Funny name, Qashqai! Where's the 'U'? In fact they're both missing! Was it a phonetic translation, or was it thought up for the model I wonder?
As part of Nissan's current “Urban” SUV crossover series, the Qashqai+2 is a perfect recipe for those who want a good quality and versatile Jack-Of-All-Trades vehicle.
Since I last drove the shorter original Qashqai Accenta 1.5dCi last year, I have had a very positive impression of this very family-friendly car. I was really taken aback at the time by the fact that it wasn't simply another utility pretender. It was genuinely smile-inducing and I still distinctly remember the surprise at how good it was to live with for a week.
This time I was to play with its big brother, the beefier +2 TEKNA version. We had quite a few miles to cover during the review period and a dilemma soon arose concerning seating arrangements. Now our little ones aren't so little these days, but had become aware of the fact that the Qashqai+2 was, on paper at least, a seven-seater. So minds had sort-of been made up about the distribution of bodies and luggage for our jaunt to Center-Parcs in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. The original thought was to have the two rear seats in position and for one person to use one of them and the luggage to occupy the other.
Having gone out to take a look at the seating arrangement myself, I knew this wasn't going to be a practical solution. On a five minute run down the road it might just do, but five or six hours at a stretch would have been absolutely unbearable for whoever was unlucky enough to have been allocated the rear seat. Aside from having to be built like a contortionist, you'd have to have a short neck and incredibly stumpy legs to be able to endure such imprisonment. Even the option of skewing your legs to one side is taken from you if anything is put on the adjacent seat because there is no foot-well. Your feet end up at the same level as your bum. I will point out at this stage that with the rear seats in position, there is virtually no boot space to speak of either. You could fit the wine in, but not the glass to drink it from. From a practical day-to-day use of the vehicle point of view, you could really forget the fact that the boot exists.
After some discussion we decided to dismiss the rear seat option and to just use the middle row of seats, slid back to their furthest-back position. This allowed an enormous amount of legroom and behind that a huge luggage bay too. The previously-considered inconvenience of having a three side-by-side arrangement was now a far better option than the cramming of one unfortunate individual into the third row.
So we set off at the crack of dawn to try and get past the bulls-eye of the UK's motorway network before the Friday afternoon mayhem had a chance to develop. Our plan paid-off because we managed to get past junction 11 of the M6 before 10am. Thereafter it was a case of admiring the scenery over the remaining miles. The forecast was none too good, but the offending front was moving from south to north, the same direction as us, but about a hundred miles behind us. This kept the skies bright and the road dry. Once Preston and Lancaster were behind us the remaining miles through the southern Lake District were as beautiful as ever and the effortless cruising that the Qashqai offers really came into the fore. With steering wheel mounted audio and cruise control, everything is very intuitive. Nissan's “Connect” entertainment system is also very versatile, with us being able to allow any of three iPods to be played, although two of them seemed to contain identical tracks! One thing we did find was that if the car was stopped and switched off with an iPod playing it caused a few hiccups when started up again. After one loo-stop we were left with no radio available for some time until we reconnected the iPod that was in use previously. All very frustrating when you're wanting to join in with round two of Pop-Master on Radio 2. The integrated music and Navigation system is very easy to operate, with either touchscreen, scrolling or steering-wheel controls.
The overall drive is what I would describe as effortless, save for a bit of a mildly clunky gearchange. It is by no means one of the fastest cars in its class on the roads, but neither is it a slouch. It buzzes effortlessly up to seventy and once the cruise control is switched on it is quiet, smooth and seems to really eat up the miles at an incredible rate. One thing I do like with the Qashqai over and above the conventional saloons is its height, which makes a long drive just that little bit easier as a result of being easier to see well ahead. When doing battle with three busy motorway lanes, that couple of seconds advantage of seeing five or six cars ahead instead of only the one in front of you is far less demanding on a long run.
We managed to get well over 600 miles out of one tank of fuel in our 2-litre diesel 2-wheel drive version! The extra features offered in the TEKNA package, such as the reversing camera, the Nissan Connect integrated Navigation, Bluetooth phone and Entertainment system show that Nissan have thought of everything in their design and have delivered a comprehensive and competent car for the family. Its when you go back to driving cars that don't have such a range of accessories that you realise how much they're worth.
To sum up, the Qashqai+2 is a tremendous all-round family car and, although marketed as a seven-seater, is really more a generously proportioned five seater with the possibility of accommodating a couple of extra children occasionally when the need arises, but without any luggage as boot space is completely sacrificed when this is done. For a family of three, with the rear seats stowed it is a brilliantly practical, rugged, comfortable, well-appointed and quite economical performer that is a pleasure to drive. If our tribe of 5 were back at the toddler stage I would probably go for a true MPV in order to get a boot that would take at least a potty and a pushchair. The Qashqai does what it does exceptionally well, but I think of it as a +1.5 rather than a +2.
Model Driven TEKNA 2.0 D Manual 4WD
Nigel Crawford
November 2009 |
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