GRR Garage: Nissan X-Trail – The road home via Reims

As already reported recently, the GRR’s long-term evaluation Nissan X-Trail had transported me safely and incident-free across Europe from Goodwood, down to Geneva, via Antwerp, in far less extreme winter weather than was forecast, and now it was time to set off again homeward bound, inevitably via a convoluted route once again.

Needing to drive from Geneva to Vesoul, in the picturesque Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region France, none of the local autoroutes would have taken me directly to my destination, without taking a long, mile-sapping detour, which I wasn’t keen to do as it was already late evening, and the Nissan’s thirst for diesel was rather heavier than expected at motorway cruising speeds. 

A very short hop from the Palexpo motor show location, next to Geneva airport, and into France was my best bet, as I needed fuel (less expensive in France than Switzerland) and a few provisions to help keep me energized on my drive to Vesoul, so a local supermarché selling both was a very welcome sight.

To get to Vesoul in the shortest possible distance, a drive over the Jura mountains was in order, which on my way south-bound, heading down to Geneva, was mostly snow-free in daylight hours. It was now dark and late, however, with the outside temperature dropping steadily, according to the X-Trail’s clear instrumentation display. The higher the Nissan climbed, the chiller it got, with snow and icy patches becoming more frequent, so I slipped the X-Trail easily into its automatic Mode 4x4i setting for peace of mind, the system selecting the model’s all-wheel-drive mode only as and when required.

The Mode 4x4i system kicked in on a few occasions, but the toasty Nissan, with its efficient climate control, never felt ill-at-ease on the slippery snow-strewn Jura roads, even if the tights bends were not its natural forte, not helped by the slidey leather perforated upholstery (which also traps small particles of dirt).

Once over the mountains, and settling into the flatter, straight tree-lined roads en route to Dole (my overnight stop) the X-Trail fell comfortably into its stride, with its diesel consumption also proving to be more acceptable on the fast, sparsely-populated roads, punctuated occasionally by totally deserted sleepy towns and villages so typical of night-time France. 

Waking-up the following morning in Dole with rain lashing against my hotel window, my first few miles heading to Vesoul in the Nissan were a complete contrast to the previous evening; wet, dreary and slow, with lots of traffic and too much time to fidget in the Nissan’s roomy cabin, fiddling with the car’s switchgear, some of which is well and logically positioned, such as the heating/ventilation controls and others somewhat ergonomically flawed, such as some of the out-of-sight button positioning.

The quality of much of the X-Trail’s interior fixtures and fittings is to a good, prestigious standard, such as the leather facia top roll and nicely-weighted and damped climate control temperature controls. These are items that the driver doesn’t need to touch very often, making the contrast with the slightly cheap-feeling plastic stalks that you have to use frequently for the indicators, lights and wipers something of a disappointment. They would also benefit from some back illumination at night too.

Niggles aside, this X-Trail is an easy and pleasant SUV to live with, soaking up the many miles between Dole (including a quick pit stop at the Dijon-Prenois circuit), Vesoul, and on to Reims, with little fuss or drama.

After another long day behind the wheel, with a few more hundred miles under the Nissan’s standard alloys, I arrived at Reims still feeling fresh and alert, testimony to the X-Trail’s easy, undemanding nature.

After spending a weekend at the excellent Salon Champenois du Vehicule de Collection in Reims, securing a couple of very rare cars for this year’s Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ concours at the Festival of Speed in the process (plus the obligatory stop-off at the old Reims circuit at Gueux of course) the final leg home from France to Blighty was as uneventful as most of the 1,700 miles or so I had already covered in the Nissan, which proved to be an effective ,if somewhat unengaging, companion for every mile of my 10-days or so in Continental Europe where it didn’t once miss a beat.