Infiniti and Beyond - 2017 QX60?

SWMBO wants a new car.  We can afford it. It will be the first "new from dealer" car for either of us. Biggest criteria is 3 rows, since our current setup makes it hard to do our fair share of carpooling to school, sports etc. SWMBO refuses 2 things: 1. No minivan. 2. No Buick.

Anyway, we've driven all the midsize 3 row SUVs, and while I personally prefer the big Mazda, the infinity is the consensus (i.e., her) pick as having  the right balance of price, luxyness, looks, convenience etc. (I can haul my large carcass into the 3rd row fairly easily. I will never ever turn a wrench on this car.)

Other than those cool tv commercials from years ago, I know zip about the brand. Anyone have any insight?

Well, that is a pathfinder with all of the toys.

I personally would avoid new Infiniti all together unless you get a smoking lease rate. They have German car depreciation with Japanese car reliability. So you can get some great deals second hand on them. Usually mid 20s for a low miles used ones. They are not that popular so the deals are good and the extended warranty packages are pretty affordable. 

Infiniti’s new naming convention is terrible. All I know is that a QX60 is a minivan like thing that is not the good one. The CVTs in Nissan products are among the worst in the industry, even as noted by their own CEO calling out their supplier.  

When this generation pathfinder/Infiniti came out, they had massive cvt trans problems.  Not sure they ever really fixed it, better do your homework there.  If it wasn't for the junk transmissions, I rather like the vehicle itself. 

Concur on the transmission problems. I have a '16 QX50 (which I wouldn't necessarily recommend.) Last time I was in for maintenance, the service advisor told me they have pallets of QX60 transmissions in the service department, waiting for installation. Not confidence inspiring.

The Mrs. wanted one as well, so we bought one.  She's had 2 Acadias in the past and she wanted to get back into something with a fold flat 3rd row.  To be honest, the Yukon 3rd row and back area is pretty inconvenient, and they really wanted it as a trade.  They were having a fire sale at the end of the month when we bought.  Got a great deal and she likes it, it's her DD and the family travel car.  She's happy = I'm happy.  We've got about 4k miles on it in about 2 months, put 500 miles on it the first day.  The transmission is a little wonky, it doesn't feel like the older Maxima CVT where the more you mashed the go pedal the more it went, this one seems to "shift" more, but once you get it moving it runs well.  I usually only drive it on the highway, and it's pretty comfortable once you get the seat adjusted properly.  The service department offers free loaners (even on oil changes) which is a nice benefit, they can also be serviced at Nissan dealers, which is also pretty handy, since there aren't Infiniti dealers on every corner.  My biggest "complaint" is that the infotainment starts up with the map every time you start the car, I would rather the stereo controls pop up, but that may be a settings issue that I haven't been irritated enough about to dig into.  This is more a dealer comment, but our experience was great, one of the easiest deals we've ever made.  We came in to look at a couple of specific certified used they had, but wound up getting a better deal on a vehicle that she liked more going with a new one.