The Infiniti Q50, which is also known as the Nissan Skyline in its native Japan, is Nissan’s update to the long-loved G sedan. It’s sleek, angular, and designed to compete with other compact-to-midsized luxury sedans like the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Volvo S60, Lexus ES, and Acura TLX.

Like the vehicles it competes with, the Q50 hits the ground running with a range of top notch crash scores and safety features, including side airbags and ESC, as well as frontal crash protection in the latest models.  As a result,even if you aren’t an executive or business-type, the Q50 is worth considering if you’re a parent interested in a luxurious Nissan with top-notch safety features. As a result, I got up close and personal with the initial generation of the Q50 to see just how car-seat friendly it would be for interested families.

Before looking at which car seats did and didn’t fit in the Q50 in 3 across setups, it’s worth reviewing a bit of car safety, in terms of which kinds of seats to use and when.

For me, the most basic and essential part of car seat safety involves rear-facing. It’s the safest position we know of, and the longer our kids rear-face, the safer they’ll be, regardless of what kind of vehicle they travel in. I recommend keeping children in rear-facing infant or convertible seats as long as possible (ideally until 4!), then keeping them harnessed in forward-facing seats for several years more (ideally until 8!), and then only switching them out of booster seats when they pass the 5 step test (which typically happens between 10 and 12). The goal is to keep kids in the safest kinds of seats for as long as possible to increase their odds of surviving serious car crashes.

With that all in mind, I got to work with my seats to create what I believe to be the most detailed 3 across guide for the Infiniti Q50 on the Internet. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below. I’ll add more seats as I test them over time.

You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. The Canadian car seat guide is here. 3 across car seat images are taken by yours truly or are courtesy of Wikipedia.

The initial generation Q50 is 188 inches long (except in the Chinese-only Q50L, which is 191 inches long) and just under 72 inches wide, which gives you about as much space as you’ll find in typical mid-sized luxury cars on the market. The back row isn’t the widest, but it’s definitely wide enough as long as you’re willing to use your seat belts instead of LATCH for the installation. Remember that seat belts are as safe as LATCH, and in some cases, safer, depending on the weight limits of your car seats.

The biggest issues you’re likely to deal with in the Q50 involve the bucket seats in the outboard positions and the strange hump in the center seat; it makes it hard to balance a seat in the middle, and you might need to resort to rolled up towels or pool noodles to get the proper recline angle. Make sure your car seat permits this; most do, but a few (e.g., the Clek seats) are more particular. Read your manuals!

Because the Q50 isn’t on the shorter end as far as luxury sedans go, you might find yourself compromised on front-to-back space, especially if you’ve got taller drivers or passengers. If you’re interested in which safe seats take up the least space, you might want to check out my front-to-back comparison chart for rear-facing convertibles.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.