Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good

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When the Nissan X-Trail offends its driver

Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good-third

Quite incline: "world"-Author Kai Kolwitz with the Nissan X-Trail, which is available from 25,440 euros

Source: Steffen Roth

The Nissan X-Trail is ideal as a large-capacity taxi for children with a busy schedule. However, the SUV only shows its true strengths and weaknesses when driving around aimlessly.

Oh, a Lichterfelder Mutti-Taxi! ”says the neighbor with a look at the test candidate. I hear the undertone as she peels out of her rather bruised Mazda. It is not meant to be angry, at most a little sarcastic. But yes. We are standing on a quiet street in a better residential area in southwest Berlin.

And the series of in front of and behind the Nissan X-Trail parked vehicles confirms the thesis of the consumer vehicle driver: In such areas are the so-called Sports Utility Vehicles first choice when it comes to chauffeuring the youngsters back and forth between school, sport and music lessons.

The Nissan X-Trail fits in here perfectly. With a length of around 4.70 meters, it is in the same format as the BMW X3, a VW Tiguan it towers over 20 centimeters. This creates space for seven seats, the two rearmost seats sunk in the trunk floor in the normal state. Nice thing when an away game of the soccer bambini is coming up.

However, the test pilot has not yet created a family of his own. In order to make the test environment realistic, girlfriend Steffi and son Benjan were acquired. Benjamin’s friend Tim is also allowed to come along, both of them love cars and take the task entrusted to them very seriously: “Lots of space here”, it sounds from the second row, as soon as the journey has started. “And comfortable seats!” Yes, indeed, they can do something.

Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good-good

A rear view camera is not an unnecessary luxury in the Nissan X-Trail

Source: Steffen Roth

The X-Trail also removes the extra-brutal cobblestones from Lichterfeld (that’s probably why all SUVs drive here) like nothing. In addition, the diesel grumbles under the hood somehow like a taxi, the automatic and turbo lag ensure small seconds of thought when accelerating. This is a bit annoying for the first few kilometers, later you will find that you have unconsciously adjusted your driving style so well that you don’t even think about it anymore.

But where should you go with a car that, with its martially drawn front, wouldn’t cut a bad figure even in a zombie apocalypse? Exactly, to BER, to the new capital airport, which has not yet opened. That suits Zombie, besides, everyone in Berlin talks about it, and hardly anyone has ever seen it with their own eyes.

As we slowly circling the terminal, which looks irritatingly ready for operation, it flashes, thunders and pours appropriately apocalyptically from the black and gray Berlin afternoon sky. “There’s nobody here at all,” says Tim, who spent the last quarter of an hour dozing in his corner. Another plus point for the X-Trail: With its good damping, insulation and the humming diesel, it conveys a feeling of security in this crap weather.

“They’re just jealous of our beautiful car"

The weak points of Nissan’s SUV are the turning circle and the overview to the rear: the former is similar to that of a tractor, so it is better to think about U-turns in city streets three times. And the rear of the X-Trail is so raised that bollards, barriers and the like disappear when parking in nowhere. As compensation, our test car was given a reversing camera. You wouldn’t want to do without them in this car either.

Anything else to complain about? Yes – whoever electrically operated tailgatesthinks it is a technical advance, has never waited in the pouring rain for something like this to close in slow motion, while the hatch in Papa’s old Passat would have simply thundered shut and milliseconds later sat dry.

And as it should be for an SUV, the X-Trail is mighty: Nissan itself specifies a moderate 1.82 meters as width, but that must have been measured without a mirror (as is common with many other manufacturers). Especially in the aforementioned narrow, light-filled residential streets, these are the extra centimeters that sometimes turn encounters with other vehicles into puzzle work with annoying beeping distance sensors. But of course the X-Trail is not alone in 2017. Nowadays, even cars obviously need broad shoulders.

Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good-generation

Many cars now have large panoramic roofs. In the Nissan X-Trail you can also open the glass roof

Source: Steffen Roth

But that’s enough of the moaning. “They’re just jealous of our beautiful car,” says Steffi, when an older married couple stare at us and won’t let us cut into the autobahn. Since the beginning she has been method-acting more and more deeply immersed in her role of the sixties wife on a big vacation trip. I wonder what she would look like with a housewife’s headscarf. The only thing is that there are no sandwiches, which is a shame.

On the way back, Tim and Benjan discovered and praised the truly gigantic panoramic sliding roof, which we unfortunately cannot open due to the weather. Benjan and I talk shop a bit about whether you should buy a used Porsche Cayenne right now, using a smartphone to look for suitable offers on the Internet.

Very reassuring, such an aimless country trip

Then the excursion comes to an end, and I find that I am apparently not the only one on whom two hours of aimless driving across the country have a calming effect. That was nice.

There is only one thing that irritates me on the X-Trail. The next lunchtime I got in the car, well rested, had a good breakfast and, according to my own body, at least ten years younger than what is shown on the ID card.

After just a few minutes, the car gives me a “Overtired, please take a break” warning, which I at least intuitively don’t get from the display in the instrument cluster while driving. You call me Trantute, Nissan?

Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good-third

For two generations, the Nissan X-Trail was a robust off-road vehicle, in the third generation the Japanese have turned it into a pleasing SUV. Quasi the big brother of the …Qashqai

Source: Steffen Roth

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3 thoughts on “Nissan X-Trail in the test: the third generation is that good”

  1. "Anyone who considers electrically operated tailgates to be a technical advance has never waited in the pouring rain for something like this to close in slow motion, while the hatch in Papa’s old Passat would have simply thundered shut and milliseconds later sat in the dry. "
    What have you been doing for so long, sir? Watched the tailgate closing?

    Reply

  2. Yes, I have. When the car is in a busy supermarket and the laptop and camera are in the car, I find it very useful to know that nobody can get into the car through the trunk. But I am quite open to alternative suggestions.
    Best regards
    KK

    Reply

  3. I have one of these .. I can confirm everything as described in the article. However, the tailgate can also be conveniently operated with the remote control or from inside the car. So you don’t have to stand by in the rain and watch the trunk close.

    Reply

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