This X-Trail is one of the most expensive options in the class at £25,695. For that, the kit count is considerable, with leather seats, that massive sunroof and climate control.
It’s the Explorer Extreme pack that brings the giant roof rails, sat-nav, parking camera and xenon headlamps. In fact, the options for the X-Trail are rather complex, with seven different levels building on the entry price of £18,795 for a petrol Trek.
What you do get as standard in the X-Trail is something Nissan terms as ‘Premiumness’, and although we have reservations about the vocabulary, we know what it’s getting at. Improving the perception of quality within the X-Trail was imperative in the light of such formidable class competition, and for the most part it has succeeded, although a little of the old car’s character has been lost.
For example, moving the centrally mounted binnacle that housed the instrumentation to a more conventional location behind the steering wheel has allowed a clearer sighting of the sat-nav screen, but the dashboard now looks traditional despite strips of fancy trim.
You sit high in the X-Trail, with a commanding view through the upright windscreen and over the bonnet. The front seats are wide, flat affairs that make for relaxing motorway cruising but will offer little support when traversing a steep gulley on a forest track. Head, elbow and leg room are excellent up front, but the high-set seats in the rear mean headroom is a little tight for tall adults.
Nissan has taken advantage of the X-Trail’s size increase to enlarge the boot space. A false floor hides a range of storage compartments that can be altered to suit the load, but take this out and the maximum load space is 610 litres – up from the 410 litres of the old car. Stow the split rear seats away and that rises to 1773 litres; more than the larger Freelander.
Running costs are as you’d expect with a competitive CO2 output and fair fuel consumption; we averaged 29.9mpg during our test.
