Qashquai grows up
25/05/09 20:04 Filed in: Road
tests
In my first road test of the
Nissan Qashqai
I pointed out that –
despite its off-roader-meets-MPV looks, it really was just a normal
four or five-door hatchback with different packaging.
Well, now the Qashqai has grown up. Meet the Nissan Qashqai +2.
The big surprise is how well the metamorphosis has gone. This feels like a real 4x4. You can manually set to two or four driven wheels. Alternatively, you can leave it in automatic and the car will choose how many wheels it wants to power. I was surprised how the dashboard indicator showed it held onto four-wheel-drive in this mode but, hey, I guess it knows best.
You sit rather higher than you would in a normal hatchback and the Qashquai rode over our rather pock marked driveway with considerable aplomb, shrugging off potholes on the way. That said – although surrounded by inviting heather moorland – I was not tempted to indulge in any serious off-roading.
Like its four or five-seat sibling, the longer Qashqai +2 comes in both two and four-wheel-drive versions. With two driven wheels the range starts with the Qashqai 1.6 Visia at £15,600.
To get the benefit of all-wheel-drive, you need to step up to the Qashqai +2 2.0 Accenta 4x4 at £21,650 – a premium of £1500 over the front-wheel-drive version. But standing right at the top of the range is the Qashqai +2 2.0 dCi Tekna 4x4 at £24,700. A six-speed automatic gearbox adds a further £1,200.
Apart from the handy additional two seats in the back, the practicality of the interior remains much the same as the previous Qashqai I tested. It is not the most stylish designer interior, but it is pleasing and practical. The shape of Qashqai enables quite upright seating and that almost invariably, as with Qashqai, is more practical use of space than a lower slung posture.
The Qashqai +2 therefore scores in the accommodation stakes with additional load length in the back when the rearmost seats are folded.
In a mixture of city and country driving i average a shade under 30 mpg. But the official combined figure of 35.8 mpg for the automatic show it is almost 4.5 mpg worse off than the manual. So, shifting your own gears will help at the pumps. So, to a lesser degree, will sacrificing the rear driven wheels, the equivalent front wheel drive model is almost two mpg more economical.
But all in all this was a more satisfying drive. To be honest I had a little bit of a problem resolving the original Qashqai in my mind. With its ‘wanna-be’ 4x4 looks it seemed to be pretending to be something it wasn’t.
With the arrival of the Qashqai +2 that uncertainty has gone. This latest version has the credentials to go with the looks.
Well, now the Qashqai has grown up. Meet the Nissan Qashqai +2.
The big surprise is how well the metamorphosis has gone. This feels like a real 4x4. You can manually set to two or four driven wheels. Alternatively, you can leave it in automatic and the car will choose how many wheels it wants to power. I was surprised how the dashboard indicator showed it held onto four-wheel-drive in this mode but, hey, I guess it knows best.
You sit rather higher than you would in a normal hatchback and the Qashquai rode over our rather pock marked driveway with considerable aplomb, shrugging off potholes on the way. That said – although surrounded by inviting heather moorland – I was not tempted to indulge in any serious off-roading.
Like its four or five-seat sibling, the longer Qashqai +2 comes in both two and four-wheel-drive versions. With two driven wheels the range starts with the Qashqai 1.6 Visia at £15,600.
To get the benefit of all-wheel-drive, you need to step up to the Qashqai +2 2.0 Accenta 4x4 at £21,650 – a premium of £1500 over the front-wheel-drive version. But standing right at the top of the range is the Qashqai +2 2.0 dCi Tekna 4x4 at £24,700. A six-speed automatic gearbox adds a further £1,200.
Apart from the handy additional two seats in the back, the practicality of the interior remains much the same as the previous Qashqai I tested. It is not the most stylish designer interior, but it is pleasing and practical. The shape of Qashqai enables quite upright seating and that almost invariably, as with Qashqai, is more practical use of space than a lower slung posture.
The Qashqai +2 therefore scores in the accommodation stakes with additional load length in the back when the rearmost seats are folded.
In a mixture of city and country driving i average a shade under 30 mpg. But the official combined figure of 35.8 mpg for the automatic show it is almost 4.5 mpg worse off than the manual. So, shifting your own gears will help at the pumps. So, to a lesser degree, will sacrificing the rear driven wheels, the equivalent front wheel drive model is almost two mpg more economical.
But all in all this was a more satisfying drive. To be honest I had a little bit of a problem resolving the original Qashqai in my mind. With its ‘wanna-be’ 4x4 looks it seemed to be pretending to be something it wasn’t.
With the arrival of the Qashqai +2 that uncertainty has gone. This latest version has the credentials to go with the looks.