Nissan, one of the Japanese OEMs has been making and selling cars in India for a while now, however despite having some competent vehicles in their portfolio viz Sunny, Terrano or the Magnite(one of the most VFM micro SUVs in the country) have somehow failed to make an worthy image in the minds of Indian buyers which is quite sad considering how well they perform elsewhere(their luxury division Infiniti makes extremely good cars in the States viz QX80), however despite their not so great overall performance they aren’t willing to give up and pack their bags like s0me American and European OEMs we saw in past, in fact Nissan is ready with an onslaught of new models to expand their Indian portfolio in order to grab a considerable pie of the Indian automotive market, spearheading this ambitious plan with the X-Trail luxury SUV.
Now if that nameplate sounds familiar, it is because Nissan had launched the 2nd gen X-Trail circa 2009, however that product was a very different SUV than this current 4th gen model. it was a boxy, ladder frame, 4X4, torquey diesel powered full blown SUV while the new model is a lot sleeker, monocoque, FWD, petrol powered crossover.
At the time of writing, the X-Trail has been launched in India at an ex-showroom price of 50L as a CBU from Japan roughly amounting to 60+L on-road, at the onset of review let me make it clear that Nissan grossly overpriced this SUV and it ought to be at least 10L not if 15L lesser to at least make some amount of dent into sales of say SUVs like Volkswagen Tiguan, Hyundai Tucson etc although that’s not to say that its a worthless product, please bear with me as I dive into the details of this Japanese SUV.
Exteriors and presence
To begin with X-Trail is quite a handsome SUV and has that Japanese flair to it much like the erstwhile Honda CRV. The front is dominated by a V-Motion grille that we even saw with the erstwhile Kicks CSUV, the LED headlamps sit below the indicators(which are sadly halogen) while the aerotwin wipers with integrated washers give an upmarket feel.
The side is pretty much like a crossover though a bit boxier, what really catches your eye are the humongous 20″ alloy wheels wrapped in 255 section Michelin Primacy4 rubber giving it a very unique appeal, however I’m worried since these tyres have a bit too slim sidewalls which can prove to be inadequate to tackle our crater shaming potholes.
The rear has large taillamps which are actually quite reminiscent to the erstwhile Kicks with bold X-Trail badging on the tailgate, opening the tailgate which is manually operated btw(a glaring omission IMHO) reveals a small boot space due to presence of 3rd row, which though is too small and is best suited for small kids only, also there ain’t any spare wheel, not even a space saver, rather you get a tyre puncture sealant(made by Continental) and an inflator, this coupled with low profile tyres, can be bit worrisome especially during long journeys.
Interiors: Space, Comfort, Practicality and Tech
Stepping into the interiors via the chunky doors give a mixed impression overall. Starting with the doors, they felt hefty and had a nice thwack to them upon closing, however those expecting a leather treatment on the upholstery would be miffed since X-Trail only offers you Fabric upholstery and not even leatherette, however practicality is well taken care with since the centre console contains a small, stubby shift-by-wire gear selector and an electronic parking brake with auto hold leaving a large central armrest with deep storage box, bottle holders are well placed too, both in location and quantity.
The front seats, even though large and well bolstered have manual adjustment, well when was the last time you saw that in a luxury SUV, cars costing quarter of X-Trail now offers at least semi-electric seats!! The space though is more than adequate and well the ergonomics though not as intuitive as say a Honda or a Toyota still is quite good and way better than some Indian and Italian OEMs vehicles offer.
The 2nd row space and comfort is decent too, while headroom could have been a bit better since the thick lining for the panoramic sunroof eats into some precious real-estate, there is a large foldable armrest with cupholders too which is basically the middle seat thus I suspect the middle seat occupant won’t have a very comfy experience sitting on that. Please don’t ask me about the 3rd row, I’m not an athlete and my rather tall frame doesn’t allow me to even enter that area without getting some serious cramps.
Talking about technology and goodies, this is one area Nissan royally messed up, yes you do get a Panoramic Sunroof, a surround view camera, 7SRS Airbags, Apple Carplay + Android Auto, wireless cellphone charger but that’s pretty much about it, there’s no leather or semi-leather upholstery forget about electric adjustment or ventilation, no powered tailgate, no ADAS features even though there are all the required hardware present for it, no sophisticated touchscreen UX, no hifi-surround sound system, none of that. Honestly speaking that the bar has been set so high with mass market cars like Kia Seltos or the Mahindra XUV700, you just cannot overlook these as minor misses, especially considering this car retails above 60L OTR. Even the keyfob is so basic it reminded me of cars like Swift and Celerio, absolutely not befitting a car of this price, not even 2 segments below it IMHO.
Engine
If skimping on features wasn’t enough for us to digest Nissan decided to shortchange us further by providing just a 3cylinder 1.5L Turbo-Petrol engine, yes yes I’m fully aware that this puny engine makes upwards of 160BHP and has some genius engineering quirks viz variable compression ratio and nowadays even Merc gives a puny 1.3L engine in their A200 and BMW gives similar 1.5L engine in their X1 but come on man, even less than half priced Seltos offers you a 1.5L 4Cylinder mill with 160BHP, yeah one shouldn’t judge just by looking at the specs and actually drive it in real world before commenting anything but get this man, a 15L cheaper Volkswagen Tiguan offers you a ballistic 2.0TSi with 190+BHP mated to quick DSG box coupled with 4Motion, why Nissan, the makers of R33,R34 Skyline GTR, R35 ‘Godzilla’,370Z NISMO is it too much to expect a larger engine from you?? Hopefully a NISMO version of X Trail fixes that soon.
Conclusion
If you’ve read my thoughts, you do realize that I’m not at all impressed by the X Trail even though it is one of the finest cars ever to come to our shores only coz of the steep price point it sells at, calling it overpriced would be an understatement and I say it bluntly obnoxious pricing should be the term used to refer X-Trail’s India pricing, if you want a fast turbo petrol powered SUV, get a VW Tiguan, a diesel one, the Tucson or if you’re okay with downsized motors just get a BMW X1 and bask in the brand snob it fetches for you. I seriously don’t find any sense in the XTrail as of now especially at the pricing at which it retails at.