NISSAN’S COSY CROSSOVER OFFERS BANG FOR THE BUCK
I’m spoiled when it comes to cars. Porsches and BMWs pass through the Booth household like they’re a dime a dozen. I’m lucky enough to enjoy a fairly steady diet of Ferraris and Maseratis in far-flung coastal climes. Throw in some racing schools, a little bounding in Range Rovers as well as the occasional motorcycle track test and I pretty much live every gearhead’s fantasy. The life of an (automotive) Riley is mine to boast and, Lord knows, I take full advantage of it.
Which may make it a bit of surprise then to realize that were I, after 30 years of driving freebies, to suddenly find my steady stream of free luxury cars staunched, the vehicle
I’d buy with my hardearned money would be… A Nissan Qashqai. Yup, pretty much the cheapest sport cute available would be my first choice were I suddenly raiding my RRSP for a four-wheeled conveyance. And not just any Qashqai.
I’m talking about the cheapest, stripped-to-the-bone, manual transmission ed little roustabout Nissan makes. No navigation, an infotainment screen not much larger than a postage stamp and the damned thing doesn’t even have cruise control. But I love it. More to the point, I’d buy it.
Here’s why: $19,998. That’s the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for a base Qashqai. Thrifty automotive shoppers know that 20 large doesn’t buy you very much — at least new — off an automobile dealer showroom floor. There’s Chevrolet’s Trax, nominally in the same sport cute segment. But it’s smaller, slightly more expensive ($20,200) and frankly not nearly as complete an automobile. A Yaris sedan would be significantly cheaper ($17,320), but you could probably fit the little Toyota in the Qashqai’s (semi) commodious trunk. Yes, Nissan’s own Micra can cost as little $10,000, but nobody in their right mind buys a base Micra. On the other hand, you can get by with a base Qashqai.
It just fits me. While this is purely personal attribute, the fact is every bit of the Qashqai’s ergonomics fits my semi-stooped 5-foot-11 frame to a T. The step up into the cabin is the perfect rise, the seat’s base is just the right height for my knees and the reach to the steering wheel and gearshift lever ideal. I can’t think of a single thing I would change.
The front seats of the Qashqai have but two adjustments — fore and aft — as well as the ability rake the seat back. Both require manual levers to change their position. Not only that, said seat is covered in cloth. In other words, it is not possible to get a more basic or, one assumes, cheaper seat.
And yet the little Nissan’s perches were among the most comfortable I’ve tested recently.
It turns out, I don’t need more than 141 horsepower. Who knew? It’s not overwhelming and certainly isn’t too much, but in two weeks behind the wheel, I never once though, “Gosh, I wished I had more power.” In fact, only once did I have to wring the little 2.0-litre four out and even that was as much curiosity as necessity.
It turns out I don’t need a dualclutch transmission, either. The base Qashqai has a lowly manual transmission. Turns out that as long as the clutch is light and the throws crisp, I don’t find a manual as annoying as I once did. Indeed, the only thing I’d change about the Qashqai’s entire powertrain is the gearing of sixth. It has the engine spinning about 3,500 at just under 130 kilometres per hour. Three thousand rpm at that speed would be much more relaxing and would probably improve on the nine or so L/100 km I was averaging on the highway.
The one thing you might miss is all-wheel drive and this — at least the pricing of Nissan’s AWD offering — might be the Qashqai’s only weakness. In fact, to move up to the company’s Intelligent AWD, you have to spend $24,898.
Other than that, there’s precious little I miss. In fact, just the one thing, the aforementioned cruise control, which would have made my sojourn to Ottawa from Toronto a little more relaxing.
Indeed, pretty much everything I thought I’d miss — power, booming audio system, multiadjustable seats — proved a nonissue and I kept on coming back to the focal issue, namely that for $19,998 there was absolutely nothing I missed.
Except, of course, cruise control.