Road test: X-Trail helps Nissan crowns itself the crossover king

The idea of a self-crowned king may muster up images of the hubristic Prince John, so gloriously voiced by the great Peter Ustinov in Disney's animated story of Robin Hood. There's not much point in proclaiming your own pontificate if the populace remains unconvinced.

Nissan's self-made proclamation then that it is the king of the crossovers looks just a little thin when you realise that there are but three crossovers or SUVs in the Nissan range.

Is this a case of a car maker blowing its own trumpet just a little bit too hard?

Well, maybe not. Not when you consider that the Qashqai is one of those crossovers and it is, to many, the crossover.

The hugely popular Qashqai – still essentially a tall and more stylish family hatchback – sells almost faster than Nissan can produce them, and currently that’s at the rate of one every 62 seconds.

Its bodywork might be writing off-roader-ish cheques that the mechanicals simply cannot cash, but the car’s massive appeal shows that it is one of the great icons of modern industrial design – an item that millions of people never knew they wanted, until Nissan created it for them.

Which leaves the lot of the larger X-Trail something of a lonely one. The old, boxy X-Trail was always a car I felt was unfairly overshadowed by the Qashqai. Yes, it was more expensive to buy and to run, but it was enormously practical and really good to drive.

That has continued with this generation of X-Trail. It looks far slicker (and deliberately more Qashqai-like) on the outside, but its extra bulk gives it a useful space advantage over the smaller car, not to mention the option of having seven seats.

Steering sharpness It’s also decent to drive, lacking perhaps the steering sharpness of the Qashqai, and the ride is a little too bouncy on poor surfaces, but it’s blamelessly pleasant. The cabin too is exceptionally good.

There are lots of carry-over items from the Qashqai (and, indeed, the humble Pulsar hatchback) but the quality levels are very high, and thanks to the cream-leather-and-carbon-fibre-trim spec of our Tekna test car, it looked and felt as good as anything that comes out of Stuttgart or Munich.

And now it has a petrol engine. Now, for the past near-decade, sticking a petrol engine into a big 4x4 was basically a long-winded way of saying you didn’t want to sell it. Even before the 2008 tax system changeover, anything but diesel was anathema to the big car buyer, and with 129g/km CO2 emissions and decent fuel economy, why would you be looking past the existing 130hp 1.6 diesel X-Trail?

Well, for a couple of reasons. For a start, this 1.6 DIG-T petrol turbo engine will form the base of the X-Trail range and, although we haven’t yet had confirmation from Nissan Ireland that the model is coming here, it should be cheaper than the diesel to buy if and when it does arrive.

Then there’s the bad publicity surrounding diesel right now. The scandal which Volkswagen’s cheating has kicked off has alerted the general public (and, it seems for the first time, legislators and officialdom) to the fact that even the most supposedly clean diesel engines pump out a lot of gases, which might not be bad for climate change but sure as heck aren’t great for the person standing closest to the exhaust pipe.

Can a petrol really compete though? Is there any hope that it could match the running costs of a diesel, even in a big 4x4? Well, the answer seems to be not quite but it’s not as far off as you’d imagine.

For a start, the 1.6 petrol will be available only in front-wheel drive form, with a six speed manual gearbox. Trimming the 4WD components out saves some useful weight, cutting the X-Trail’s mass at the kerb to just over 1,400kg. And the 1.6 engine makes the most of it. As long as you’re prepared to keep throwing gears at it, it feels peppy and happy to pull the X-Trail around, and it’s almost alarmingly smooth and quiet compared to the diesel. Only in the high gears, trying to pick up pace on a long motorway incline, does it struggle.

Black mark Fuel consumption worked out pretty good too. We averaged about 8.0-litres per 100km, even seeing peaks of 7.5-litres per 100km at times. Not diesel, but not bad. The only black mark is the CO2 emissions, which push the motor tax cost up to €390 a year. Not outrageous, but the smaller, lighter Qashqai, fitted with the same engine, keeps to Band B2 and €280 a year.

It’s still a combo worth considering though, especially if you’re a low mileage driver who uses their car in town a lot.

The X-Trail's big and bluff credentials remain and the 1.6 petrol engine manages to stay on the right side of affordable to run, plus it has the sort of smoothness and refinement (and air-quality cleanliness) of which the diesel can only dream. The lowdown: Nissan X-Trail 1.6 DIG-T Tekna

Price: TBA, X-Trail range starts at €31,650

Power: 163hp

Torque: 240Nm

0-100kmh: 9.7sec

Top speed: 200kmh

Claimed economy: 6.0l/100km. (45mpg)

CO2 emissions: 145g/km

Motor tax: €390