The hybrid Nissan X-Trail has finally arrived in Australia and Paul Maric gets behind the wheel to see what it's like across our gruelling set of tests. This is the 2023 Nissan X-Trail e-Power e-4orce Ti-L.
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Nissan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan
More Nissan X-Trail content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan/x-trail
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:03
Interior: 03:11
Boot Space: 04:49
On the Road: 05:50
Driver aids: 13:28
Performance: 14:50
Verdict: 16:33
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
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#nissan #xtrail #review
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Nissan content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan
More Nissan X-Trail content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/nissan/x-trail
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:03
Interior: 03:11
Boot Space: 04:49
On the Road: 05:50
Driver aids: 13:28
Performance: 14:50
Verdict: 16:33
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#nissan #xtrail #review
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 So, Nissan X-Trail.
00:02 We had a chance to drive this car
00:03 at the international launch,
00:04 but it is finally here in Australia.
00:06 It's not just the normal X-Trail,
00:07 this is the hybrid version.
00:09 It is called, get ready for this,
00:10 the Nissan X-Trail.
00:12 This is the TIL with E-Power, E-Force,
00:15 and that's with a four instead of an F.
00:18 So, someone let the marketing team go wild there.
00:21 The top spec version of this is priced at just over $57,000.
00:24 If that's too expensive,
00:25 the whole hybrid range kicks off
00:27 at around the $54,000 mark.
00:29 This competes with things like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid,
00:32 the Ford Escape PHEV,
00:34 the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
00:36 It's in that sort of price bracket there.
00:38 Today, we're gonna do a detailed review of this car,
00:41 but we will just skip some of the components
00:43 that we've already covered with our normal X-Trail review.
00:46 I'll run you through that shortly.
00:47 If you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:49 you can use the time codes on the screen,
00:51 or if you're on YouTube,
00:51 you can scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:53 And if you haven't done so already,
00:54 please subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon
00:57 so you can find out every single time we drive
01:00 an e-power, e-force with a 4.
01:02 Okay, let's talk design.
01:05 You've got 13 colours to pick from,
01:07 depending on the variant you go for.
01:09 Red is free, and then you pay extra for metallic colours,
01:13 and also if you want the black roof as well.
01:16 Just on the design front,
01:17 we did already cover this in our regular X-Trail review,
01:19 but we've gone down a path of splitting headlights,
01:22 which seems to be the trend these days.
01:24 I don't know why,
01:25 but you've got your LED running lights up the top,
01:27 full LED headlights down the bottom there.
01:29 They're adaptive as well.
01:30 And a little air vent off to the side there
01:32 that kicks out just ahead of the wheel.
01:34 Big grille here with a bit of piano black,
01:36 big Nissan logo with a chrome garnish down the bottom there.
01:40 Let's whip around to the side.
01:41 The hybrid version runs on these 20-inch alloy wheels.
01:45 I actually quite like this design.
01:47 So machined finish on the outside there,
01:49 bit of graphite on the inside there.
01:51 So this is the Michelin Primacy 4,
01:53 so it's kind of like a tyre design for quietness.
01:56 So I'll be interested to see how this actually performs here
01:59 on our noise road when we get the noise meter out,
02:02 because I think this should actually help
02:04 keep the cabin nice and quiet,
02:05 especially when you consider the configuration
02:07 of this internal combustion engine and the electric motors,
02:10 which I'll run you through when we do go for a drive.
02:12 You've got cladding there on the wheel arches.
02:14 Despite this looking like an off-road vehicle,
02:16 it actually has less ground clearance
02:18 than the regular internal combustion version.
02:20 So it sits at under 200 mil,
02:21 the regular internal combustion is over 200 mil.
02:24 You've got the e-power badge on the side here
02:27 to signify that it is the hybrid.
02:28 Up the top here, piano black on the wing mirror
02:30 with an indicator built into there.
02:32 Camera in there as well.
02:33 Glass roof there, black roof as well,
02:36 roof rails, privacy glass.
02:38 And then come around to the back with me.
02:39 Around the back, you've got partial LED taillights,
02:43 another e-power badge, X-rail,
02:45 and then here is your e-Force
02:47 with the four instead of an F.
02:50 Big Nissan logo there as well,
02:51 and then more of that chrome garnish down the bottom.
02:54 I actually reckon the X-trail looks really good.
02:56 They've done a great job here with the design,
02:57 it's my opinion.
02:58 I know design is subjective,
03:00 but I actually think it looks pretty good.
03:01 Let me know in the comments section below,
03:02 do you like the look of this?
03:03 It shares a platform with the Outlander
03:05 and don't really look all that similar on the outside,
03:08 which I reckon is pretty great.
03:09 So let me know what you reckon
03:10 in the comments section below.
03:11 Okay, so we are inside the X-trail.
03:13 Now I did mention earlier,
03:14 we've already done a detailed review on the X-trail.
03:17 So if you do want more detail on the infotainment
03:19 and all of the sort of bits and pieces inside the cabin here,
03:23 click up there to watch that video.
03:24 Today I'm just gonna give you the highlights here.
03:26 This is all going to really be about the driving part
03:29 of the hybrid system.
03:30 But just as recap,
03:32 great materials across the cabin here,
03:33 feels very premium
03:35 and certainly feels a bit more premium
03:37 in comparison to the Outlander,
03:38 which this shares a platform with.
03:40 And I do love the use of this sort of
03:41 faux wood grain material along there.
03:43 You can see those sort of grains
03:44 that they've integrated into there.
03:46 And then the restrained use of piano black.
03:48 So there is piano black there and there,
03:50 but for the most part,
03:51 they've used this other sort of material around the place.
03:53 So that all looks pretty nice.
03:55 Just on the infotainment system,
03:56 it's really easy to use.
03:57 It has all the latest smartphone mirroring integrations,
04:00 high resolution screen as well.
04:02 So it's all sort of quite straightforward.
04:05 So in addition to that infotainment screen,
04:07 the main differences here with the cabin
04:09 between this and the hybrid version
04:11 of these two buttons here,
04:12 you've got an EV button for driving under full EV power,
04:16 and then also an E-pedal button for single pedal driving.
04:19 You will also see a battery indicator
04:21 down the bottom here as well,
04:23 that kind of gives you an indication
04:24 of how much reserve you have in the hybrid battery.
04:27 But outside of that,
04:28 the rest is going to look pretty familiar.
04:30 And the big changes are going to be
04:31 when we actually do hit the road with it.
04:33 In the second row,
04:34 you're gonna find a decent amount of knee room,
04:36 leg room and head room.
04:37 You'll also note that the second row
04:38 slides forwards and backwards
04:40 to give yourself a bit more boot room.
04:41 You've got window blinds as well,
04:43 but the boot is actually slightly smaller
04:45 than the standard internal combustion version.
04:48 So let's go have a little look at that.
04:49 So let's talk cargo space.
04:51 You have a little bit less space here in the hybrid
04:54 than you do in the regular internal combustion car.
04:57 It's about 10 litres less space,
04:58 so it gives you 575 litres.
05:01 In terms of storage,
05:01 you've got these little nooks off to the side.
05:03 You have some hooks there as well.
05:05 It's also a 12 volt outlet here.
05:06 Beneath the cargo floor,
05:08 this is kind of where it eats into space a little bit.
05:10 You've got subwoofer, battery,
05:12 and also a tyre repair kit
05:13 'cause you don't have a spare tyre here.
05:16 But it is a pretty clever loading system
05:18 because you have these little hidey holes over here
05:20 and a two-tiered load floor as well
05:22 that you can adjust sort of as required.
05:24 I'll show what it looks like with our bags in there.
05:26 So that's the laptop.
05:29 Pop the suitcase in there.
05:31 There you go, plenty of room there.
05:34 Now it's sort of too many dramas.
05:35 So the 10 litres of space you lose
05:36 really isn't the end of the world.
05:38 If you do want more space,
05:40 you can drop the second row.
05:42 And by the way, you can't get the hybrid
05:44 with seven seats, unfortunately.
05:47 It's a bit of a shame.
05:48 Does give you a fairly flat load floor.
05:50 Okay, so we've just hit the road
05:54 in the X-Trail e-Power, e-Force.
05:57 This is all a little bit confusing.
06:00 So I'm gonna try and explain it as best as I can.
06:02 I'm gonna dumb it right down
06:04 so that if none of this makes any sense to you,
06:06 hopefully it will by the end of it.
06:07 So this is kind of a unique proposition in this segment
06:10 because it uses an internal combustion engine
06:13 and it acts as a hybrid,
06:15 but it actually does it differently
06:17 to any other vehicle on the market at the moment.
06:19 So it has an internal combustion engine
06:21 under the bonnet there.
06:22 It's a 1.5 litre turbocharged three cylinder petrol engine.
06:26 So a funny little unit.
06:28 That produces on its own 106 kilowatts of power
06:31 and 250 Newton metres of torque.
06:33 That's variable compression.
06:35 So that means at low loads,
06:37 it's able to extract a bit more energy
06:39 from the engine there.
06:40 That then actually has a generator
06:43 directly attached to it.
06:44 The generator is then attached to an inverter
06:47 and an inverter then drives two electric motors,
06:49 one on the front axle, one on the rear axle.
06:51 The one on the front axle is 150 kilowatts,
06:53 the one on the rear axle is 100 kilowatts
06:56 and they combine to produce 157 kilowatts of power.
07:01 Now the confusing part here
07:03 is that the internal combustion engine
07:04 has no direct mechanical link
07:07 to either the front or the rear axle.
07:09 So you have no driveline hump down the centre here
07:13 that carries a driveline.
07:15 It is all just driven by the electric motors.
07:18 And as a result of that,
07:19 there are times when you don't hear anything happening.
07:22 The internal combustion engine isn't doing anything
07:24 and it is just a small battery
07:26 that drives the front and rear motors.
07:28 It has a small 1.8 kilowatt hour battery.
07:30 So it's not a huge battery.
07:31 So it means that you're not really getting
07:33 any sort of great deal of energy out of that.
07:36 There's no huge amount of propulsion there,
07:38 but it is able to take off quietly
07:40 without the internal combustion engine running.
07:42 Can also then put it into EV mode
07:44 where it switches off the internal combustion engine.
07:46 And you can see right now with that energy flow
07:48 that we're just using the battery to run the car.
07:51 If I gradually apply more throttle,
07:54 get into the point now
07:55 where we're using as much energy as we can,
07:57 it then kicks on the internal combustion engine
08:00 to assist with everything.
08:01 There is also another mode here as well called E-Pedal.
08:03 So if you click that on,
08:04 it allows the car to operate,
08:06 I guess in single pedal driving mode.
08:08 So you can see here when I roll out of the throttle,
08:10 it's using regen and brakes
08:12 to almost bring the car to a complete stop.
08:14 It gets to about sort of eight kilometers an hour
08:16 and then it just rolls along on its own.
08:19 So a bit of a strange system.
08:20 I don't know why it can't be like the Leaf
08:21 where it comes to a complete stop
08:23 so you don't actually have to brake on your own.
08:25 And one final mode you can play with as well is the B-Mode.
08:28 So if I flick that to B-Mode,
08:29 it increases the amount of regeneration
08:33 that you're getting here.
08:34 You can also use the internal combustion engine
08:37 as an outlet for the wheels to absorb energy.
08:39 So it is a really fascinating setup
08:42 and it is highly complex when you look at it
08:45 compared to other vehicles on the market,
08:47 like the RAV4,
08:48 which on occasion will directly drive the wheels.
08:51 So this is a bit of a unique proposition.
08:53 Now, what does all of that feel like behind the wheel?
08:56 Well, it means that if you get stuck into the throttle,
09:00 the note of the engine doesn't always match what's going on
09:05 because when you do plow the throttle,
09:07 it's not actually consistent.
09:09 Sometimes the engine will kick on
09:11 'cause it needs to supply energy to the motors.
09:13 Other times it'll be the battery that does that first
09:16 before the internal combustion engine kicks on.
09:18 So it is just a little bit confusing
09:20 in terms of the way that it works.
09:21 But in my opinion, it actually works pretty well.
09:22 Most of the time,
09:23 all you're hearing is that whirring noise
09:25 of electric motors running.
09:27 You really don't hear much
09:28 from the internal combustion engine
09:29 unless you do get really properly stuck into it.
09:32 Now, in terms of fuel economy,
09:34 look, with Toyota's hybrid products,
09:35 typically they're pretty good,
09:36 but sometimes you don't really get the figures
09:39 that they promise.
09:40 Nissan claims a combined fuel economy
09:42 of 6.1 litres per 100 Ks.
09:44 We are currently sitting on, there you go,
09:46 6.1 litres per 100 Ks.
09:48 So bang on that target,
09:50 which is pretty impressive there.
09:52 And it means that that is a realistic fuel economy.
09:54 We've done highway driving, bit of city driving,
09:56 and now also some fast laps of the track,
09:58 and it's sitting on 6.1, so that's great.
10:01 Okay, let's do a little bit of faster driving.
10:02 We've got all our drive modes here.
10:03 I'm gonna go flick all the way through to sport.
10:07 See what this feels like.
10:09 Yeah, look, it's not too bad.
10:12 It kind of pins you back in the seat nicely.
10:14 You can see the power gauge there going around to 100%.
10:17 I'll want to look throttle through here.
10:19 It's actually not too bad.
10:21 There is a bit of body roll.
10:22 This is about 200,
10:23 a little bit more than 200 kilos heavier
10:25 than the internal combustion version,
10:27 but you are getting the benefit there of all-wheel drive
10:30 with electric motors on the front rear axle.
10:33 It's actually surprisingly engaging.
10:35 We found this with the Outlander plug-in hybrid as well,
10:38 that they've tuned a fair bit of enjoyability
10:41 into driving it when the speeds do pick up.
10:44 And I know that most people won't be driving like this,
10:46 but we test all the cars back to back like this,
10:49 and this is actually doing a really commendable job
10:53 for a family SUV that's meant to be about economy.
10:58 It is actually pretty impressive.
11:00 It just, you're able to roll onto the throttle there
11:04 and get all the energy that you need,
11:06 but right now you can see there are batteries depleting.
11:08 I've got my foot flat to the board,
11:10 and we're only getting 80% power out of it,
11:13 and it is gradually decreasing in terms of our acceleration.
11:16 So yeah, when that battery drains,
11:18 it kind of does become a little bit asthmatic there,
11:20 and you lose the whole benefit
11:22 of having the electric motors and that battery system.
11:25 Now, what's the ride like?
11:27 Look, it's not too bad.
11:29 It is a little bit firm,
11:31 so you will notice it catches a lot of bumps
11:33 and stuff like that inside the city,
11:34 but I don't know, it's on the firmer side of comfortable.
11:37 So it's definitely not sporty,
11:38 definitely not uncomfortable.
11:40 It is just firmer than what you'd expect,
11:42 but that is pretty much what I thought it was going to be like
11:45 given the size of the wheels that it's on,
11:46 but it sort of isn't a massive negative in any way.
11:50 And what's your road noise like?
11:51 Look, there is a little bit of road noise
11:52 that comes into the cabin on coarse chip surfaces,
11:55 but sort of fairly quiet for what it is
11:57 and matched by the quiet drivetrain as well.
12:00 Let's have a look at what it's like on our sine waves at 130.
12:03 So this is the maximum legal speed limit in Australia,
12:07 and it's the speed you're going to pick
12:08 if you're overtaking potentially.
12:11 Let's see what this feels like.
12:12 Yeah, it's actually not too bad at all.
12:17 Yeah, the body control's excellent.
12:18 So even though it is a bit firmer,
12:20 you do benefit when it comes to body control on those sine waves.
12:24 OK, our super bumpy country road now.
12:28 It's been 90km/h along here to see what the suspension feels like.
12:32 I'll pop this back into auto mode as well.
12:34 It's actually remarkably good.
12:38 It is soaking up these bumps nicely.
12:40 Here's our condensed sine wave.
12:42 It's doing a great job over this as well.
12:44 So, yeah, look, in addition to a really pleasant ride
12:47 in and around the city,
12:49 it is doing this country road stuff great.
12:51 Even with these larger wheels,
12:52 it's pretty impressive how well it's handling this terrain.
12:55 It was interesting, at the actual international launch of this,
12:57 even though it doesn't have a great deal of ground clearance,
12:59 it does have some of these drive modes,
13:01 including a hill descent control.
13:03 I was pretty impressed with how it did for some light off-roading.
13:05 So if you need to go to a campsite or something like that,
13:07 this is still going to be appropriate for some very light off-roading.
13:11 Now, what's visibility like?
13:12 So I can see clearly down the front of the car there.
13:14 Visibility out the back is pretty good.
13:16 You've got that digital rear view mirror as well.
13:18 Big wing mirrors too, so it makes parking pretty straightforward.
13:22 So you're probably not going to be doing any towing,
13:23 but if you do want to, it has a towing capacity of 1,650 kilos
13:27 with a brake trailer.
13:28 OK, time to test our semi-autonomous functions.
13:32 So here we do this on our circular track.
13:34 We use the three outer lanes,
13:35 and we test how well it holds the lane centring function
13:40 in the three outer lanes.
13:41 The whole idea is as we get to the more aggressive banking,
13:44 it has to apply more steering torque,
13:46 and that is a good indication of how this actually performs
13:48 out on the open road.
13:49 So we'll get that up to 70.
13:51 Let's set cruise control.
13:53 There it is there.
13:54 And the steering wheel is now active,
13:56 so it's showing you there that it's green.
13:57 So in the first lane here, it's doing a pretty decent job.
14:01 We're pretty much bang dead centre there, which is good.
14:03 Alright, jump over to the next lane.
14:05 Wait for it to lock on.
14:09 There it is.
14:11 So that is also doing an excellent job there.
14:15 We're dead centre in that lane.
14:17 No dramas.
14:18 Very impressive.
14:19 Alright, lane three, I have high hopes.
14:21 A lot of cars don't pass up here, so let's see what happens.
14:25 Wait for it to activate.
14:27 Let's see if it actually activates.
14:32 It may not.
14:33 Some cars just refuse to activate up here.
14:36 Yeah, it looks like it is not activating at all.
14:42 No, no activation there.
14:46 So pass in lane one and two, and then a fail in lane three for the steering assist.
14:50 Okay, time to do a little bit of performance testing.
14:53 So we're going to go from zero all the way up to 120 to log our zero to 100,
14:58 and also our 80 to 120 overtaking speed.
15:00 So I'll pop that into sport motorbike.
15:03 We'll see how it goes with traction.
15:05 I won't switch that off for the moment.
15:07 Yeah, and then we'll come back around and do a break from 100.
15:09 So here we go.
15:10 Loosen up that throttle a little.
15:12 Don't know if it does anything, but...
15:14 Alright, that wheel slipped, but 100% actually gets up and moves okay.
15:19 There's 100.
15:21 And 120.
15:24 Alright, let's come to a stop.
15:26 Okay, so zero to 100, 7.24 seconds, which is pretty good I reckon.
15:32 And 80 to 120 in 4.77 seconds as well, so that's actually not a bad number too.
15:38 So it gets up and moves, and then the overtaking speed is pretty good.
15:41 So let's head back now and do a 100 to zero stop.
15:44 Okay, time to do our stop from 100.
15:47 We're using a slightly different part of the proving ground today,
15:49 so these results may not be the most accurate, but we'll see how we go anyway.
15:54 Here we go.
15:55 Alright, there we go.
16:01 That felt really good if I'm honest.
16:04 Okay, so 100 to zero, 2.78 seconds and 38.22 metres,
16:10 which is pretty good I reckon for a vehicle this size.
16:12 If you do want to see how X-Trail compares to other cars that we've tested before
16:16 for both acceleration and braking, have a look at the link in the description below.
16:20 Now let's do our reverse acceleration test.
16:22 Let's give this a shot, put that into reverse.
16:25 Mash down the throttle, gee, it takes off in a hurry.
16:28 38 kilometres an hour.
16:32 Okay, so the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid, e-power, e-force, whatever you want to call it.
16:38 When we first drove this in Slovenia, I actually thought it was pretty good.
16:42 I wanted to see what it was like here in Australia,
16:44 and it's actually proven to be pretty good here as well.
16:46 The ride is probably a little firmer than it needs to be,
16:48 but outside of that you are getting a stack of features inside the cabin.
16:52 It's pretty economical as well, and it's just meeting the claims.
16:55 You don't have to do anything too crazy to meet them.
16:57 It drives dynamically too, so all of that stuff's really good.
17:00 In terms of the negatives, I did notice when that battery runs out,
17:03 it becomes a little asthmatic and you really need to get up,
17:06 and it kind of runs out of steam pretty quickly.
17:08 It's rare that you're going to hit those conditions unless you're really on it,
17:11 and in this type of car it's probably unlikely that you're going to be driving like that.
17:15 And the price as well, I thought it was a little bit expensive for what it is.
17:19 It does feel premium enough for that price tag, but it is getting up there a little bit.
17:23 So let me know in the comments section below, have you bought one of these?
17:26 How's it been going for you?
17:28 I reckon they probably need to do a cheaper version of this hybrid in the entry level
17:32 as opposed to it just being a top-spec model, and it'd be nice to see it with seven seats as well.
17:36 So let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.
17:39 Did you enjoy this review? If you did, please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates,
17:42 and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
17:45 But until next time, take it easy.