X marks the watt
The Nissan XTrail has always suffered something of an identity crisis The MkIV sheds its crossover pretensions in favour of added SUV chunkiness and also boasts a selfcharging electric motor drive powertrain and shares the same platform as the Renault Austral on the previous page
In this case Nissan’s gently novel ePower system relegates a litre turbocharged petrol engine to the sole job of charging the kWh battery while power is provided to the front wheels by a kW electric motor delivering a peak output of bhp
We’ve already seen this ePower system in the Qashqai but the XTrail variant we’re driving here features a first in the form of fourwheel drive called eorce It adds a
kW electric motor to the rear axle for a total system output of bhp and the promise of mph in seconds with enhanced traction handling and ride comfort
Why not a conventional EV or runofthe mill hybrid? It’s all about driving feel Nissan tells us ePower combines the most efficient use of the petrol engine with a small battery and a quiet smooth EV driving experience
Nissan also points out that as bridge technology ePower is a better proposition globally as a stepping stone to full electrification than a plugin hybrid or full EV sound thinking given the sparsity of charging posts in some areas
Largely the system works well Power delivery is indeed smooth and quiet though protracted periods of hill climbing will still elicit mooing as the engine perks up somewhat vocally to keep the battery topped up
If you drive it with an ear on keeping things muted in the engine room it rewards with tidy handling light precise steering well controlled cornering posture and a supple ride the underlying firmness of which only surfaces on the very worst um surfaces
By equipping the new XTrail with both eorce electric allwheel drive and seven seats and styling it more like an SUV than a crossover Nissan clearly hopes to prise open the gap between this car and the Qashqai to give it a tad more of a fighting chance on the showroom floor
It isn’t going to set the world on fire but it has been pretty carefully crafted to offer as close to all things to all family members as possible Sure anything with electric motor drive which still bangs out CO at the rate of g/km is bound to elicit some head scratching but you’ll forget all about that once you’ve tried it