It just keeps on connecting

Ian Donaldson drives the Nissan Qashqai N-Connecta DCI 110

IT doesn’t always pay to be first to the party, and never more than in the cut-throat world of cars.

Many a pioneer machine has sunk without trace as nobody else thought it a good enough idea to even consider copying – but get it absolutely right before anyone else and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Which is why, with the wind in the right direction outside Sunderland, you can hear gales of mirth as yet another Qashqai rolls off the Nissan production line.

It’s no laughing matter for rival manufacturers, who know a new Qashqai comes off the line every minute of every day – so more than 300,000 a year and no sign of sales stagnating. This really is a goldplated case of hitting the (diamondtipped) nail on the head, showing how spectacularly well the crossover has done for its maker since the first one appeared in 2006.

Back then, Nissan gambled that a car mixing the upright stance and enhanced ground clearance of an SUV with the interior feel of a good hatchback would appeal. And boy did we take to what became a crossover phenomenon.

You’ll know that the car world has turned crossover and SUV crazy since then, with just about every manufacturer offering something of the pumped-up hatchback look with a, usually pretend, off-roader appeal.

But Nissan got there first and cemented its place in the sales league with a fresh version in 2014.

Clearly inspired by the original, the latest Qashqai is a bit bigger, better equipped and ready for a world where we want computers on wheels rather than old-fashioned cars. And has Nissan succeeded with the ‘difficult second album’ that has sunk many a pop group and sent car makers scurrying back to the drawing board? You bet it has.

There’s a real mature feel to this latest version, without the car feeling as though it’s remotely ready for its pipe and slippers.

The way it copes serenely with bad roads, the way it eagerly answers a call for more speed and the composed way it rounds bends despite its SUV height are all pointers to years of patient development by engineers who cared. Inside, the dashboard does the job without showing much of the angles and slashes that seem to be required of the very newest of Nissan’s rivals. It all works well enough, though, and looks reassuringly solid.

The diesel engine in the car I drove manages to combine plenty of pulling power with a minimum of under-bonnet clatter.

After several hundred miles the trip computer showed 55mpg.