2022 Infiniti QX60

2022 is the launch year of the second-generation (L51) QX60 and it arrives with a single powertrain across PURE, LUXE, SENSORY and AUTOGRAPH: the naturally aspirated 3.5-liter VQ35DD V6 at 295 hp.

Peak torque of 270 lb-ft does not arrive until 4,800 rpm — characteristic of a naturally aspirated V6 and well short of the turbocharged mid-size luxury three-rows it is cross-shopped against, which make more torque and make it near idle.

Infiniti publishes no factory 0–60 claim; independent testing of the redesigned 2022 car clusters around 7.3 seconds — quicker than the outgoing CVT generation's near-8-second pace, but only mid-pack for a 4,400–4,650 lb three-row.

With no turbo to lag and no hybrid handoffs to manage, the V6 delivers power linearly and quietly, and the switch from CVT to a geared automatic makes the engine feel more substantial off the line; the demerit is that real thrust requires revs and the V6 gets vocal when asked for them.

The all-new 9-speed automatic that replaces the first generation's CVT for 2022 shifts almost imperceptibly in normal driving and brings paddle shifters as standard on every grade, but reviewers of the launch cars flag slow responses — both to a request for more power and to the shift-by-wire selector itself.

Properly equipped, the 2022 QX60 tows 6,000 lbs braked — strong for a unibody three-row crossover — but the rating is gated behind AWD plus the top two grades, and every other configuration is rated at 3,500 lbs.

INFINITI Intelligent All-Wheel Drive is optional on all four grades rather than standard on any, at a consistent $2,000 over the front-drive car; it is a front-biased on-demand system with direct-coupling engagement sending up to 50% of power rearward, backed by a Snow drive mode — capable on-road traction hardware with no low range, locking differentials or terrain-mode suite.

The manufacturer's own geometry settles this: 6.7 inches of ground clearance and a 15-degree approach angle on a unibody, front-drive-based luxury crossover riding on 18- or 20-inch all-season tires, with no low range, no lockers, no skid plates and no off-road grade in the lineup. Snow mode and light-duty AWD traction are the whole of it.

One engine, one transmission, take it or leave it: the 3.5-liter V6 with the 9-speed automatic is the entire 2022 range, with no turbo four, no hybrid, no plug-in and no EV — and the QX60 launched into a segment where electrified three-rows were already established. The only powertrain decision a buyer makes is front-wheel drive versus AWD.

EPA rates the AWD 2022 QX60 — the representative configuration for a luxury three-row — at 22 MPG combined, an unremarkable figure for a gas SUV and one the QX60 has no electrified variant to improve on.

20 MPG in town reflects a 4,600-lb three-row hauling a naturally aspirated V6 with only idle stop/start — no electric assist — to lean on in stop-and-go traffic.

The new-for-2022 9-speed's tall top ratios and a 0.32 drag coefficient earn 25 MPG on the highway, but that still trails the turbo-four and hybrid three-rows that set the pace in this class.

An 18.5-gallon tank at the EPA combined rating works out to roughly 407 miles between fills for the AWD car — modest for a three-row family SUV, where a smallish tank blunts otherwise reasonable economy.

EPA's annual estimate is penalized twice over — 22 MPG combined priced against premium gasoline — putting the QX60 near the expensive end of the gas SUV field to keep fueled.

Infiniti recommends premium unleaded and EPA prices the car's running costs on that basis, but premium is recommended rather than required — the owner's manual permits 87 AKI with a noted loss of performance, so owners have an escape valve that a premium-required vehicle does not.

NHTSA gave the AWD 2022 QX60 a 5-star overall rating built on 4 stars frontal, 5 stars side and 4 stars rollover; the FWD version was run through the same frontal and side tests with identical results but never received a composite overall because rollover was not rated.

The redesigned L51 QX60 swept every IIHS crashworthiness test in its first year — Good in driver- and passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, both the original and updated side tests, and roof strength. It sits below the 2023 car despite identical structure because IIHS never issued an award for the 2022 model year: testing wrapped in September 2022 and the resulting Top Safety Pick+ was assigned to the 2023 QX60.

The base PURE grade already carries Forward Emergency Braking with pedestrian detection, Predictive Forward Collision Warning, Rear Automatic Braking, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Blind Spot Warning, Lane Departure Warning with haptic steering wheel, and a rear view monitor with rear sonar — four of the five headline systems standard fleet-wide. It misses the top band only because adaptive cruise is absent entirely on PURE, which gets plain cruise control; ProPILOT Assist, Around View, Lane Departure Prevention and Blind Spot Intervention all start at the volume LUXE grade.

IIHS rated front crash prevention Superior in all three evaluations — vehicle-to-vehicle, daytime pedestrian and the harder nighttime pedestrian test — which is the maximum result in each, and the hardware behind it is standard on every grade rather than option-gated.

Blind Spot Warning and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are standard on every grade, and from the volume LUXE up Blind Spot Intervention adds active steering correction rather than alert-only, paired with Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection. Short of the very top because there is no trailer-aware coverage or safe-exit alert, and PURE is alert-only.

Lane Departure Warning with haptic steering-wheel feedback is standard right across the range for 2022, and from LUXE up Lane Departure Prevention plus ProPILOT Assist lane centering makes the small corrections needed to hold a lane. Reviewers rate it effective on the highway rather than class-leading, and it stays hands-on throughout; the base PURE grade gets warning only, with no centering or prevention.

ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link is a full-speed-range adaptive cruise with stop-and-hold that reads navigation data to slow for upcoming curves and freeway exits — an integrated highway assist rather than bolt-on ACC. Docked because the PURE grade has no adaptive cruise at all, only conventional cruise control with wheel-mounted switches.

No hands-free highway system is offered on the 2022 QX60 at any grade. ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link is hands-on by design, and the hands-free ProPILOT Assist 2.0 Nissan fields on other models was never extended to this one.

IIHS rated the headlights Good in both configurations it tested, so there is no weak-headlight volume trim — the usual failure mode in this class. Full LED low and high beams with auto light and High Beam Assist are standard on every grade; only the Adaptive Front Lighting System is trim- or package-gated.

Generous side glass and large exterior mirrors keep the natural blind zones modest for a three-row crossover, and reviewers single that out as a strength. The rear window is narrow, though, and the camera help that compensates for it is trim-gated: Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection and front sonar begin at LUXE and the Smart Rear View Mirror is a top-grade or Vision-package item, leaving PURE on the rear-view monitor and rear sonar alone.

IIHS rated the LATCH hardware Good with extra positions — the best result it gives. Bench-seat grades carry four sets of lower anchors (both second-row outboard positions, the second-row center and the third-row driver's side) and five top tethers reaching into the third row; the captain's-chair configuration drops the center position to three and four. The real family advantage is that the 60/40 second-row bench tilts and slides for third-row access with a child seat still fitted.

The volume LUXE grade carries the 60/40-split sliding second-row bench for seven-passenger seating; in the L51's launch year the captain's-chair configuration is an AUTOGRAPH exclusive, not an option lower in the range.

Generous front headroom for a mid-size three-row, and unusually it is not a with/without-sunroof figure — the panoramic moonroof is standard equipment on all four 2022 grades.

Front legroom lands mid-pack for the segment — the 114.2-inch wheelbase is spread across three rows rather than concentrated up front.

Second-row headroom is modest for the class, the standard panoramic moonroof housing eating into an already tapered roofline on the redesigned body.

The sliding second row gives a healthy 37.7 inches at its rearmost position, but that figure and the third row's 28 inches compete for the same space — sliding it forward for third-row access gives the number back.

A genuine kid-and-teen third row with unusually good access — the second row tilts and slides without removing a child seat — and it is properly ventilated and powered, but 28 inches of legroom under 35.7 inches of headroom keeps adults to short hops.

Cargo room behind the second row trails the roomiest three-rows, and the 14.5 cu ft left with all seven seats occupied is the QX60's sharpest packaging limitation.

Maximum cargo volume is mid-pack for a mid-size three-row — genuinely usable, but well short of the boxier rivals that clear 85 cu ft with a taller, squarer load bay.

Well above average everyday storage — ten cupholders, four bottle holders, an underfloor cargo trunk and a 120V outlet from LUXE up — but nothing that reinvents the category, and in this launch year the wireless charging pad and 120V outlet both skip the base grade entirely.

Infiniti's Zero Gravity-inspired front seats are heated, 8-way power with 4-way lumbar on every grade and draw praise for fatigue resistance, but reviewers of the 2022 car split hard on bolstering and agree the second row is flatter and firmer than the front.

Compliant and absorbent on ordinary pavement thanks to the multilink rear and dual-flow-path dampers, but testers of the 2022 car repeatedly note that sharp-edged bumps and expansion joints come through hard on the 20-inch wheels the volume trim wears.

Laminated front glass, thicker second-row windows and added sound deadening make the redesigned car measurably quieter than the outgoing QX60, with the naturally aspirated V6 staying subdued at cruise; the dissent is over how well the large mirrors manage wind and road noise.

Tri-zone automatic climate, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are standard on every grade — including the $47,875 base car — with headliner-mounted vents for both rear rows, which is a richer standard comfort set than most rivals field at this price.

The entry PURE front-drive grade of the all-new L51 opens at $46,850 plus Infiniti's $1,025 destination and handling charge — the cheapest way into a three-row luxury crossover for 2022, and $2,520 below where the same grade would sit a year later.

LUXE is the volume grade and Infiniti's own press release frames it that way — it is the step that adds ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link, the Around View Monitor, navigation, the 12.3-inch digital cluster, climate-controlled front seats and 20-inch wheels; scored with Intelligent AWD to match the drivetrain used elsewhere in this scorecard.

Mechanically the QX60 is a Nissan Pathfinder — VQ35DD V6, nine-speed automatic, Nissan parts and labor rates — so it services far more cheaply than the German competition, but the 2022 is the last QX60 model year with NO complimentary scheduled maintenance (Premium Care starts at MY2023), so the owner pays for every oil change, rotation and inspection from day one. The figure sits above the 2023 car's estimate for exactly that reason, and carries a repair allowance for years four and five, when a 15,000-mile-a-year owner is past the 60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper cap.

This is the item that sinks the category, and it is a real market signal rather than a modelling artifact — the QX60 depreciates roughly ten points harder than the luxury mid-size SUV average, and the 2022 cars carry an extra penalty because many of them transacted at or above sticker during the chip-shortage market, so the drop measured from MSRP is if anything understated. Weak Infiniti brand equity and heavy lease volume both feed it.

Infiniti's new-vehicle limited warranty runs four years or 60,000 miles — the luxury-brand convention on term, and 10,000 miles more generous on distance than the 4/50,000 that Acura, Cadillac, BMW, Audi and Lexus all offer.

Six years or 70,000 miles on the 3.5-liter V6, the new nine-speed automatic and the drive components — a step beyond the German 4/50,000 norm, but well short of the 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain coverage Genesis, Hyundai and Kia bring to the same shopping list.

The 2022 QX60 gets no complimentary scheduled maintenance of any kind — INFINITI Premium Care, the three-year included-service program the brand now leads with, begins at model year 2023, so the all-new 2022 launched without the one ownership benefit that would lift this item into the upper band. What remains is genuine but ordinary: 24/7 roadside assistance running the length of the four-year new-vehicle warranty, plus the usual INFINITI InTouch connected-services and SiriusXM trial periods. That is 'basic roadside only' almost exactly as the guidance describes it.

$55,925 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (38% retained, or about $21,252) leaves about $34,674 in depreciation. Add the projected $4,900 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $39,574 in total.

2022 is the launch year of the all-new L51, and the dependability study that surveys exactly this model year at three years puts Infiniti 40 problems per 100 vehicles worse than the industry average — a wider gap than the 2023 cars later posted. Consumer Reports docked the redesigned QX60's overall score for below-average predicted reliability on the strength of Infiniti's history with fresh designs, and a first-year car has no track record to argue back with. RepairPal's low major-issue likelihood is the counterweight that keeps this out of the failing band.

Infiniti finishes well below both the industry and the premium average in the dependability study covering this model year, and Consumer Reports cannot rank the brand at all because too few of its members own one — an absence of evidence rather than evidence of quality. The brand's later climb in initial quality is real but measures the first 90 days, not the three-year horizon this item is about.

Two NHTSA recalls across the launch year of a ground-up redesign is genuinely restrained — fewer than the three the 2023 car accumulated — and neither touches the powertrain, brakes or fire risk. Complaint volume is low as well, at seven filings in the first twelve months on sale. The deduction is for the character of the recalls rather than their count: one is a bolt simply left out of the second-row seat track, and the 9-speed drew a shift-calibration bulletin on top.

The 2022 redesign retired the JATCO CVT that was the previous QX60's signature long-term liability — and the subject of a class action covering the 2019–2021 cars — for a nine-speed torque-converter automatic, while keeping the 3.5L VQ35DD V6 from a family with a well-established high-mileage record. That is a structural improvement, but 2022 is the first year of the new transmission in this application and it shipped needing calibration work: jerky low-gear shifts, hesitation from a standstill and a cold-start 1–2 thunk.

The L51 cabin is the strongest thing about the car and unusually rich for its money — the QX60 opens below every mid-size luxury three-row rival yet fits open-pore wood, aluminum and stainless trim, with a quilted leather dashtop and semi-aniline hides on AUTOGRAPH. It stops short of the top of the band only because reviewers who liked it still placed it a step below the class benchmarks on outright opulence.

Assembly reads as solid to reviewers and the cabin is quiet, but this is the first year off a new line and it carries an unambiguous assembly-defect recall — a mounting bolt omitted from the second-row seat track — which is precisely what this item measures. Infiniti was not among the premium leaders in the initial-quality study covering the 2022 model year, so there is no strong outside result to offset it; the brand's IQS climb comes two years later.

Roughly 200 US stores is a materially thinner footprint than Lexus, Acura, BMW or Mercedes-Benz, and thin coverage is a real ownership cost on a luxury vehicle whose warranty work is dealer-only — buyers outside metro areas can be an hour or more from the nearest franchise. Service reputation itself is adequate rather than poor, and Infiniti has been recognized for dealer responsiveness.

Sharing the Nissan Pathfinder's platform, VQ35DD V6 and nine-speed automatic is what pays off here: the mechanical parts are high-volume Nissan pieces rather than low-volume luxury ones, and running costs land near the all-vehicle average instead of the luxury-SUV average. It sits a notch below the later cars because 2022 is the first year of L51-specific bodywork, trim and electronics, so those parts had the least supply depth behind them — and Infiniti-only pieces carry luxury pricing and dealer-only sourcing regardless.

The 12.3-inch InTouch display is standard across the whole 2022 lineup rather than being reserved for upper trims, but it is also the maximum available, so the volume trim and the flagship see the same screen.

The all-new InTouch system that arrived with this generation is consistently rated fast, logically laid out and easy to use, and Infiniti kept a rotary IT Controller and physical climate controls alongside the touchscreen; the demerit is capacitive touch panels that demand precise fingers.

Wireless Apple CarPlay is standard on all four grades — ahead of much of the segment in 2022 — but Android Auto is USB-tethered at any price, so roughly half of buyers still need a cable.

Native navigation with real-time traffic and 3D building graphics is standard from the volume LUXE grade up and feeds ProPILOT Assist's Navi-link, but voice recognition is command-based rather than natural-language, and the base PURE gets no built-in navigation at all.

A well-regarded Bose Performance Series 17-speaker system is orderable on the volume LUXE trim and standard on SENSORY and AUTOGRAPH, sitting above a competent 9-speaker base system with HD Radio on every grade.

The volume LUXE grade and above get the full 12.3-inch configurable Dynamic Meter Display; only the base PURE falls back to electroluminescent analog gauges flanking a 7-inch information screen.

InTouch on the redesigned QX60 supports over-the-air infotainment updates — firmware, maps and in-vehicle apps delivered over the vehicle's own Wi-Fi connection — but the scope stops at the infotainment domain, well short of whole-vehicle OTA that adds driving or powertrain features.

The MyINFINITI app covers the core remote set — start, climate, lock/unlock, locate, vehicle status — with an InTouch Premium subscription included on new vehicles, but there is no phone-as-key on the 2022 QX60 and remote start is missing from the base grade.

Six USB ports reach all three rows on the volume trim (seven on AUTOGRAPH) and a 120V household outlet comes from LUXE up, but in this launch year Qi wireless charging and the 120V outlet both skip the base grade — the 2023 car made wireless charging standard across the lineup — and the third row is Type-A only.

Proximity entry works at all four doors and the liftgate via capacitive touch sensors with push-button start standard, plus a standard power liftgate that goes motion-activated from LUXE up; the only real gap is that no phone-as-key exists on this car.

Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection plus front and rear sonar are standard from the volume LUXE trim up and a Smart Rear View Mirror is orderable there, but there is no automated parking system anywhere in the range.

A large 10.8-inch colour head-up display is orderable on the volume LUXE trim rather than gated to the flagship, and is standard on AUTOGRAPH — good availability, though it remains a paid package option where most buyers actually shop.

The redesigned QX60's signature family feature is a second row that tilts and slides for third-row access with a child seat still installed — a genuine segment differentiator — backed by four lower anchors and five top tethers on the seven-seat bench and a standard power liftgate; the 14.5 cu ft behind the third row is the one real compromise.

Strong crash credentials — a 5-star NHTSA overall and Good in every IIHS crashworthiness test in the L51's first year — paired with automatic emergency braking, rear automatic braking, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert standard on the entry grade; it sits just below the 2023 car only because IIHS issued no award for the 2022 model year.

Tri-zone climate with headliner vents for both rear rows, USB charge points in all three rows, second-row sunshades and a quiet cabin make long hauls easy for the first two rows — but there is no rear-seat entertainment offered and only 14.5 cu ft of luggage space when all seven seats are occupied.

ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link, full-speed-range adaptive cruise with stop-and-hold and auto-hold are standard from the volume trim up and the naturally aspirated V6 is easy to modulate in traffic, but reviewers of the 2022 car report lazy downshifts and jerky tip-in from the new 9-speed outside Sport mode, and firm impacts over broken city pavement.

22 MPG combined from a naturally aspirated V6 that Infiniti specifies on premium unleaded makes this one of the more expensive ways to commute in the class, and for 2022 there is no hybrid, PHEV or four-cylinder anywhere in the range to escape to.

A 38.1-foot curb-to-curb circle is genuinely tidy for a 198-inch three-row and Around View Monitor with front and rear sonar is standard on the volume LUXE trim, but the car is 86 inches wide across the mirrors and testers flag a curving hoodline and thick pillars that make the corners hard to place.

A unibody luxury crossover with no bed, and the headline 6,000-lb tow rating is locked to specific upper-grade all-wheel-drive configurations — the volume LUXE cannot be factory-equipped for it and tops out at 3,500 lbs.

The VQ35DD V6 is a long-serving, well-understood Nissan engine and the new 9-speed is a conventional torque-converter automatic rather than the outgoing CVT, but this is a leather-lined luxury vehicle in its first model year with no fleet presence and no wear-friendly interior option.

A 120V household outlet, cargo tie-downs, roof rails with accessory crossbars and an underfloor cargo trunk cover light hauling, but there is no washable interior, no meaningful onboard power and no upfit ecosystem behind it.

A quiet cabin, Zero Gravity front seats and ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link from the volume trim up make it a capable interstate cruiser with roughly 400-plus miles between fills, but the premium-fuel requirement, firm impacts over expansion joints and a flatter second row keep it short of the class benchmark.

Intelligent AWD that can send half the torque rearward, plus a Snow drive mode, makes it genuinely competent on gravel and winter roads — but 6.7 inches of ground clearance, a 15-degree approach angle, all-season tires and trim-gated towing keep it firmly in the graded-road-and-bike-rack tier.

Flexible folding — a sliding 60/40 second row and a 60/40 third row with power seatback return on upper grades — plus an underfloor trunk and roof rails handle bulky gear well once the third row is down, but 41.6 cu ft behind the second row trails the roomiest rivals and a hitch is not orderable on the volume trim.

The redesigned car turns in more crisply than the first-generation QX60 and is secure at normal speeds, but body roll builds noticeably when pressed and the front-biased 56/44 mass distribution makes itself felt — reviewers of the 2022 car divide between 'drives smaller than it is' and 'uninspiring, with a sense of detachment'.

The speed-variable electric assist is accurate enough to place the car confidently and has quick initial turn-in, but it transmits little of what the front tires are doing, and Edmunds finds it slow and heavy on top of that.

Large ventilated discs with dual-piston front calipers resist fade and hold composure under repeated hard use, but instrumented panic stops on this generation came in unimpressive, notably on wet pavement.

Replacing the first-generation car's CVT with a 9-speed torque-converter automatic for 2022 was a decisive improvement in feel, but the launch-year calibration still shows through as lagging tip-in and reluctant downshifts outside Sport mode.

The naturally aspirated V6 is smooth and pleasantly voiced under load with none of the drone the outgoing CVT produced, and it is well isolated from the controls at cruise — it only gets vocal when asked for its upper revs.

A 38.1-foot turning circle is respectable in absolute terms for a 198-inch three-row on a 114.2-inch wheelbase, though it lands mid-pack against the SUV field as a whole.

Wide adjustment range — 8-way power with 4-way lumbar standard on every grade, power tilt/telescoping column with memory and entry/exit assist from LUXE up — and a commanding seating height, undercut by a curving hoodline that hides the front corners and thick pillars that hurt shoulder visibility.

Standard paddle shifters, a Sport mode and a willing V6 give it more character than the CVT car it replaced, but numb steering, noticeable roll and a ~7.3-second 0–60 leave it a competent cruiser rather than something anyone takes the long way home in.

At $47,875 delivered the PURE is unusually well equipped for a base luxury three-row: leather-appointed first and second rows where most rivals fit synthetic at this price, a panoramic moonroof, seven seats standard, heated 8-way power 'zero gravity' front seats with memory, LED head- and taillamps, power liftgate, tri-zone climate with headliner vents for rows two and three, six USB ports, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay. What holds it out of the top band is that the badge-defining items — ProPILOT Assist, the Around View Monitor, navigation, ventilated seats, the digital instrument cluster — all wait until LUXE, $6,050 up the range, and unlike the 2023 car the 2022 does not make wireless charging standard.

Content-for-price is the QX60's clearest argument in its launch year: it opens level with a base Acura MDX and tens of thousands under an X5 or GLE, and a fully loaded AUTOGRAPH AWD at $64,275 delivered buys semi-aniline quilted leather, open-pore ash, a 17-speaker Bose Performance Series system, a 10.8-inch head-up display and second-row captain's chairs for less than a mid-spec German. The ceiling on the score is the powertrain: one naturally aspirated 295-hp V6 and one nine-speed automatic across all eight configurations, with no turbo, hybrid or performance option at any price.

Four evenly spaced grades — PURE, LUXE, SENSORY, AUTOGRAPH — each offered with Intelligent AWD gives eight configurations across a $16,400 span, which covers the budget range sensibly. The gap is depth rather than breadth: one engine, one transmission, and a thin factory options sheet (a Bose upgrade restricted to LUXE, a Vision package for LUXE and SENSORY, a tow package only on SENSORY AWD, and paint) leaves little room to configure around a grade.

2022 is the recovery year rather than the strong year. QX60 volume had collapsed to 5,829 units in 2021 as the old L50 ran out and the new car arrived only in the final weeks of the year, and the L51's first full year brought it back to the high teens/low twenties — a real rebound, but against a chip-shortage supply ceiling and still less than half the 43,162 the nameplate managed in 2019. In segment terms it was a mid-pack player, outsold roughly two to one by the Acura MDX, with the trajectory that matters (21,827 in 2023, 27,808 in 2024) still ahead of it.

Infiniti sits in the second rank of US luxury brands — a shrinking lineup and roughly 47,000–59,000 annual deliveries against Lexus's several hundred thousand — and the QX60's own five-year retention of about 38% is the market pricing that reputation directly. The offsetting evidence is real but narrower and squarely about this car: the 2022 QX60 topped its segment in J.D. Power's 2022 APEAL study, which measures how much owners like the vehicle once they have it.

Scored on buyer benefit, this is where the 2022 model year is genuinely worse than the years either side of it: the all-new QX60 launched straight into the chip-shortage market, and the ordinary outcome for a 2022 buyer was paying sticker or above it, with factory incentives thin to absent. Market adjustments of $1,950–$9,000 were documented across the country and the best result most shoppers could negotiate was MSRP plus a $1,000 loyalty rebate — the 'sells at or over MSRP' band almost verbatim, and a straightforward contrast with the ~8–9% off sticker that 2023 cars were transacting at once supply normalized.

2022 is year one of the L51 second generation and about as fresh as a model year gets — a ground-up replacement for a nine-year-old L50, with new sheetmetal and interior, a 12.3-inch InTouch display, and an all-new nine-speed automatic in place of the outgoing CVT. A 2022 buyer faced essentially zero redesign risk; the only caveat is the usual first-model-year one, that the launch car misses the small content additions (standard wireless charging, frameless mirror) the 2023 brings.

The launch car was received as a large, genuine improvement that still is not the class pick: U.S. News ranked it 9th among 2022 luxury midsize SUVs at 7.5/10, calling it 'a good all-arounder' while noting 'class rivals are more luxurious or better performers.' The awards are real but narrow — Newsweek's Best Premium SUV and a J.D. Power APEAL segment win, both owner- and editor-judged rather than comparison-test results. Worth noting for a safety-conscious shopper: the 2022 model year earned Good ratings across every IIHS crashworthiness test with Superior front crash prevention, but the TOP SAFETY PICK+ award itself went to the 2023 car, not this one.