Nissan Qashqai
GOODBYE
£36,125 OTR/£37,270 as tested/£450pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Can millions of Qashqai owners be wrong?
DRIVER
Peter Rawlins
AS OUR TIME WITH THE QASHQAI COMES TO A CLOSE, TIME FOR ONE final test a face off against one of its many crossover competitors namely the recently facelifted Vauxhall Grandland Size wise it’s slightly bigger than the Qashqai measuring mm longer and mm wider but whisper it we reckon it’s the slightly better looking of the two
Here we’ve got the litre Qashqai with bhp and auto box and the litre Grandland with bhp and six speed manual Both are very quiet the Qashqai particularly so refined and economical averaging around the mpg mark The Qashqai is arguably slightly better to drive it steers smoothly and suppresses all but the harshest bumps and ruts in the road with little roll around corners The Grandland fares slightly worse it’s by no means terrible just a little less refined than the Qashqai
Inside both are pleasant enough with well thought out cabins and plenty of nice finishing touches Both get a digital instrument cluster
inch in the Qashqai inch in the Grandland infotainment screen inch and inch respectively physical shortcut buttons and best of all proper climate control buttons It’s again a close run thing but we reckon the Grandland is the slightly sleeker of the two
It’s interesting comparing rivals and in this instance though we were impressed with the Grandland it’s reinforced our positivity for the Qashqai
During our time with the Nissan it’s handled everything we’ve thrown at it with ease be it commute staycation tip trips or the supermarket run It’s been much loved by our art editor Elliott and his family as well as its long term keeper Esther Point of fact I know she was loathe to hand it back which is further evidence of the Qashqai’s all round capability A car this well suited to family life is hard to ignore and it’s obvious why millions of Qashqai owners have bought one Good choice