Nissan Qashqai +2 2.0 Acenta
First a quick Quiz. You need to move 5 adults and 2 kids about and you don't want to be driving a bus or a big 4x4. What are your options?A hatchback? The Qashqai tries to be a hatchback. In a MPV/SUV world dominated by pseudo 4x4's that either can't or won't be driven off road, and big bulky busses, one is deluded into thinking that in order to move a lot of stuff or more than 5 people, the price to be paid is a clumsy un-car-like drive.
Nissan is successfully challenging this. Their Qashqai MPV range attempts to be more hatchback than bus and in my opinion succeeds. With its aggressive looks and bulging sharklike twin bonnet power bulges it looks like sheet-metal draped tightly over bulging taught muscle. They have taken the Qashqai and extended it. Not so much that you would immediately notice. 135mm longer on the wheelbase and 211mm in the body, the roofline has been stretched and reprofiled making it 38mmm taller. This gives some headroom to the new, third row of seats and adds 16mm for the driver's row and 10mm for the middle row who also get 23mm more for their knees. That middle row slides backwards and forwards considerably, making it, when in 5 seater mode, capable of taking a lot of luggage in the back.
Would I want to make extensive use of those back two seats? Hell yes! If I was a kid under the age of 10. But let's face it, unless you go for a fully-fledged bus, that third row is always a compromise. Whether to get in or out of, or to sit in. Almost always both. But if your lifestyle extends to moving that many people about those are the breaks. Overall one gets a drive more akin to a hatchback than a bus or offroad vehicle, with good handling and decent enough performance. The 2.0 litre six speed returns 0-100 at just over 10 seconds and a combined consumption of about 8.5l/100km. The car also feels faster. While no sports car, it feels nimble and handles well. It has a solid feeling build quality and is well thought out.
The fabric choices seem robust and in our time with it proved easy to keep clean. The interior, while not in the league of the Teutonic executive class is not shoddy and cheap feeling. In fact Nissan is developing a solid interior presence across their range with finishes appropriate to their sectors. One of the few Eastern manufacturers successfully pulling this off. A good sound system with auxiliary input is also standard, as is climate control. So too is their excellent Bluetooth car kit. All manufacturers should follow this lead and make car kits standard fitment on all but the cheapest of variants. Unusually I thought, rear park distance control is not standard fitment, and that surprised me on a vehicle like this. Not a problem as such, as the car has excellent visibility and sight lines, but I was surprised, given a vehicle that bothers with standard fitment of full climate control and features like full rear window blackout to further help keep temperatures down and prying eyes out.
All in all, not too many vehicles have this much space and are this easy to get about in. It is a champion at its price point. R303,500 for the 2.0 Acenta (tested) and R249,500 for the 1,6 Visia which loses out on some performance, and drops the climate control for air conditioning and saves the planet with slightly better fuel consumption.
