A crossover built for adventure, that’s what Nissan promises when talking about its X-Trail. His advertising clips in mountainous settings leave no room for interpretation.
We wanted to check it out for ourselves. A week’s stay in the Alps, starting from Luxembourg: that’s the challenge we gave this car.
The tour of the vehicle
A nice surprise when picking up the car: it is large and spacious. A width of 1.84 m (without mirrors), a height of 1.72 m and a length of 4.68 m mean that the passenger compartment and trunk have generous space. As an option, the X-Trail is available in a 7-seater version.
Nissan has made its most high-end model available to us, the X-Trail e-Power e-4ORCE Tekna+. The entry level, the X-Trail Mild-Hybrid 163 Acenta, obviously has less equipment.
Inside, the brown leather upholstery gives a very nice effect and contributes, with the sunroof, to the bright ambiance of the cabin.
With the low temperatures of the winter season, the options for the seats (including the rear) and the heated steering wheel were appreciated for their true value.
Another practical option: Android Auto or Apple CarPlay are available, but be careful of tolls… We will come back to this later in the article.
As for suitcases, the 575 liter trunk was a little narrow, we overflowed onto the rear seat. However, such a size is sufficient for everyday life. If you are traveling without anyone in the rear seat, you can lower it and increase the trunk volume to 1306 liters.
700 km of road
Of course, to get to the Alps, you have to cut the road. Leaving Luxembourg City, we had a little over 700 km to cover to reach our destination.
A journey perfectly ensured by the “X-Trail e-Power e-4ORCE Tekna+” version that we had on loan. It is the highest model in the range. Nevertheless, the car drives well, but also consumes well. For the round trip and short trips there (1500 km, with the vast majority on motorways), the car consumed more than 9 L/100 km!
This offers us a nice transition to approach the somewhat unusual engine. The Nissan X-Trail offers two engines: “Mild Hybrid” and “e-Power”.
For the second option, this consists of a heat engine which runs constantly in order to power an electric motor which turns the wheels (in short). A special concept since the two engines are constantly running.
We can see this as bringing together the best of both worlds: the responsiveness of an electric car with the autonomy of a thermal car. However, putting two engines makes the vehicle heavier (and therefore increases consumption) and the noise from the thermal engine is still perceptible.
We’re only moderately convinced by this idea, but the car drives well and, in the end, that’s the most important thing. On the other hand, with such consumption and a range of around 600 km, the tank has an impressive size. Close your eyes when you have to pay for the full tank, the amount is a little scary.
One point that should be highlighted, because it really bothered us, is the tolls. Make no mistake, it’s not about paying to take the French highways that bothered us, but the car. On the way there and back, we had to pass through around ten toll booths. With one or two exceptions, the phone was systematically disconnected. This means that after each toll, we had to reconnect the phone and put our destination back in Waze. Frankly, very painful.
When we returned, the Nissan employee was very surprised by this anecdote, because he had never experienced such an adventure with this car, he told us. However, it happened to us, we had to report it to you.
Mountain roads and snow
Arriving in the heights, we were finally able to put the message of the advertising clips to the test. Honestly, it’s a success. The car handles winding roads well and has no difficulty climbing or taking hairpin bends. In the snow (with winter tires of course) it also holds up well, we didn’t slip. Several modes are also available depending on the situations in which you may find yourself.
The balance sheet
We were not disappointed with the Nissan X-Trail. A good car that was able to cope with the road and the mountains while offering us very pleasant comfort, a good sound system and enough storage to store all the food and drink supplies.
However, its consumption of more than 9 L/100 km makes us not recommend it if you regularly have to cover long distances on the highway. On the other hand, if you live in a hillier region, it is not afraid of facing the difference in altitude and will probably be able to thrive better on this type of terrain.
Last point, the budget: the entry level is 44,350 euros and the most upscale version is available from 60,550 euros.
A price range which puts it in competition with the Renault Espace, which we have already spoken to you about.
Nissan X-Trail nissan
