Overview
What is it?
Previously a boxy, quite serious off-roader, the Nissan X-Trail is now essentially a beefed-up Qashqai, and not just because it bears a strong family resemblance to Nissan’s runaway breadwinner.
No, both cars share the same platform. So the similarities are more than skin deep, though the X-Trail’s skin is stretched a bit further. It’s noticeably higher and longer, with an optional row of third seats. This means it replaces the Qashqai+2 as Nissan’s seven-seat SUV. Add to that the option of four-wheel-drive and what you get is a full-size, family-orientated SUV that’s happy to get its shoes muddy if the need arises.
The results of the X-Trail’s transformation are huge, taking it from around 1,500 to 20,000 annual sales. That’s despite Nissan not offering a high-powered diesel version. Until now, anyway.
Joining the 128bhp 1.6-litre dCi diesel (and the less relevant 161bhp 1.6-litre DIG-T petrol) is a new 175bhp 2.0-litre dCi, which automatically becomes pick of the range. It’s available with two- or four-wheel drive and manual or CVT automatic transmissions. Which means, for the first time, you can have a 4WD auto X-Trail. Rejoice, caravan- and horse-towers.
Nissan prides itself on tech, and the X-Trail is available with the company’s full suite of safety stuff: traffic sign recognition, driver drowsiness alerts, blind spot and lane departure warnings and emergency braking assist all feature.
And while the X-Trail is a car bestowed with pretty good visibility for a modern SUV, you can also have a multitude of cameras and parking assist systems, too. If you want an SUV for its height and space but feel intimidated by its potentially large size, here’s one which takes much of the worry out of steering something big around.
Oh, and if you have dogs, the X-Trail is very good for housing those in comfort too. But you’re not a dog, you’re a human. So what’s the X-Trail like to drive, sit in and run? Keep clicking to read on…
Highlights from the range
Title
|
0–62
|
CO2
|
MPG
|
BHP
|
Price
|
9.4s
|
149g/km
|
50.4
|
177
|
£29,300
| |
9.7s
|
145g/km
|
45.6
|
163
|
£22,600
| |
10.5s
|
129g/km
|
57.6
|
130
|
£26,295
|
Driving
What is it like on the road?
Naturally, it’s not the kind of car you while away days dreaming about driving up the Furka Pass. But that’s absolutely right for a family car, and the X-Trail nails its brief. The suspension is set up for a soft, supple ride, and this is a car that’s comfortable on even really beaten up road surfaces. And one which will indulge in light off-roading even with just front-wheel drive, as it soaks up ruts that would beach smaller crossovers.
There’s a lightness to all of the controls that makes it effortless, rather than engaging, to drive. But Nissan’s love of tech means the chassis isn’t soggy – there’s a system that nips at the brakes during corners and over big bumps, to sharpen the car’s responses, which mean it handles tautly enough. Sure, you’re not buying this for fun, but it means you don’t have to trim off loads of speed when a corner or roundabout appears. The X-Trail’s competence just adds to how effortless it is to drive.
On the road, most people won’t need 4WD. Keep the X-Trail’s selectable dial in 2WD and it never, ever feels short of grip. We’d suggest speccing it if you’ll genuinely go off-road or tow stuff. Otherwise, keeping your tyres in check is a more effective way of avoiding trouble when winter lands.
The volume-selling engine is a 1.6-litre diesel with 128bhp, which is a mixed blessing. It’s coarse under acceleration, with a very narrow power band, but once settled it’s not too bad. There’s enough clout to get you from A to B, but never the sense the engine is particularly happy taking you there. A recent addition to the range is a 1.6 turbo petrol, which has less economy, but more refinement.
Which is why the new 175bhp 2.0-litre diesel arrives as pick of the range immediately. Enough torque to feel borderline brisk when the car is empty of kids and belongings, and nice and refined so long as you change gear at 3,000rpm or little thereafter. Its character is pure turbodiesel – not much excitement below 2,000rpm, and a reasonable heap of noise once you wind it far past 3,000 – but the engine is punchy enough between those points to make it perfectly pleasant to use.
The manual gearbox is reasonably slick and allows you to keep the engine in its most effective rev range, while the optional automatic (around £1,500 more) is a CVT rather than a traditional auto. Which for keen drivers, is rarely good news. But if you’re buying an X-Trail for entirely sensible purposes, it might just suit you.
On the inside
Layout, finish and space
With that high roofline and extra girth over an X-Trail, it looks nice and commodious. And for the most part it is, though the rear headroom isn’t quite as capacious as the roofline suggests. Spend £700 and you’ll get a third row of seats, while the boot floor flips and folds into nine different positions, underneath which sits a bonus storage area.
And gone are the tacky plastics and boring dash of old, and in sweeps a more inviting cabin. Invariably the more you spend the better it gets; a touchscreen with Google connectivity is optionable, and the suite of park assist and safety systems is impressive and gives a premium air to a car that otherwise wears its sensible price tag inside. The materials and switches aren’t necessarily plush, but they do feel slick and dependable. We suspect it would be a long time before anything started to rattle in here.
Kudos too to the X-Trail’s visibility, which is among the best cars in its class, before you add in the number of cameras you can specify. Handy for off-roading (unlikely though that is) and fitting it through width restrictors and into tight parking bays (much more probable).
Verdict
Final thoughts and pick of the range
The new X-Trail is softer and more sophisticated. Less rugged, but more family-friendly
All told, the Nissan X-Trail is a very appealing thing. Alright, it’s no glamour car. But it doesn’t look half bad in its new extended crossover guise, and we reckon it hides its prosaic purpose and ability well. Here’s a car that can swallow seven people or lots things, then tow something heavy, but which resembles little more than a swelled Qashqai.
It also handles as sharply as it needs to, comes with a pleasingly powerful diesel engine as an option, and will please the tech-savvy if they tick the right boxes. It’s an appealing family car, and one which will actually do some light off-roading too.
The Nissan SUV range has much to offer and with the Nissan SUV prices - it’s no wonder so many people are visiting Group1 Nissan dealerships to test drive a Nissan vehicle.
Article source: https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/nissan/x-trail/verdict
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