GRR Garage: Nissan X-Trail – three things we've learned

It’s big but you need to be small to sit in very back

This is our first full-size 4x4, none of that crossover lark for the X-Trail. The big orange beast is 4,690mm long, 1,820mm wide and stands at 1,720mm high. That means that the boot space with the rearmost seats down is 565-litres, which is a very decent chunk. If you pull up those back pair and turn it into a seven-seater that comes right down the 135-litres, but does, of course, make up for that with extra child carrying space. But don’t rush out to put your mates in there too fast, the seats were made for children, so are not the roomiest. That’s not saying don’t, we have already managed to transport six of us on a short distance, but the very back passengers shouldn’t expect a luxurious service.

The interior is very well put together

The inside of the latest X-Trail, which was launched in the latter half of last year, is a properly nice place to be. The materials are all tactile and mostly squashy and the styling is grown up without being eye-wateringly boring. It managed to mix leather, plastic and shiny plastic without any of the three dominating too much. The infotainment system is simple to use, although it has once so far completely locked us out of the Bluetooth settings, but a quick ctrl-alt-delete (turn off car, open door, close door, turn on car) sorted that out.

Heated steering wheels are excellent in December

Leather seats, leather wheel, leather bits on the dash. In December that can only mean one thing – it’s going to be freezing when you jump into the X-Trail. Fortunately, the big Japanese machine is fitted not only with climate control and heated seats but also a heated steering wheel. It doesn’t take too long for us to be lovely and toasty inside, as those around us in traffic drive passed wrapped up in as many layers of clothing as they could fit onto their bodies. There’s nothing worse than steering with cold fingers, so this really is an addition of vital importance.

Photography by Tom Shaxson