Nissan Qashqai N-Design test drive

Make and model: Nissan Qashqai N-Design e-Power
Description: Mid-sized five-door SUV, petrol/electric hybrid
Price range: £34,845 (plus options)

Nissan says: “The comprehensive update to the styling, on-board tech and interior design reinforce the Qashqai’s position as the segment-leader, as well as its place in automotive history as a segment-creator.”

We say: The updates to the Nissan Qashqai are not extensive, but they do improve the experience for both driver and passengers.

• Nissan Qashqai (2021 onwards) – Expert Rating
• More Nissan new car reviews, Expert Ratings, news and features

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Introduction

The Nissan Qashqai really needs no introduction. It’s the best-selling British-built car in the UK, and a success story for Nissan’s UK operations. Designed in London, developed in the Midlands and built in Sunderland, this is about the most British car you can buy today – even if the badge on the bonnet is Japanese.

Here, we have the updated version of the Qashqai, which is now on sale across the UK. It freshens up the current generation, which was launched back in 2021. Given that it was only three years old and one of the country’s best-selling cars, there was no need for a major overhaul and so Nissan has concentrated on small but meaningful tweaks to improve an already solid package.

The car we drove was Nissan’s clever e-Power version of the Qashqai. It’s categorised as a hybrid vehicle, but that’s selling it short. Most hybrids are rather unpleasant things to drive, with annoying whining noises and often awkward shifts between petrol and electric power. The Qashqai e-Power isn’t like that. Essentially, it’s a petrol-powered EV.

If the idea of a ‘petrol-powered EV’ sounds confusing, don’t worry. It’s actually quite simple, and much nicer to drive, as we’ll explain below.

What is it?

The Nissan Qashqai is the archetypal family car of the 21st century. It looks like a rugged SUV, but in reality it’s little more than a jacked-up hatchback. Usually, this type of car is called a crossover, as it merges SUV styling with conventional car mechanicals. There are no claims of any kind of off-roading prowess here, so don’t plan any Saharan adventures.

This is the third-generation Qashqai, which launched in 2021 and is now lightly updated. It seats five people with enough room for your regular luggage needs. It’s available in a regular petrol engine, with either manual or automatic transmission, and in the e-Power petrol/electric version, which is automatic only.

The updates have improved the car in a few ways, and Nissan has also simplified the model range a little.

Who is this car aimed at?

The Nissan Qashqai is the UK’s definitive family car, so it’s no surprise that it will appeal to families. There are no high-performance or uber-luxury models, just a very conventional range of trim levels with very conventional standard and optional features.

As part of the mid-life update, there’s now a sportier-looking ‘N-Design’ trim level as shown in most the pictures on this page (the red car). There’s no performance improvements, but it’s a bit sharper to drive.

Who won’t like it?

When you’re one of the most popular cars in the country, you’ll inevitably get people who rail against you. Those people have plenty of similar cars to look at from other brands, as pretty much every car company has been copying the Qashqai for the last 15 years.

There are also people who still believe that Japanese brands like Nissan don’t have the same levels of engineering and build quality as German brands. They’re wrong, but there’s not much you can do to convince them otherwise. Their loss…

First impressions

Family crossover wagons all tend to follow a similar formula, and the Qashqai e-Power is no different (mainly because it pioneered the formula, at least in Europe). The new headlights and grille on the updated Qashqai look more sophisticated than the original version, but the rest of the car is pretty par for the course.

Step inside and you’d be hard-pressed to spot the differences between the facelifted model and the original. There are some revised trim patterns and seat trim designs, while on higher-spec models, there’s Alcantara (artificial suede) covering various surfaces.

The interior is still blandly black in most versions, with a high-mounted widescreen infotainment system. If you covered the Nissan badge on the steering wheel, you could easily be in any one of about 14 different family crossover vehicles. Given that Nissan also sells the Qashqai-sized Ariya EV, which has a lovely interior, it’s a bit disappointing.

If all this sounds uninspiring, it’s only because it’s a formula that works and every car manufacturer knows that. All the buttons and switches are where you’d expect them to be, and you’ll immediately ignore the Nissan operating system on the big screen by using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. So it’s all very familiar, and everything’s easy to use.

We like: New front end styling dramatically freshens things up
We don’t like: It’s a bit uninspired inside

What do you get for your money?

As part of the facelift, the e-Power version of the Qashqai now comes in five trim levels – ‘Acenta’, ‘N-Connecta’, ‘N-Design’, ‘Tekna’ and ‘Tekna+’ – rather than three as before. They’re all mechanically the same, with a petrol engine generating electricity for a 190hp electric motor, so it’s just equipment levels that change.

Being an EV (although a petrol-powered EV), there’s no manual gearbox option. And all the e-Power Qashqais are front-wheel drive – if you need/want four-wheel drive, you’ll have to have a regular petrol-driven version.

Pricing has crept up a bit, but there are now more choices and cheaper options than before. The Acenta Premium model starts at just over £34K, and you then jump a bit over £2K to the N-Connecta model, another £3K to either N-Design or Tekna, and finally another £3K to Tekna+ at just under £43K.

All the main safety kit is standard on all models, so all you’re paying for with the higher trim levels are creature comforts and more advanced (and pricey) safety systems.

Acenta Premium gets 18-inch wheels, cloth seat upholstery, reversing camera, LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired), automatic headlights and wipers, a 12-inch widescreen touchscreen central display and auto-folding side mirrors.

Step up to N-Connecta and you get all of the above plus Google connectivity, 360-degree surround cameras, wireless charging plus wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, customisable ambient lighting, a digital driver’s display instead of old-school dials, roof rails and privacy glass. You also get Nissan’s Pro Pilot semi-autonomous driving assistance system, which can steer/accelerate/brake to keep you in your lane. This model is definitely a worthwhile upgrade over the Acenta Premium specification.

The next step gives you a choice – either Tekna or N-Design, for the same money. This is new, giving customers a choice between a more luxurious specification or a sportier one.

Tekna builds on N-Connecta, adding an electric driver’s seat, heated front seats and steering wheel, artificial leather upholstery, 19-inch wheels, a head-up display, auto tailgate and panoramic glass roof.

N-Design offers a different set of specifications, reflecting its sportier side, You get 20-inch wheels, some specific N-Design body trim pieces, black trim everywhere instead of chrome, black quilted leather and Alcantara upholstery throughout the cabin. Compared with the Tekna for the same price, you don’t get electric or heated seats, the head-up display or the auto tailgate. It definitely looks a bit sharper than the other models, and is likely to be the model used for most Qashqai advertising.

At the top of the tree, Tekna+ offers all the kit. Wheels are 20 inches in diameter, the windscreen is heated, the front seats will massage you, the front passenger seat gets electric adjustment, the standard stereo is replaced by a ten-speaker Bose unit (£590 on Tekna and frankly not worth it), and there’s a few different colouring to some trim pieces so that you can your car apart from non-plus Tekna models.

We like: All the main safety kit is standard on all models
We don’t like: Tekna+ trim seems a bit pricey for what you get

What’s the Nissan Qashqai e-Power like inside?

As mentioned earlier, the cabin is pretty conventional in almost every way. We drove both the Tekna and N-Design models, so they had a good selection of toys.

Probably the best news is that all Qashqai models keep real buttons and knobs for the climate control system, rather than putting the controls into the touchscreen. That makes it much easier to adjust on the go, especially if you just want to dial the temperature up or down, or hit the demister button.

The cabin is roomy enough in both the front and the back – a tall adult won’t be that comfortable in the back seats, but that’s going to be the same on any car in this size category. You can adjust the driver’s seat and steering wheel by good amounts, so most people will be able to get comfy quite easily.

The boot is decent without being class-leading in size. Make sure you test any new car with whatever you need to carry on a regular basis (bikes, cellos, golf clubs, etc.) before you sign any order forms. Models from N-Connecta upwards get roof rails for mounting racks or boxes on top of the car – the Acenta Premium doesn’t get these as standard, but a Nissan dealer should be able to fit them easily enough.

As with most new cars, the central touchscreen handles all the music and navigation duties. Nissan has worked to improve the tech that powers the screen, as well as the services it offers. For all models apart from Acenta Premium, Google is now integrated into the operating system. That means Google Maps instead of Nissan’s own mapping system, and “Hey Google” voice control to adjust things like the car’s air-conditioning, seat heating, and other systems. You can also donwload apps from Google Play, and there’s Amazon Alexa compatibility as well.

All e-Power models get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, so you’ll probably never need to use the factory nav system. In cars from other brands (particularly Volvo and Polestar), Apple users have been massively short-changed by Google integrations, but we haven’t had a chance to play with things like Apple Maps, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and other apps i the new Qashqai yet. If you use Apple CarPlay, make sure you’re happy with how everything works on a new Qashqai before signing on the dotted line.

There are sockets for both USB-A (older) and USB-C (newer) cables, so you can charge pretty much any device. A wireless charging pad is standard on everything except Acenta Premium. Like wireless chargers in most cars, it’s a bit rubbish whenever you hit a bump/speed hump/pothole, so you’ll probably end up plugging in to charge anyway.

Higher-spec cars get a panoramic glass roof, which helps brighten up the interior a lot. It’s a £650 option on lower-level models, however. At night, you can configure ambient lighting on N-Connecta and above, in up to 64 different colour options.

We like: Space is adequate in cabin and boot, good range of driver’s seat and steering wheel adjustment
We don’t like: Interior materials are not best-in-class for quality but still reasonable

What’s the Nissan Qashqai e-Power like to drive?

This is where the Qashqai e-Power is different to almost any other car on sale (well, apart from its larger sibling, the Nissan X-Trail).

Technically, the e-Power is considered a hybrid as it has both a petrol engine and an electric motor. But that’s not really accurate, as the petrol engine doesn’t drive the car – it’s not even connected to the wheels. A normal hybrid model can drive as a petrol car, an electric car, or a bit of both. Sounds great in theory, but the shifts between each mode tend to be clunky, and there’s a fair bit of mechanical complexity in getting the petrol and electric motors to play happily together.

The e-Power system works differently. Its petrol engine is simply a generator to convert petrol into electricity, which is sent either to a small battery or directly to the electric motor, depending on how urgently it’s needed. The electric motor is what drives the car – hence our earlier description of it as a ‘petrol-powered electric car’.

So driving the Qashqai e-Power feels a lot like driving an electric car – because it is. You get the smooth, powerful feeling of an EV under acceleration, rather than a petrol engine revving up then changing gear and revving again. You also don’t get the chopping and changing between petrol and electric power units as you would in a regular hybrid car.

Like any electric car, you get instant response for strong low-speed acceleration, which tapers off as you get closer to the national speed limit (top speed is ‘only’ 105 mph, which is 20+mph less than the petrol model). In real-world terms, it’s great for the cut and thrust of urban driving, but not as strong as you might expect when overtaking on a motorway with a full load of passengers and luggage.

The fuel economy on pre-facelift models is no better than you’d see on a hybrid family car from other brands, but it’s still reasonable. We haven’t had a chance to propely assess the facelifted model, but there are no mechanical changes so it should be similar. And if you like the idea of driving an EV but hate the idea of charging an EV, then you’ve come to the right place.

The petrol engine will switch on and off as necessary to maintain charge to the battery and electric motor, but it’s not usually intrusive. The updated Qashqai improves this further with thicker glass and better soundproofing, so it’s even quieter. It’s quite impressive, with minimal road or wind noise up to the legal speed limit (and possibly beyond, although I couldn’t possibly comment on that…)

Other than the power unit, the e-Power model drives just like an automatic petrol Qashqai. That means it’s very predictable and not remotely exciting, but then that’s exactly what most customers want from their family wagon. Even the N-Design model, despite its big wheels and slightly flashier styling, isn’t a ‘sports’ model. A lack of any sporting pretentions is a good thing and makes a nice change from car companies that really want you to believe that their family crossover is somehow inspired by F1/Le Mans/world rallying or something.

We like: e-Power system is much nicer to drive than a conventional hybrid
We don’t like: Fuel economy is no better than a conventional hybrid

How safe is the Nissan Qashqai e-Power?

The Qashqai range was tested by Euro NCAP in late 2021 and awarded a top five-star rating. It scored exceptionally well across the board, with 90+% scores for adult passenger impact protection, child impact protection and accident-avoidance technology.

Although the facelift hasn’t added any new safety kit, the Qashqai’s Euro NCAP scores are some of the best on record. Better still is the fact that all of the key safety kit is fitted standard on all models, rather than cheaper versions missing out on potentially life-saving technology.

All models apart from the Acenta Premium get Nissan’s ProPilot driving assistance technology, with lane guidance and traffic jam assist to allow the car to start and stop almost completely autonomously in low-speed traffic.

Verdict

The Nissan Qashqai has been a hugely successful car, both here in the UK and around the world, ever since the first model was launched because it’s always been a very competent car that’s easy to live with. It’s absolutely fit for purpose as a family car, and the latest updates certainly continue to keep the Qashqai competitive in the new car market.

It’s not particularly exciting to drive, but the e-Power system of a petrol engine generating electricity for the electric motor is much nicer than a conventional petrol/electric hybrid. It is quite a bit dearer than a regular petrol automatic Qashqai in the same trim level, however.

Finally, it’s worth repeating what we’ve said in every previous Qashqai review. The Nissan Qashqai e-Power is designed and built here in the UK, so every vehicle sold is good for jobs, exports and the economy. That will be of more importance to some buyers than others, but you can be certain that you don’t have to compromise on quality or safety by buying a British-built car.

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