti QX80 Is A Bonafide Luxury Vehicle
Reviewing the 2019 Infiniti QX80, we compared the SUV favorably to the Escalade. The stitched leather seats and high-end trim materials set the QX80 apart from the entry-level Armada right away, although the mid-range Nissan Armada SL is no slouch in the features department.
Both SUVs have plenty to brag about when it comes to keeping road noise out of the cabin, but the QX80 will have you turning the radio down to try and figure out if the engine is even running. You could almost fault the SUV for being too quiet if you're someone who likes to hear the rumble of a V8 under the hood without having to roll the window down. In any event, you could record professional-quality audio in the cabin of either one of these SUVs, while driving through a construction site.
The Armada And The QX80 Are Both Sensible Options
Comparing the cost of basic maintenance across both of these models, here's what we get, courtesy of RepairPal for the annual maintenance estimates, and CarEdge for the ten-year estimates.
These numbers will likely come as a surprise to absolutely nobody. Luxury models tend to be more expensive to maintain than their down-market siblings. This doesn't mean that luxury models tend to break down more often, only that, when they do, the part required is usually more expensive to fix. Additionally, luxury models usually have features that you won't find on the cheaper cars, so a QX80 comes with whole list of potential repairs that you don't have to worry about in an Armada.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
