It rained all day on bank holiday Monday. The Surrey show is on bank holiday Monday. You can’t miss it, not just because its on the main road into Guildford, but because it looks like a World Rally Event for the slow and poorly equipped.
I have driven past it twice and both times it underlined why lots of commuters, sub-urban dwellers and Surrey-folk need a 4x4. The car park is not a car park, but a lush green field. Expect on the one day of the year when it needs to be a car park, then it is briefly a wet green field, then a muddy field, then just mud.
A variety of normal family saloons and hatchbacks were spinning their wheels and looking highly vulnerable. But those of us in 4x4s of any description were ‘all right Jack.’
This is actually the X-Trail’s perfect sort of conditions. The only thing that would make it more appropriate would be if we were planning to camp on the aforementioned wet bank holiday.
A roof box would look pretty cool on the top, the boot is massive and comes with a false floor under which you will find draws to put more stuff in. So loaded up with soggy tent and cool boxes, you can now proceed across the quagmire camp site a lot more easily than the Volvo S40 estate the neighbours came in. Which is a fairer car comparison than putting the X-Trail head to head with a Land Rover Discovery or Range Rover.
For a start a one or two year old 2.0 diesel is similar money. But also, the X-Trail is not a 4x4 in the way a Land Rover is. At a recent test day I took a Range Rover over unbelievably difficult terrain and a Nissan X-Trail followed me round about 80% of the course without hesitation. Then it politely declined two absurdly difficult sections. I was blown away by what the Range Rover could do. But equally, I can’t imagine, even a farmer needing to do that kind of journey very often. Or ever. I can however see the merits of having an X-Trail when you want to take your family out for some terribly British summer fun.
Once you have loaded the boot up with prams, or tents or the 11 year old’s over-ambitious science project, you will probably be unable to see enough out of the read window to park.
So the clever bods at Nissan have fitted a camera with a handy diagram. Click it into reverse and the Sat nav is replaced with a video camera image of what you are about to hit. Sorry park in front of. There are red and green lines marked on the screen to help you gauge how close you are to the target and an orange rectangle that bends as you turn the wheel to help you work out where you are likely to end up.
If my description of this gadget seems befuddled, its because I didn’t quite get the hang of the diagrams. But I liked the colours and found the camera to be genuinely really helpful, as will anyone always carrying lots of people and luggage or who just doesn’t like parking. The camera has an impressive rear light to make parking at night easy too.
The X-Trail, which in the long-wheel base format of the test vehicle looks more like a high-up estate car, does everything you or I or the award-winning Surrey farmers will need.
Sitting in traffic jams, the Nissan continues to demonstrate that it’s a family man’s choice. It doesn’t wow you, but you can depend on it. Everything is very easy. Controls, Sat nav, air conditioning, radio. Easy to find, easy to use. While the children may squabble, the car will sooth you.
It cruises quietly along main roads and dual carriageway. The seats are really soft and comfy, like your Aunty’s sofa. The cabin is airy thanks to the massive sunroof that goes back to create an open roof across both the front and rear seats. There is so much glass that you could grow watercress and tomatoes in the cabin quite easily.
It handles lightly and nimbly both in town and out on B-roads. If you have ever driven a big 4x4, like a Volvo XC90 or Discovery, you will find them much heavier to steer around town and more inclined to roll on country roads. So again the X-Trail is easier to live with than bigger 4x4s.
Summary
A safe, sensible and easy-to-live-with family estate that can handle off road terrain too. Spacious, well designed and great value. With 45.6 MPG it won’t break the bank like a bigger 4x4 on fuel either. Available in two different body shapes (the shorter wheelbase looks better, but the bigger one is very practical). Probably better value than the bigger selling rival, the Honda F-RV.
Road test car details:
2.0 dCi 173 Aventura Explorer 5dr
OTR: £25,720
MPG: 45.6
Co2 per KM: 190
0-62: 12.5 secs
Words: Matthew Tumbridge