Best Of The Bunch
by David Finlay (14 Apr 09)

When Nissan introduced the seven-seat version of the Qashqai last autumn it was available with a pair of two-litre engines (one petrol, one diesel) and nothing else. Since then a 1.6-litre petrol has been transferred across from the five-seat range, and so has the 1.5 dCi turbo diesel tested here.

I could scarcely be more chuffed. The first Qashqai I ever drove was a 1.5 diesel, and I thought its engine was just right. All other experience between that car and this one has been of two-litre cars, and I have always thought that they have more power than the rest of the Qashqai can happily deal with. Even the diesel burdened with automatic transmission and four-wheel drive we tested in February could still be made to feel squirmy and unpleasant even without being driven particularly hard.

The 1.5 comes only with a manual gearbox and front-wheel drive, but the lower power output of just 102bhp still means that you can drive it the way you want with a reasonable degree of security (unless you really horse it through a tight corner, but who would want to do that in a seven-seat SUV?).

On paper, the +2 1.5 is frankly slow, with a top speed of 109mph and a 0-62mph time of 13.3 seconds, but do you need to go any faster than this? Probably not. And the 1.5 performs so well at low engine speeds that in everday driving conditions it's really not going to feel inferior to other cars in the range.

But it will be cheaper to buy and run. If you compare different versions with the same trim level and drivetrain arrangement, the 1.5 dCi costs only £150 more than the two-litre petrol, and it whups its ass in terms of both combined fuel economy (49.6mpg versus 33.6mpg) and CO2 emissions (149g/km to 197g/km, leading to a £90 annual saving in VED). The 1.5 is also four insurance groups lower.

You could save £1600 by going for the standard car instead, but then you would lose out on the third row of two seats (definitely for children only) and maximum luggage volume - with all but the front two seats folded - would fall from the +2's 915 litres to 860 litres. Whether or not this is an issue depends on your own lifestyle, so I simply report the facts without making recommendations.

My own view is that other compact MPVs are better - notably the Renault Koleos which is built on the same platform from pretty much the same stuff - and that the shocking lack of rear visibility is good enough reason to ignore the Qashqai altogether. But if some fiend stuck lighted matches between my toes and refused to remove them until I bought a Qashqai+2, the 1.5 dCi is without question the one I would go for.

Price: £19,095
Capacity: 1461cc
Power: 102bhp
0-62mph: 13.3 seconds
Maximum speed: 109mph
Economy: 56.5mpg extra urban, 49.6mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
Towing capacity: 1200kg braked
Insurance: Group 6
Nissan figures.

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