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| Launch Report Nissan Qashqai+2 |
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Seventh Son
Just released onto the market is the Qashqai+2. It's just like the standard Qashqai except it's longer, taller, more flexible and comes with seven seats. Okay, so it's not much like the original after all. Where does it fit into the family? Well, Nissan already has the quick and slick Murano for the image- and performance-hungry, the huge mud-plugging Patrol for those for whom no car is ever big enough, the Navara pickup for the macho types, the Pathfinder for the slightly more refined utilitarian types, the X-Trail for families who like to go camping in the mountains, and the Qashqai for the streetwise Green-Lane Occasionals. The Qashqai+2 is a more family-orientated version of its trendy smaller sister and, with prices beginning at £17,199, about £1500 more expensive. While we're talking money, it's about three grand cheaper than the more outdoor practical X-Trail, yet it's got enough options on the list to satisfy most people if they're honest. Choosing the right model for you should be easy too because the choice list is as unchallenging as pick-and-mix at Woolies.
First of all, there's a simple choice of engine – there are only the two biggest of the versions already seen in the Qashqai. The two-litre petrol turns out 138bhp and 145lb/ft of torque while the two-litre dCi turbo diesel coughs up 148bhp and 236lb/ft. The diesel demands a premium of £1400 over the petrol. As well as being more powerful and much better at pulling, it's also much more economical – turning in between seven and ten more miles per gallon depending on the gearbox. Ah, gearboxes. Here it gets a little more complicated because the diesel comes with a six-speed manual or automatic box, while the petrol comes with a six-speed manual or a CVT automatic. Just like the little sister, you can enjoy SUV style with an cheap and simple front-wheel drive system, or you can have the ALL MODE selectable 2WD/4WD system which gives you options to leave it in a reactive all wheel drive mode that feeds torque to where it’s most useful, or at low speeds it can be locked into a 50/50 split between the front and back axles. The three trim levels carry over from the Qashqai, starting with the base model Visia, rising through Acenta, and topping out at Tekna. There are a lot of things I like a lot about the +2. As soon as you get in, it feels tall and imposing. The lay out of buttons, knobs and dials is clean, functional and attractive. The huge fixed glass roof that comes as standard on every model lets in loads of daylight, and there's enough glass all round to have a good view of your surroundings.
In the boot, those two back seats are really just for kids, and when they're up there's literally no room at all for luggage. However they do very quickly and easily fold flat into the cargo-bay floor and thereby vanish completely when they aren't needed. Another nice touch is the way the middle row of seats slide back and forth about nine inches, and their backs are split in two places to fold down in three parts, 40/20/40. Out on the road, the turning circle is good for getting out of tight parking slots, the suspension feels a bit solid through potholes but keeps you all but upright as you hammer through the corners, and there's plenty of feel in the brakes and steering. Both engines are quiet and refined and neither is a slouch, but perhaps predictably I liked the diesel better. It's a saintly unit that takes hills in its stride and pitches in with some useful acceleration when overtaking.
With either engine, the sixth cog in the manual box is more than just an overdrive. Out on the motorway, you can still accelerate away in top gear. The only gripe I have with the manual is that the clutch drops you into the box rather severely when taking off from a standing start, but once on the roll, it all comes together fine. I haven't tried the six-speed auto box on the diesel model, but I have tried the CVT with the petrol. Normally I'm not a great fan pf CVTs, probably because of the unsettling and unnatural relationship between the sound of the engine and the speed of the car, but laying that aside I found it very good at giving top acceleration as soon as I needed it and cruising comfortably down the long and sweeping highway. Strangely, the fuel consumption is almost identical to the 33mpg average from manual box, unlike the diesel's conventional automatic which sheds almost five miles from the manual’s figure of 40mpg. On the road, I couldn't feel the difference between the 4x4 in 2WD mode, and the permanent 2WD version. On paper there's less than half a second's difference in the 0-62mph sprint time and fuel consumption is improved by just 2mpg. Considering how often we get ice and slush in the winter here, I reckon the £1400 extra for 4WD would be money well spent.
In conclusion, the Qashqai+2 is a grown-up crossover car, spacious enough for the family with a boot that's flexible enough to take all shapes and sizes of cargo. Prices are in the accepted range for cars like this – the most expensive is the £23,799 2.0 dCi Tekna automatic. It's not much of a head turner, but it feels well put together and it makes a comfortable, safe-feeling road car. Having driven a fair selection of the options, my pick of the bunch would be a diesel Visia with four-wheel drive and a manual gearbox. At £19,999 it's around £1500 cheaper than the mid-level Acenta and for that saving I can do without cruise control, parking sensors, automatic wipers and a 6-CD autochanger.
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