Test Drive Nissan X-Trail since 2011 SUV

X-Mission

Powered and half a century since Nissan descended to the release of the all-wheel drive car for outdoor activities.
 
He had everything: amazing sports cars in their sharpness (remember at least legendary 300ZX), luxurious sedans, excellent family models, crown hatchbacks and even minivans. There were popular small bars, one of which was even able to win the title of Aatomobile of the Year; There were pickups; A whole pleiad of real SUVs who won the authority to the highest reliability and permeability. But model class SUV, car for outdoor activities, or, as they are also called, there was no parquet SUV. Strange, because it is all all-wheel drive models from Nissan, and this is not only my opinion, it is best.

 
Partly such non-tee Nissan to all-wheel drive SUVs, not intended for complex conditions of movement, it would be possible to explain the already extensive range of all-wheel drivers. Grozny and invincible Patrol GR, TERRANO II, classic PanthFinder, created on the basis of the first generation Terrano model - and this is only models for the European market! But there was still luxurious Infinity Q4 and several single-caliber pickups for overseas buyers. But sooner or later, the external circumstances make you reconsider our views on life. And for Nissan this circumstance was two facts. The first: extreme popularity of parkets on most world markets and constantly growing sales. The second: good demand, even on those SUV, which, gently expressing, were designed not quite well and professionally. The robust demand and fashion for such cars did something that no advertising campaign and the most expensive PR technologist could do: literally every par cleaner sold on the market for a bang. Hanging quality, handling, functionality, reliability, security - all these nuances were worried about anyone. Buyers just hurried to get a fashionable car to be the coolest parked near the office. And the more unearthly there was a model, the longer the service of buyers lined up on it in the first months of sales.

 
Naturally, such a situation was sooner or later, it was necessary to fail, as many were convinced that the parckot was not a panacea from off-road. He, contrary to commercials, cannot be replaced with an SUV and even a passenger car. It turned out just a new, transitional class of cars, but he did not succeed completely eclipsed with himself. Manufacturers began to get out: someone completely moved to the passenger side, and many preferred to train the model on off-road. In any case, the Parquetur never became a full-fledged replacement of two cars at once, so the current buyer no longer nourishes some illusions associated with the extraordinary universality of such a car.

 
The car for outdoor activities from Nissan appeared much later than the main competitors. By the time of the debut of the model with the unusual name X-Trail on a pseudo-road, the Japanese, and Europeans, and Koreans had already been taking place. What, however, has a positive side: Nissan learned the mistakes of all competitors. He had time to collect the necessary information about weak places, serious shortcomings and congenital models. And this is expensive, since it is possible to make adjustments at the design stage. The result is the emergence of an adult and high-quality model for an active holiday, which immediately forced competitors in the class to relax. Some especially authoritative, mainly due to the freshness of the X-Trail, most of the other are due to their complete insolvency and non-competitiveness. Details below ...

 
Do you know what I like serious dealerships? A serious attitude to work and appropriate communication with business partners. There will not seriously ask: Do you promise to quickly do? (Reminds the classic phrase and you will not dance naked with the moon?), And just give the keys and a set of documents, politely wondering when they have the opportunity to see you again. This time it was almost the same way, with the exclusion of one point - in the load to the keys and documents, a specialist was handed over to the keys, which could very tightly explain the device of any node or unit in this X-Trail. Well, even better: it will argue about the advantages and shortcomings ...

 
Familiarity with Nissan X-Trail began with a pleasant moment - the sound of the triggering central castle reminded the triggering of the shutter in an expensive professional camera. The castle did not click, did not clapped, but somehow juicy, but quietly slammed. Impressive, you know. Joke for the sake of a few times played by the opening button on the key, along the way, watching the representative of the company attempts to catch the position of Open to finally open the passenger door. Okay, enough to play, it's time for work.

 
I open the door, and the look rests on the bald panel before the wheel. Instead of devices, you see a smooth plastic surface, under which, during further inspection, a roomy glove box was discovered. The instrument panel moved to the right - directly to the center, in the uppermost part of the central console. I wonder, but nothing else moved anywhere? Inspection showed: No. Everything is on their usual places, and the ergonomics has been worked out so qualitatively that no questions on internal geography arises. If you want to turn on the rear window cleaner, then it turns on exactly in the place where it should - on the right girder lever. Do not cause questions and adjust the controls. The only but - the lever of the checkpoint is a little closer to the handler, which is why the lowest drivers, forced to make the seat closer to the steering wheel, are experiencing some inconvenience: the lever all the time turns out a little closer than this is used to it.

 
The back seat having a stepped adjustment of the backrest angle is simply enormous: you can plant three basketball players. But for some reason, for some reason, for some reason, only two, it's already kind of thinking on three. By the way, the jackets themselves are attached to the central tunnel with the help of lipuchk. And when we add the back seat, they need to be removed. In general, the process of folding the rear seat seems not quite logical: these cup holders, the head restraints also have nowhere. They are filmed, otherwise the back does not fold until the end, and then put them on nowhere, they will not ride a trunk? But if the back seat is folded, it turns out a huge smooth bridgehead, where you can even settle for the night. What, by the way, the owners of this model are often doing. According to the representative of Lancor, one customer has a car on this principle and chose: he just asked to completely decompose the rear seat in all sold models. And the trunk of the X-Trail he liked the most.

 
Diesel in cold condition can always be determined by vibrations and specific sound. And the turbodiesel X-Trail has not exceeded. On the steering wheel, on the seat, on the lever, the gearbox - while the car is not a free, the cooken is, although very small. The sound also turned out to be underfilled: the motor is noise, but without the characteristic clatter and tharachtenia. Touch from the place, the engine confidently pulls the car at idle. And immediately the salon is filled with the opposite sound - this turned on the buzzer that informs about the unused safety belts. It is fastened, but the passenger forgot, what the car immediately reminded. Main chip - This sound will pursue you until both sitting in front. Engineers who created this device even joked even a little: if you increase the volume of the radio, in order not to hear this mosquito squeak, the buzzer after you increases the volume ... Is it worth adding that it was the first one, met with me lately a car with fastened cool Safety belts - they are fastened, but thrown over the back of the seat

 
Gas - to the floor! From the bottom of the engine drove well, but it became more interesting after 2000 rpm. A jerk, even no - a punching kick, and the car very quickly goes to exceed the speed mode. In the second, third and even fourth gear, the pickup accounts for precisely 1800-2000 rpm - in this range the motor demonstrates all its best qualities. It is not interesting to go to lower revs, as well as at higher: after 3500 rpm Motor is gradually uniform. The noise penetrates into the salon, with 4000 rpm its sound becomes annoying.

 
Although, traveled to the X-TRAIL almost half a day, I came to the conclusion that high revs are not his element. He loves to ride assertive, but without violence over the engine and gearbox. In the city it is quite dynamic, even the powerful sedans will easily overtake, but try to squeeze the latest juices from it - there is no, dismiss. It is simply uninteresting: the engine is roaring, the dynamics does not get better at the same time, and this torn rhythm somehow does not at all. I want to go differently: quickly, but without fuss. Quickly switch, turn the motor about 3000 rpm and steer smoothly. That's when you appreciate all the advantages of this parkettail. High clearance is a guarantee of trouble-free overcoming any obstacle that has arisen on the road. You are no longer frightened by protruding well hatches, broken tramways and huge pits - you just do not notice them on the X-Trail. You do not notice, because I am sure that the suspension does not break, and the high-profile tire will endure even a strong blow. Again, you sit high, so maneuvers are in front of traveling you see from afar: there is time to go into a free row.

 
It was not bad for the rough terrain: the SUV is still, albeit parquet.

 
The playground in the borovo was almost a rink - under the thin layer of snow, pure ice was hidden. As the representative of the company rightly noted: it is even terrible to go here, and you are going to go. Nevertheless, traveled, and very well. First - on the front drive, in the 2WD position (see the insert). The car rides, even on the ice, but it is completely reluctant: it all so. Therefore, immediately goes to AUTO mode. A completely different song is confident overclocking, confident passage of turns. Especially interesting in slides: the car is instantly and literally in one movement is raised sideways, and in this position it can be pulled for a long time. In this case, it is felt as smart transmission plays a torque, and in the case of slipping, the electronics redistributes power over the axes. And it makes it continuously and very smoothly: here the front wheels were slightly slipped, and it is felt like a moment immediately went to the rear. Further, the opposite of the wheels are beginning to be stopped, and the electronics tries to optimally distribute the traction along the axes so that there are no driving, no demolitions. This means that in the usual driving mode, even on dry asphalt, the machine will not be revenge on the tail, like a rear-wheel drive, and at the same time it will not slip the muzzle to the outward rotation as a car with front-wheel drive. In the Lock mode, when the coupling responsible for the torque distribution over the axes is blocked, 57% is transmitted to the front wheels, and 43% on the rear. And the car rides completely differently: the behavior in slides is more stable and predictable mainly due to the fact that the torque does not jump along the axes. But this does not mean that this mode is more convenient for extreme driving, do not forget that we drove on ice. It is generally intended only for overcoming heavy sections and automatically turns off if the vehicle speed has increased. But it is a pity that I could not fully appreciate the advantage of Lock regime: the car was a shod in summer tires, so it turned out to be simply unable to ride in deep snow. Let's wait until spring ...

 
Summing up, I want to list first of all, named, all competitors Nissan X-Trail. This is Toyota Rav4, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Maverick and Mazda Tribute. There are many more models, but most often found, and therefore these cars are sold. And each of them, despite the overall similarity of the transmission, stands out among competitors something special. Some design, other quality, low retail cost or even committed to the traditions of the brand. In any case, Nissan X-Trail benefits are much more. It is beautiful, possesses stylish appearance and interior. In addition, it has excellent handling and good dynamics. In quality, it seems, there will be no questions too. As for the price, it is simply the average in this class, while the Nissan X-TRAIL itself cannot be called a modest middle journey. What confirms our estimated table ...
 
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Help AG

 
The gamut of the power units offered for Nissan X-Trail cannot be called extensive. These are two gasoline power units - a 2.0-liter four-cylinder and V6 volume of 2.5-liters, and a turbodiesel, which was installed on a tested car. Meanwhile, personally for himself the Japanese left more sharp dishes. The exemal version of the X-Trail with a two-liter motor equipped with a turbocharger is sold on the local market. In accordance with local legislation, the motor capacity is limited at 280 hp, but this does not prevent the car to be truly high-speed - the maximum speed is 220 km / h. Such is the X-Trail WRX!

 
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Help AG:

 
The creators of the X-Trail took into account all the shortcomings of competitors, therefore the transmission of the Nissan Parcatrid has a more perfect, convenient control algorithm. There is no banal scheme with an ussociate, which turned out to be completely helpless on the off-road - the X-Trail transmission allows you to feel more confident even on the jeep trial highway. There are three keys on the center console, with which the transmission operation mode changes. Initially, the machine is a front-wheel drive: in 2WD mode, the front wheels are driven, and the rear axle is disabled. Fuel consumption is minimal, the car accelerates faster, and the transmission does not wear out. AUTO mode will use the rear axle, but not constantly so that in vain does not spend the fuel, but only in the case of slipping the front wheels. Moreover, the coupling is not simply blocked, hardly fixing the distribution of torque over the axes, but distributes it. If the front wheels are toupe, the lion's fraction is transmitted to the rear wheels, and vice versa - the moment smoothly floats between the axes. Lock mode is intended only for overcoming heavy sections: the coupling is blocked, and the torque is rigidly distributed across the axes in a ratio of 57/43% - on the front and rear axles, respectively. This increases the passability of the car, especially in the snow. This mode automatically enters the AUTO mode when the speed is 20 km / h. You can raise the Nissan X-Trail Patency by installing the increased friction differential, which is only available in combination with the ESP + system. It uses ABS sensors and redistributes torque from a bounce wheel to the one that has better grip.

 
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Help AG:

 
The Euroncap Nissan X-TRAIL series crash tests received a very good assessment: four stars. The calculated deformation zone, strong body and the presence of many active safety devices in the database allowed this model to immediately enter the number of leaders. After all, among SUVs there are no models with five stars. The standard set of Nissan X-Trail in the base version of Comfort includes: front airbags, front seat belts with pretensioners, three rear seat belts and amplifying beams in the door. Also in security asset, you can make headlight washers, providing excellent visibility under all weather conditions. Disc brakes (front - ventilated) with ABS, EBD and BRAKE ASSIST electronic system, helping to choose a brake pedal in emergency braking and, thus, use the entire potential of the brake system. In more expensive versions of Sport, Luxury and Elegance, standard equipment are also side airbags for front passengers, active head restraints and a system for maintaining an ESP + coursework.

 
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Driver's opinion:
 
Elena (driving experience - 1.5 years):

 
An interesting car. Beautiful, spacious, stylish. Large, but at the same time cozy and in his own way. With great pleasure I would go on her constantly.

 
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Professional opinion:
 
Yuri Hursan, warranty engineer, Lancor

 
Nissan X-Trail - the machine is absolutely trouble-free and does not require global maintenance costs. At the request of one client, the cost of the X-Trail content was calculated during the three-year warranty period, with mileage of 100 thousand kilometers, it turned out about $ 23 per month! It is almost like a mobile phone.

 
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Opinion AG:
 
A car without bright features, but one of the best in its class.

 
+ Attractive appearance

 
+ Spacious Salon

 
+ Excellent handling

 
+ Advanced all-wheel drive transmission

 
- harsh suspension

 
- noisy on high speed motor

 
- Unusual location of the lever

 
 

A source: Autogase / N 4 (396) dated 05.02.03