Nissan X-TRAIL Review
Published: 23rd March 2005
Nissan X-Trail
How It Looks - Interior
The interior styling of the Nissan X-TRAIL is functional and practical. The first thing that you will notice is that the conventional instrument binnacle housing the speedo and rev counter has been centred on the dashboard. We are never keen on this arrangement and can only conclude that it is done to save money when designing cars for the left and right hand drive markets. The speedo does not lie in the normal line of vision but you do get used to it although in our opinion it is not ideal.
SVE models feature leather upholstery and leather gear lever and parking brake gaiters.
In Car Entertainment and Satellite Navigation
Our test car was fitted with the optional 3-D Birdview satellite navigation system (standard on the T-Spec). While some systems use a small screen with just a combination of arrows to guide the driver, Birdview gives at-a-glance 3-D views of your surroundings on a full colour display which is the biggest in its class at 7 inches and mounted in the centre console.
The factory fitted Birdview system use a DVD ROM (more data), than CD ROM rivals. This means that you don't need to buy additional discs to find destinations within Europe, and the system now covers the road networks of 17 countries including Northern Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, the UK, Denmark and Sweden.
The system did work well in most conditions, although it did lose the plot when crossing the back streets of Bristol, it couldn't keep up with re-plotting routes, whilst our TomTom aftermarket system running in parallel could. Admittedly this is a harsh test, literally making a turn every few meters but we did need to know where we were going, through the heavy traffic. Over course it did take us straight to the door of the address we were seeking.
The fitment on the navigation does mean that you lose the 6 CD in dash autochanger, which is replaced with a single slot CD/RDS radio, which is fine by us, we would prefer satellite navigation. The six speakers and steering wheel audio control are retained.
Rivals
- Honda CRV, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Land Rover Freelander Review, Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin, Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota RAV-4
What We Liked
- Ease of use - car like to drive
- Selectable 2WD/4WD
- Flexible diesel engine
- 6 speed gearbox
What We Disliked
- Lack of ESP/Traction Control on the model tested
- Centrally located Speedo/Rev Counter
What We'd Like To See
- Curtain airbags
- Reversing sensors as standard
- An automatic option for the diesel engine
- Cruise control
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