The Goodwood Test: Nissan X-Trail

Heritage

The X-Trail name is now seventeen years old, having arrived at the world back at the very beginning of the 21^st century and helped to lead the way in the crossover/SUV revolution. Back then the roads weren’t covered in crossovers and SUVs, Nissan was still known for family hatches and the world didn’t know it was about to see a major shift in the car-buying landscape.

The X-Trail arrived on the scene at around the same time as other trailblazers of the crossover cause such as the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. It marked the beginning of a wholesale change in the kind of cars Nissan was famous for making – cutting a path for the astonishing success that is the Qashqai to follow. Now the X-Trail has returned for a third generation, launched in 2013, with a new more modern face and, fresh for 2017, a brand-new engine.

Design

There’s really no getting away from the fact that the latest X-Trail looks like an inflated Qashqai – and that’s not to say that it’s a bad thing. The second generation of Nissan’s smaller crossover is a great looking car and began a market-wide push to make crossovers look more appealing. The X-Trail, therefore, inherits a smart, angular face, with smooth lines into a non-showoffy rump. The previous generation X-Trail was in some ways a rather awkward looking thing, seeming to be at the same time too tall at the top and too short at the bottom.

Its design was a clear carryover from the original model, a design concept which has now been dispensed with in favour of the new, much sharper look. Inside the X-Trail springs a surprise, the interior is one you would be happy with on a lower-end exec saloon. The touchscreen is intuitive and easy to use, with a multitude of controls transferred to the wheel for driver comfort. The materials are excellent in most places, with tactile squidgy plastics on the dash and brushed metal elements. There are some scratchy plastics hidden away – and perhaps the fake carbon fibre bits could have been sacrificed in favour of improving these – but all together it’s a very pleasing place to be.

Performance

Our X-Trail came with Nissan’s new 2.0-litre, 175bhp diesel motor, in this case mounted to a six-speed manual gearbox. With 273lb ft of torque to play with it’s a fantastic engine for a big SUV, hauling the 2-tonne Nissan along to 60mph in a rather impressive 9.1 seconds. Since few X-Trails will make it off road the chassis is tuned to the road so, as you might expect, it drives like a bigger, high-riding Qashqai. That means the X-Trail can be bags of fun when you take it out of its comfort zone.

The big diesel will haul you out of any trouble with just a small amount of lag to be anticipated, and as the chassis rolls around you can have the time of your life keeping everything gathered together. But those country lanes aren’t where you’re really supposed to be using the X-Trail, so where it really wins is on the motorway or around town, In confined spaces the big SUV feels a lot smaller than it actually is, nipping around with nicely weighted steering and pedals, and it’s an easy cruiser on those long journeys, happily swallowing up the mileage as well as the luggage.

Passion

The X-Trail represents everything good about modern SUVs. Gone are the days when you either jacked up a smaller car, or made a big car and to hell with the design. The X-Trail shows that you can have your cake and eat it – create a car that looks good, is a nice place to be, drives well, and has all the practicality you would want from an SUV. Coupled with the new, much-improved diesel motor it makes a great combination and one that could scare some of the more premium brands given half a chance.