A bronzey SUV, lots of information in short paragraphs
What you need to know: I hope you don’t know me personally because you’re bound to have heard the following rant on repeat… I miss boxy, practical SUV’s. There weren’t many to start with, mostly the Nissan X-Trail and Land-Rover Freelander or Discovery, but all of them were instantly recognisable and incredibly practical.
Case in point – this new Nissan X-Trail, which looks more like a Qashqai. That’s not entirely bad because the Qashy is good-looking (and very popular) but I miss the Ex’s unique looks and boxy practicality. If you’ve ever transported a chest of drawers in the old X-Trail (or one of those Landies) you’ll know what I mean.
More facts: Right, enough lamenting. The X-Trail is available with two petrol or one turbo-diesel engine in various trim levels. This right here is the top-dog 1.6 4×4 version, sent to us in bright bronze with a mis-mounted roof rack. It also has plenty of active and passive driver aids, as well as five (out of five) crash test rating stars.
The tyres are a semi-sensible 225/55R19 and there’s an emergency spare wheel under the generous 550L boot floor. Drop the rear seats for 1,400L of cargo space or hitch up to 750kg. Other vital statistics are 209mm of ground clearance and a 60L fuel tank. Nissan claims an average of 5.3L/100km, I got a respectable 6.5.
Where we went: A good mix of suburban and country roads where the orange Nissan spoilt me with comfy road manners and the prerequisite suite of modern luxuries. The media system may look a bit dated but offers the whole toot of Bluetooth, navigation, CD, SD, USB, smartphone integration and multiple camera views.
Watch out for: Maximum outputs are 96kW or 320Nm, which every single driver confirmed. The comparatively tiny engine needs loads of revs to prevent it stalling from take-off but once it’s on the move, there’s a pleasing wave of torque to surf through its six (slightly notchy) manual gears.
Why you’ll want one: Because the Qashqai is too small and the European brands only offer bland colours. The big X-Trail is decent value at around R475,000 which includes goodies like active lane assist, cross traffic alert, forward collision warning and intelligent all-wheel-drive. Extras? What extras?
Every X-Trail is sold with a six-year/150,000km warranty and a three-year/90,000km service plan.
FULL SPECLIST
Engine: 1.6L i-4 turbo-diesel
Transmission: 6-speed manual, selectable or auto AWD
Max. Power: 96kW
Max. Torque: 320Nm
Avg cons.: 6.5L/100km (claimed 5.3)
0-100km/h: 11.53 seconds (claimed 11)
Top Speed: Claimed 180km/h
List Price: R473,500
Performance:
0-10km/h: 0,54 seconds
0-20km/h: 1,21 seconds
0-30km/h: 1,82 seconds
0-40km/h: 2,78 seconds
0-50km/h: 3,60 seconds
0-60km/h: 4,72 seconds
0-70km/h: 6,20 seconds
0-80km/h: 7,72 seconds
0-90km/h: 9,43 seconds
0-100km/h: 11,53 seconds
0-110km/h: 14,30 seconds
0-120km/h: 17,34 seconds
0-130km/h: 21,53 seconds
0-140km/h: 27,39 seconds
0-100m: 7,56 seconds @ 79,00km/h
0-200m: 11,55 seconds @ 100,06km/h
0-300m: 14,94 seconds @ 112,59km/h
0-400m: 18,01 seconds @ 121,63km/h
100-0km/h: 3,22 seconds @ 42,38 meters (once-off)
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0-10mph: 0,95 seconds
0-20mph: 1,96 seconds
0-30mph: 3,44 seconds
0-40mph: 5,25 seconds
0-50mph: 7,78 seconds
0-60mph: 10,73 seconds
0-70mph: 15,02 seconds
0-80mph: 20,96 seconds
1/4 mile: 18,08 seconds @ 75,73 mph
Maximum acceleration G-force: 0,47G
Altitude: 60m
All data captured by Racelogic® Performance Box