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| High on the highway: The all new Nissan X-trail comes with a slew of features that make it conducive to exciting off-road action |
Until a while ago, Nissan maintained a low profile in India. But those days are long gone and the new beginning consists of very attractive imports! While the new Teana is a luxury car that will take on the Honda Accord, the X-Trail is one of the best-selling soft-roaders in the world. Next in line is a full-fledged sports car, a locally-made car to take on Maruti and a saloon. In all, there will be nine new models by 2012.
For years, in India, the largest-selling import has been an SUV. Honda’s CR-V ruled the roost for a time, but was challenged by Chevy’s Captiva. Now there’s competition from the all-Nippon champion that promises Japanese reliability and quality. A modern diesel with lots of clever bits are just some of the aces up the X-trail’s sleeve. But does it have what it takes to battle it out in our urban jungle?
STYLE FILE
Though this X-trail is actually an all-new car, the similarity in looks has been retained due to the phenomenal success of the earlier version. Every part and panel is new and individually-styled, and you still get a similar square-rigged glasshouse, vertically aligned tail lamps and a similar nose.
Of course, the design also differs in these areas and is more robust in general, but look at the X-trail in isolation and it’s easy to get confused. Keen spotters though need only to look at the outsized triangular headlamps to identify the car. It also gets Nissan’s SUV grille and a prominent horizontal line in the body running along the flanks. Designed to be the automotive equivalent of a trekking boot, the X-Trail looks tough.
Built on the Renault-Nissan alliance C-platform, the X-trail is more car-like in structure than rock-crawling SUV. It uses a monocoque chassis, electric power steering and a transversely located engine that primarily powers the front wheels. But there are special bits that make it suitable for extreme off-road action.
The suspension is connected to the body by a rubber-insulated sub-frame to mask the cabin from the workings below. There’s a FWD system to help when things get sticky, hill descent control and a hill start feature. You also get dampers that adjust automatically or frequency selective damping. They go soft on a bumpy road, triggered by the sharp frequency of the bumps but firm up if they detect longer waves. There’s also ESP and six airbags.
INSIDE STORY
The X-Trail’s robust look has been carried into the car’s interiors. There’s a hard-wearing quality to the plastics and the surfaces feel like they won’t age or fall apart for a good while.
Sure, there are ordinary bits like some switches ahead of the gear lever and the quality of the central console-mounted box, but these are exceptions. The design of this car’s dash is more traditional. It has a clear instrument pod, a beautifully crafted steering wheel with dimpled leather grip and faux aluminium inserts, a massive glovebox and clever bottleholders behind the vents.
You get numerous pockets behind the passenger seat, a sunroof and rear seats that fold to create a huge 1773-litre loading bay. You can take out the entire plastic and rubber-loading floor and hose it down, so it’s easy to clean. And there’s even a very practical drawer in the boot that helps prevent loose objects from sliding around.
The seats are spacious, offer good thigh support and both front seats are powered too. The audio system with a six-CD changer displays impressive punch.
DRIVER’S DEAL
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To understand just how rapid the X-Trail is, you have to run the motor through its six gears. This diesel just loves to rev. The tug starts from 2500rpm and then it just builds and builds, until it reaches a high of 5200rpm. The X-Trail leaps towards the horizon off the blocks, and you can keep this charge going by snapping through the six-speed gearbox. Each shift puts you directly into the explosive part of the power band.
At full charge, 100kph comes up in 10.8 seconds — faster than the Captiva and the 2.4-litre petrol CR-V. With its tall sixth gear, the X-trail cruises nicely and high speeds can be sustained with little engine speed.
What aids the X-Trail’s performance is its light kerb weight, in spite of a FWD transfer case and extra driveshafts. But there’s also some turbo lag, despite using variable geometry turbo. There’s some lethargy below 2000rpm, a pain in stop-start traffic. This is not one of the most refined diesels, especially so at start-up where a considerable amount of clatter filters in.
The X-Trail rides well over poor roads and handles securely at high speeds. Though ride quality can get a bit lumpy at times, it’s generally pliant enough. The light steering also makes the Nissan a dolly to drive in traffic. You aren’t intimidated by its size because it can be steered easily.
The steering is direct and an enthusiastic handler if you push it, taking well to being driven with verve and energy. The X-Trail, however, is more effective off-road than any of its soft-roader cousins. With its modern diesel engine, it’s very efficient too. It needs only a litre of diesel to attain 11.3km in the city and 14.8km on the highway.
FINAL VERDICT
The new X-Trail has almost everything SUV-buying customers look for. The performance of the diesel engine is very strong, fuel economy is excellent, the car is comfortable with long lasting build, there’s plenty of luggage space and reliability should be top-notch too. It can do more than a bit of off-roading, it handles well and is feature-rich. It’s expensive, however, priced at between Rs 21.4 lakh and Rs 25.89 lakh (auto). But then, this car has what it takes to shake up the class.
spec check
NISSAN X-TRAIL
Price: Rs 25.89 lakh (on-road Mumbai)
Engine: Diesel/ front, transverse/ 4-cyls in-line, 1995cc/ turbo-charged/ common-rail direct-injection
Power: 150bhp at 4000rpm
Torque: 32.7kgm at 2000rpm
Gearbox: 6-speed manual
Weight: 1630kg
Tyres: 215/60 R17
Suspension (F/R): Independent, MacPherson strut/ / Independent, multi-link
Turning circle: 10.8m
Brakes (F/R): Ventilated discs
