2008 Nissan X-Trail off-road review
December 6, 2008 by Karl Peskett
2008 Nissan X-Trail Off-road Review
How does Nissan’s baby 4WD tackle the rough stuff?
Model Tested:
- 2008 Nissan X-Trail TL dCi – $39,990
Options:
- Metallic Paint $395
- Automatic Transmission $2000
Space, build quality, engine response, VDC
Lack of ground clearance
CarAdvice Rating: 
- by Karl Peskett
The good wife wants a new car. The mates want to go camping off-road. The missus needs space, visibility and ease of drive, as well as being economical. The mates want you to keep up when they’re going off the beaten track. Its gotta be affordable, so what’s a guy to do?
Well, the Nissan X-Trail seems to fit the bill for all of the above, but is it a pretender? How does it really fare off road, especially in diesel guise?
In reading several reports on the previous X-Trail, the All-Mode all-wheel-drive system overheated if severely pushed, and reverted back to front wheels only, a disaster if you’re in soft sand. Reading through the owners manual of the new one, it seems the same scenario will produce the same result.
A quick expedition on the sand behind our local service station with full tyre pressures revealed that with the speed kept up, the X-Trail would cope quite well. Our time at the beach should be an interesting test, then. Three or four hours of constant work would certainly show any problems.
We loaded up the gear, whacked the family in, and along with two other cars (it’s always wise to have companions when going off-road) we headed out to our favourite sandy spot.
Another world class great car from Nissan….shame it isn’t the same for its small cars which are not being updated due to their alliance with Renault!
Those last two pics really show that the departure angle is quite poor. Also the tow weight is quite low for a vehicle in this class. The Tiguan can tow 2500 kgs although doesn’t seem nearly as good off road.
A good and accurate review. I have the diesel and manual and after 12,000kms in three months and a few proper offroad trips, can attest that so far within reason this vehicle will go places.
The Tiguan has a 2,000kg tow rating which is higher than the diesel auto but the same as the diesel manual Xtrail.
Had a similar experience to the hard landing reported – and rolled the tyre off the rim – see Youtube (Xtrail rolls…)
With the manual once tyre pressures are sorted for soft sand, there is no stopping it in 4WD lock/ESP off mode.
John
John – i’d love to know what you consider to be “proper offroad trips”. The car is good for a soft roader, but isn’t capable of anything approaching proper off roading. My Mum has one and its actually a really nice car to drive on the road, and pretty good on the beach, but if we approach anything even remotely challenging, we pull over because the little X just isn’t up to it.
the issue by the way isn’t a lack of traction on the beach, its a lack of ground clearance. In the bush, its a combination of a lack of ground clearance and wheel travel. Also there is nothing in the way of underbody protection, we ripped the plastic guard under the engine bay off twice!
just watched the youtube clip, the problem there wasn’t too much tyre pressure as you didn’t run out of traction, the problem was the line you took which resulted in the front of the car going into the air. I can see what you where trying to do in avoiding the wheel ruts (which wouldnt have been a problem had the car had enough ground clearance which goes back to what i was talking about) but you went too far to the left which launched the car into the air and the landing broke your tyre.
Lower tyre pressures would have only helped if you needed more traction, but traction there wasn’t the issue, it was the line you took. As i said 17psi is fine for sand. 12psi is actually too low unless you have bead lockers and will actually increase your chances of the wheel coming off the rim, especially on road spec tyres
Great review. I think the Suzuki Vitara is still the pick in this class though.
A full size ALLOY spare wheel. Well done Nissan. Other manufacturers take note. If you want to sell me a car I expect a matching spare wheel otherwise no sale.
Let’s just say that once I go the pressures to 12/13 it did not matter if i was in the wheel ruts; there was no issue with ground clearance.
As a balance between your Landcruiser/Pajero/Prado and the times I need to use this offroad, it can handle most normal situations. Sure wheel articulation etc is never going to approach that of a heavy duty 4Wd but I guess the mix for me and my 4WD club activities works. It is also more suitable for everyday work n play.
I am doing a long beach run beginning of Jan and now that I know the limitations of the vehicle I am not concerned about going off road.
Gift-Ed – The Suzuki is a great vehicle – however the Xtrail eats it for space – I placed my Xtrail alongside a Territory and it is as long!
The other item is the diesel engine – the one in the Nissan is far better than the Vitara’s for driveablilty, noise, refinement.
John
How does this compare with the CX7? I would think the xtrail is better, but overall (after looking through each car) I believe the CX7 is better built and desgined. Pitty it only comes in turbo (what are learners meant to learn on?)
Anyone compared the two?
Great to see the last model Tribute only for the trip…what a great SUV they were…lets hope that Mazda drop the new 2.2ltr turbo diesel from the 6 in the CX7. With 136kW and 400Nm this would be a great package and give Mazda a manual CX7.
Before I sold my trusty 4×4 Bravo and got a 2 my wife and I went on a weekend trip with some soft roaders and one of them was a an Xtrail and I have to say that I was impressed.
its a brilliant car at off road because we have tested it at it skills but it also does great handeling and hits 135 mph with its 3.0 leter petrel fuel ingected engin but make sure you get the t spec
i AM PLANNING A TRIP TO CAPE YORK MID YEAR. i HAVE A 2008 X TRAIL ST L. WILL I NEED TO FIT OFF ROAD SUSPENSION FOR CLEARANCE AND OFF ROAD TYRES, ALSO UNDER ENGIN PROTECTION.
ANYOTHER HINTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
I am planning a trip to Cape York in June in my 2008 X Trail ST L. Will upgrading suspension and wheels help.
Will refitting the engin protection plate with a metal one be nessasary.( Nissan still fits a plastic one)
Anyother hint would be appreciated.
Regards.
Steve.
Steve, probably wouldn’t take an x-trail to cape york unless you’re planning ot sell it soon afterwards
Great review. Are the Xtrails pre 2008 just as good offroad?? And does anyone know of a similar review for the Suzuki. Also, do the rear seats fold down flat in the back of the Xtrail?? Suzuki??
D. T30 (pre 08) X-trails are good. Not as much clearance and some troubles with the 4WD system sometimes overheating in serious cases.
T31 seems to have fixed this problem. Rear seats in the exy go flat from tailgate to front seats. Not sure about the Suzy.
Both Models are excellent on sand and are impressive in other types of driving aswell. check out australianxtrail.com.au to see more info on these. Some great trip reports and they have looked hard at positives aswell as negatives on both models.
There’s plenty of video footage and photos to show just what they will acheive.
I would love to know the location of the test,
as I see VIC plates on the test car.
Any thoughts
Cheers
Neel
The petrol X-trail is a better bet than the new diesel version. I own a diesel X-Trail and it has an oil leak which continuously contaminates the EGR valve and air filter, affecting performance. Nissan has been trying to fix the problem for 8 months, but no permanent solution on the horizon.
The Diesel X-trail is a lemon.
Eloner and Amy sit next to me in RE hahahaha
from george yerou