The Diesel X-trail is a lemon.

Admittedly it was a hire car; was on holiday in Melbourne for a week with wife and daughter. I reckon the previous model is generally a good car (my inlaws have one). It’s zippy, comfortable and practical although interior quality is a let down. So I was keen when picking up the keys.

I wanted to like this car, but I just couldn’t; I hated it.

Throttle response from standstill is so sudden. Brake feel is horrendous, I have never driven anything with a brake that is like an on/off switch. It takes full concentration just to drive the car smoothly. A manual turbo diesel 80 series Land Cruiser is easier to manage methinks.

Handling doesn’t inspire confidence; the car never feels planted on the road. Body roll was so bad, a corner taken at 20 kph would throw the pram and all our stuff in the boot sideways. What made matters worse, boot was all plastic. Steering had no feel whatsoever, the wheel just wanted to go dead straight everytime. I shudder to think what it would feel like driving along winding roads like the Black Spur. Comfort on straight roads is pretty good albeit crashy at times.

Cruise control buttons on the steering wheel are awkward, nothing like the easy-to-use traditional toggle switch. Having an on/off and set display on the dash helps a little.

From the moment I moved the lever from neutral to reverse, CVT takes about 3-4 seconds to fully engage reverse, I got honked at everytime I parallel parked on a busy street. Not that my parallel parking skills suck, mind you, the transmission just took too looooooooong.

Trip computer was showing 11 km/l in mixed city / freeway driving, I expected better given the use of CVT. Kept the 4×4 switch glued to 2WD.

Now it’s not all bad with the car: Cabin comfort is up compared to the previous model. There’s heaps of legroom and headroom as well as luggage space. I managed to fit 3 large suitcases and a pram on the back. There are also lots of storage space on the dash. I liked the glovebox with its nifty with dividers. Removable ashtray is a nice touch, but I kept grabbing it everytime I tried to reach for the handbrake!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I will not comment on looks, I think the driving experience is more important.

Overall, a major disappointment from Nissan. Or possibly the car’s had a hard life as a hire car, I’m not sure.

I’ve driven and owned a variety of cars from a Jazz to a Land Cruiser, and others in between, manual and auto, turbo and N/A, petrol and diesel. Owned a 98 Forester, which I loved to bits. Lost out only on interior space, but otherwise a much more enjoyable experience than the X-trail.

The only negative things I could find are there’s no audio control on steering wheel (even mine is a Ti model) and it’s quite hard to reach the audio control on the central dash while driving. The headlights could have been better,and the seats are little high. I also don’t like the digital petrol and temp gauges, I prefer the needle ones.

The X Trail is not years but a good generation in front of the Suzuki.

The Suzuki sells in tiny numbers, the X Trail is a huge seller, superior resale, qaulity, name, reputation etc

Its not c/rap but its MUCH better and more modern than small players Suzuki

Cheers

FO

I am writing this so that maybe one other person will avoid the disappointment and expense of owning an Xtrail that I have experienced. Maybe the newer models are different – but my 2005 model showed that they are not up to it. They are really, really poor off road – try doing anything more than a 30 second sprint through soft sand and you will find out why… first the 4wd warning light turns on, then 4wd disengages and then you are stuck up to the axle. This happened to me every time I went near the sand. Trust me – I wasn’t doing Kakadu!

All that is something you could cope with and probably just live with, as I haven’t been on the beach for more than 1.5 years …. but my Xtrail has also recently required $3000 for a new clutch after just 66,000 km’s. I complained to Nissan – they sent two pretty ordinary letters, saying it was just out of the 3 year warranty period, therefore – bad luck, they basically didn’t give a toss. It was out of the time warranty, but 34% under the distance warranty, which is surely the most relevant indicator of usage anyway? Also, a new clutch after that number of km’s? For a car made in 2005 – maybe you could expect that from a cheap 1980’s car? Ironically, I was loyal enough to get it serviced by a Nissan dealer, even though it cost more to me. Amazingly, they even said to me in terms of the warranty we “give the customer the benefit of any reasonable doubt”. So, they may not of even fixed it anyway! “reasonable doubt” quoted to you by a multi-national car company – that’s hardly reassuring!

Don’t be fooled by the type of marketing that puts crocodiles on top of cliffs in the advertisements like I was – in my experience – maybe I was a one off… but my advise is keep looking.

If all you are doing is sealed road, then your test drive around the block is approriate for you, and what they want you to do. See what they say when you ask to give it a test on the sand….

MAYBE THE NEW MODEL IS DIFFERENT … BUT THE APPLE NEVER FALLS TO FAR FROM THE TREE IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN ….

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers !

Cheers !