irishcar.com - Nissan X-Trail review

OK, so you can’t afford the new Range Rover. Most of us can’t, so don’t feel bad.

But you can feel almost as good without the financial pain in at least one current leisure SUV (sure, the RR is much more than that, but how much do you need?). Nissan’s X-Trail is a surprisingly nice vehicle to drive and live with.

Surprisingly? Well, yes. In SUVs, Nissan has a reputation for building the tough that gets going rather than comfort and everyday drivability. Hmm, I guess that’s a bit unfair ... they’ve not recently been in this ‘leisure’ segment, anyway.

And, I kid you not, it was thoughts of the RR that kept coming back to me as I drove the X-Trail, because it was not only superbly capable as a road cruiser, it felt distinctive from the inside. Which is something very important to owners.

OK, so it didn’t have the timber and leather trimming. Nor the TV/info screen which was in the latest version of the RR that I recently drove. And I know it doesn’t have anything near the extreme wilderness performance of the Land Rover product. But I felt high and handsome (the car!) and the X-Trail proved extremely composed in a variety of traffic conditions.

The front end is very much the current strong style of Nissan in SUV and Pickup mode. The overall proportions are pleasing while remaining practical both for where the X-Trail might be brought and for what it might be asked to carry. That spoiler at the back end is Honda HRVish, but the Nissan maybe carries it better.

Inside is quite techie. The central instrument cluster, with very clear-to-read analogue dials, is not at all a problem. Moving the dials outside of the steering wheel area actually adds to the sense of excellent visibility frontwards. While I’m at this, it is very easy to establish the front end of the car for parking purposes, not such a common thing today.

The back view wasn’t quite so easy, particularly with the three headrests on the rear seats. Maybe they’ll provide the option of a camera like they’ve put in the new Primera?

Across the dashboard there’s a nice ledgy section, particularly handy for locating the new mobile phone holder/amplifier which I’ve bought to give me a portable ‘fixed’ phone capability in the various cars I have to drive. It would also be handy for coin holders and pen clips and the like, increasingly important add-ons for today’s motoring life.

Storage? Well, there’s a lidded section in front of the driver which might hold a small camera and some bits, and also contains a spare power socket (to charge the mobile which you can no longer have ‘on your person’, like a concealed weapon). Under the left elbow is a small enough cubby, and on the passenger side there’s a fair glove box. The door storage is average. Behind the front seats are map-pockets.

In the central dash there are special can-holders, which will keep the drinks cold if the aircon option is fitted. And at either end of the dash area are discreetly-hidden swing-out holders for when you open the cans.

The rear central armrest folds out in a couple of ways, one to store small items, the other to allow skis to poke through from the luggage compartment. Not really necessary in Ireland, but you can dump small items through under the rear cover without obviously opening the back door.

All that said, I’d really like if they had provided drawers under the front seats, or at least one of them. This is a vehicle which is so good for the ‘small adventure’ trips that a family might undertake at the weekend, it does need more out-of-sight storage.

(The first vehicle of its kind that allows me to SECURELY LOCK AWAY my always-present laptop and camera will gain serious acclaim in these columns. Not alone saving my shoulders when I’m out on the hoof in various places.)

Back to the inside style: there’s a lot of metallic feeling, even in the seats trim, as well as parts of the door coverings. Said seats, by the way, are very comfortable and nicely supportive. And as far as room is concerned, my proverbial other self could comfortably sit behind me.

There’s a glass sunroof that stretches back to give rear passengers a sunburn as well as those of us up front, if it is open for too long on those rare days.

And here’s a small other rub: even with the athermic glass, it gets hot inside on a sunny day. I’d really like the aircon as standard instead of the blind that cuts out the bright. And I’d also appreciate an anti-glare tint at the top of the quite tall windscreen. Even in Ireland, it can make for squinting.

I’ve talked a lot about the inside. But we drive these things. And it drives so very well on the open road that it was one of those vehicles I kept finding excuses to get into and drive it away.

There’s a sweet and quiet 2-litre engine up there. There’s a typical smooth Japanese gearshifter. And there’s a manual transmission which is normally 2WD, but which has the options of either being in 4WD ‘automatic’ mode where it decides itself whether to go all-wheel, or a ‘locked’ mode for rather more stubborn terrain.

Now, it doesn’t have ‘low’ drive options, and none of the potential owners will need this unless they have very foolish driving ambitions. And, it will NOT go the hard places which a Range Rover will do.

But it costs much much less. And it feels good. Really good. And I suspect it will stay that way for a very long time.

I’m a long way gone from the time when my wife and I had a fair bit of family transporting to do. But if I was in that situation now, I reckon we’d be doing a lot more weekend leisure travelling with them. And we would have a much greater choice of vehicles which would encourage such activity.

The Nissan X-Trail is well up on that list. And it is pretty affordable. One of the better X Files.