The Complete Cost Of Maintaining An Infiniti

When you’re in the market for a new or used Infiniti, you’ll eventually wonder what an Infiniti generally costs in maintenance. In this blog, we’ve done our absolute best to give you a complete rundown of the costs and what you can expect for different models and model years. Let’s start with a quick answer:

Infiniti have an average annual maintenance cost of $638 per year. This is about the same as the average $646 for all car brands. However, Infiniti is more expensive than its peers. This is because Infiniti is less reliable compared to brands such as Lexus ($551) and Acura ($501).

However, that certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. Below, we’ll start by looking at the annual maintenance cost of the most popular models and their corresponding model years. Furthermore, We’ll look at the eight most common service points and discuss what an Infiniti costs you in this regard. We’ll also compare the annual maintenance costs of an Infiniti to 24 other car brands and discuss why an Infiniti is considered cheap or expensive in maintenance. Read on!

How Expensive Are Infiniti Models To Maintain?

First of all, we feel it’s essential to understand how much each model, and different model years, cost per year in terms of maintenance. For this, we’ve taken data from Repairpal. We’ve compiled this data in the table below.

In the table, we compiled all the data that was available. However, we do have to clarify a few things. The main one is that Infiniti is generally considered to be a luxury brand. However, this also means fewer cars are on the road, and therefore data is scarcer than with many mainstream models.

This is also why we’ve only been able to gather data for 2017 model years and older: there’s simply too little information about, for example, the 2018 – 2022 model years.

One thing that we can conclude from this table is that maintenance costs for the Infiniti do end up in the mid-range to the higher end of the spectrum. The 2017 model year of the QX50 has one of the cheapest maintenance costs of $496 annually, whereas the QX80 typically costs $700 – $750 annually.

However, this was to be expected. Not only are Infiniti luxury cars, but they’re also quite sizeable and, in many cases, they’re SUVs. All of this increases the annual maintenance cost, but we’ll talk more about that later on in this article.

Are Parts And Services Expensive For A Infiniti?

Furthermore, it’s essential to discuss the average cost of general maintenance tasks. This way, you know what to expect from your Infiniti, and you’ll be able to see if specific maintenance is more expensive than others.

Oil Change

An oil change on an Infiniti will generally cost you $134 – $171. On average, an oil change costs $40 – $60 for conventional oil and $60 – 120 for full synthetic oil for a car. Therefore, Infiniti is more expensive than average. This mainly has to do with the fact that these cars will need synthetic oil and the fact that luxury cars will always pay more for relatively simple procedures.

Brake Pads

Replacing the brake pads on Infiniti costs between $299 – $385 per axle. On average, brake pad replacement costs between $150 – $300 per axle. Therefore, most Infiniti costs are above average for this procedure. This is mainly because of the luxury aspect and the fact that Infiniti builds sizeable cars that need larger than average brake pads.

Filters

Replacing filters is also a task you’ll encounter from time to time. The fuel filter is generally the most expensive filter to replace. Replacing a fuel filter in an Infiniti is unnecessary since Infiniti doesn’t have a traditional fuel filter, and this part cannot be replaced. Replacing a cabin air filter is $93 – $123 and replacing an air filter is $63 – $72

Replacing a cabin air filter costs typically between $60 – $80, meaning Infiniti are more expensive than average. Replacing the air filter costs usually $50 – $70, which means Infiniti is about average.

Battery

The average price to replace an Infiniti battery is between $200 – $400. On average, replacing a car battery costs between $120 – $240. This means that Infiniti are more expensive than average. This is because Infiniti are luxury cars that need larger batteries to power all the technology that’s packed into them.

Timing Belt/Chain

Another replacement that you’ll come across when owning a car is a timing belt replacement. Timing belts/chains need to be replaced around the 100,000 miles mark. Infiniti cars use timing chains that are typically more expensive than timing belts. Expect to pay between $1,000 – $1,500 to have these replaced.

Tire Rotation And Replacement

Replacing a set of tires on an Infiniti will cost $300 – $700. Infiniti are larger cars, to begin with, which means they require larger tires. On the lower end, you’ll pay $300 – $400 to replace a set of tires for the Q50, whereas you will pay between $600 – $700 for a set of tires for the QX80.

Spark Plugs

Replacing a set of spark plugs costs between $393 – $766 per set for an Infiniti. On average, it costs $75 – $250 to replace a set of spark plugs. This means that replacing spark plugs on an Infiniti is much more expensive than the average. However, this is because Infiniti spark plugs are quite challenging to replace. Furthermore, Infiniti make use of platinum spark plugs which are more expensive but can also last four times as long as their copper counterparts.

Headlight Bulbs

On average, it costs between $250 – $292 to replace a set of headlight bulbs on an Infiniti. On average, replacing headlight bulbs costs between $100 – $150 for a set. Infiniti are therefore more much expensive. However, this is because Infiniti uses HID lights (which are common in luxury vehicles). These lights are much more powerful than regular halogen lights, but, therefore, they also cost more.

Is Infiniti More Or Less Expensive Compared To Other Brands?

Knowing everything we know now, it’s essential to have a final look at Infiniti as a brand. For this, we’ve compiled data from 24 other carmakers. The average annual maintenance costs of each carmaker are in the table below. By comparing all brands to each other, we understand how expensive a brand truly is in maintenance.

The table below shows that Infiniti ends up in the 15th spot of the ranking with average annual maintenance costs of $638. Therefore, we would consider Infiniti to have average costs compared to all other brands sold in the United States.

However, comparing Infiniti to all brands does not give a clear image of the market. Instead, we would have to compare Infiniti to other Asian luxury brands since these produce the same type of vehicles. This means comparing Infiniti to Lexus and Acura will give a better understanding of the brand.

We found that Lexus has annual maintenance costs of $551, whereas Acura ends at $501. Considering Infiniti ends up at $638, this implies that Infiniti is quite expensive to maintain compared to its competitors. However, we’ll look deeper into this in the next subheading.

Why Is Infiniti So Average In Terms Of Maintenance Costs?

We have to answer the final question: why is Infiniti more expensive than competitors such as Lexus and Acura? And why is it way more expensive than other Asian brands? We can identify the critical factors here by looking at the data and making some logical assumptions.

Infiniti Is A Luxury Brand

First of all, we need to explain the significant price difference between Infiniti and brands like Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Mazda. There is one logical explanation for this, and that is the fact that Infiniti is a luxury brand. Luxury brands use newer technology and newer parts that give the driver optimum performance when they work.

However, when the technology or the part fails, it’s also more expensive to fix compared to a mainstream brand. Not only is it harder to fix, but it will also be harder to find parts which drives the price up once again. So that’s why brands such as Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti are all more expensive than their mainstream counterparts.

Infiniti is Less Reliable Than Lexus Or Acura

However, where does the price difference between Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti come from? We were able to find one factor that sets Lexus and Acura apart from Infiniti, and that’s reliability. To reach this conclusion, we again gathered data from Repairpal, and we found the following.

• Lexus cars have to visit a garage for unexpected maintenance around 0.53 times per year, with an 8% chance of the problem being severe.
• Acura cars have to visit a garage for unexpected maintenance around 0.39 times per year, with an 8% chance of the problem being severe.
• Infiniti cars have to visit a garage for unexpected maintenance around 0.67 times per year, with a 10% chance of the problem being severe.

Even though the differences between these numbers may look small, they can have a significant impact on the annual maintenance cost of the car. For example, Infinitis have to visit the garage almost 50% more than Acuras; of course, this is going to drive up the price of the maintenance cost overall.

Sources

• https://repairpal.com/infiniti
• https://repairpal.com/reliability/acura
• https://repairpal.com/reliability/lexus

Stefan K.

Hi! My name is Stefan; I’m the owner and lead writer at TheDriverAdviser.com.

I’m an active writer on this blog myself, as well as a novice car mechanic. For the really technical stuff, I find writers with experience as a mechanic or who have studied mechanical engineering.

Read more about our fantastic team on our about page!