Nissan X-Trail

Nissan India has been running a one-horse race for the last few years with the Magnite being its show jumper, cart puller, and at times, even its prized stallion. Now, its stables are getting some new occupants and the first one in the lot is the X-Trail SUV. It’s one of Nissan’s big names around the world and was on sale in India in the second-generation guise from 2007 to 2014. Well, now it is back, and this time around we have the fourth-generation car, which we drove to see if Nissan’s new stallion is ready for the big SUV fight.

The fourth-generation Nissan X-Trail sports those classic SUV lines but in combination with some flowing elements to give it that signature Nissan look. Up front, you have the large Nissan V-Motion grille dominating the face along with the all-new Nissan logo. You can also see the low-set headlamps, large LED DRLs, and a contrast-coloured skid plate.

You can see the X-Trail’s SUV-like profile, thanks to the overall shape, design of the wheel arches, the gap between the wheels and the arches, the shape of the roofline, and the large chrome bezel around the glasshouse. At the rear, you can see the Nissan family look on the X-Trail thanks to the design of the boot lid, contrast-coloured skid-plate, and the large Nissan badging here in the middle.

Inside, you get an all-black cabin with familiar Nissan elements like the steering wheel, floating display for the infotainment system, as well as some of the switches and buttons. Everything feels high-quality thanks to the large swathes of chrome and premium plastics used all over the dashboard. There’s no leather upholstery and even this top-spec model is available only with fabric seats.

Moving to the second row, there is more than enough space for three people to sit abreast with a flat seat base. However, the under-thigh support is not great and the middle occupants have to deal with the transmission tunnel. Some of the features here include bottle holders in the doors, dual USB ports, and seat back pockets. Also, the second row slides and you can also recline both the left and right window seats for some additional space inside.

Moving on to the third row, you can already see it is lacking space with even ingress and egress being a bit of a challenge. Once in, it’s a tight space with poor under-thigh support and very little room to shuffle around to keep the circulation going. Oh, and it is only available in a seven-seat layout with no six-seat version, at least in the present scenario.

The boot is deep and long but with a slightly high loading lip due to the design. The tailgate is manual but both the second and third row can be folded in 16 different configurations to give you various storage combinations. The feature list on the Nissan X-Trail is for want of a better term satisfactory. It has all the basics like a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate control, 360-degree camera, LED light package, dual-digital displays, rear AC vents, wireless charger, and USB Type-C and A charging ports. However, it is missing some crucial segment-standard, feel-good features such as Level 2 ADAS, connected car technology, ventilated seats, powered driver’s seat AC vents, and charging ports for the third row. Nissan has not skimped on safety and this top-spec X-Trail gets seven airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control programme, and ISOFIX child seat mounting points.

The X-Trail is being offered with a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine that produces 161bhp/300Nm and is mated to CVT powering the front wheels. Globally, you can have this car with a hybrid powertrain and even with all-wheel drive.

As a powertrain to use, this 1.5-litre engine does the job as required. The CVT takes a little time to spool up, but once it is in sync, there is no lack of punch and cruising at three-digit speeds out on the highway is not an issue. In the city too, the low-end response is pretty good. And because this is an automatic, you don’t have to worry about the car getting stalled.

As a vehicle to drive, it feels very much like a large and slightly high-riding sedan rather than a big SUV. This is visible once you sit in the cabin and the way it responds to your inputs. A large part of this comes from the fact that this is a monocoque SUV rather than the body-on-frame models of its rivals. The steering is light and a bit overly assisted but that’s also an advantage as it makes it easy to manoeuvre in tight scenarios. However, the edges of the car are not easy to judge and you will have to approach it with caution.

You get three driving modes - Sport, Eco, and standard. They alter the response of the throttle with the Sport mode offering maximum punch and is quite useful when you are out on the highway. Finally, you also get paddle shifters that respond instantly and make the driving experience quite a bit more involving. On the ride quality front, the X-Trail has been set up on the softer side with an aim for comfort. When we drove on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the car was cruising along comfortably but we felt it bob over the little bumps and undulations.

Let us conclude our experience with the Nissan X-Trail by asking two major questions – is the Nissan X-Trail worth it, and what are the challenges faced by Nissan with the X-Trail?

Working in its favour is the fact that it has presence, is spacious inside, and the powertrain, while small on paper, offers decent drivability and tractability. On the other hand, the feature list lacks some major feel-good elements like leatherette upholstery, a powered tailgate, and a powered driver’s seat. It’s also missing Level 2 ADAS, a now accepted safety element in this part of the market.

When it comes to the challenges that Nissan will face with the X-Trail, we have to realise that although the badge might be iconic and familiar to those who saw Nissan from the beginning (2007), it still has to re-establish itself among its more long-running rivals such as the MG Gloster, Skoda Kodiaq, VW Tiguan, and of course, the Toyota Fortuner.

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi