Detailed review: 2020 Nissan X Trail/Rogue N-Trek - Once the BEST selling SUV in the world. 4K - video Dailymotion

CarExpert

Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:57 Interior: 02:11 Infotainment: 03:31 Features: 04:50  Practicality: 05:44 On the Road: 10:19 Verdict: 14:13  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-nissan-x-trail-n-trek-awd-review/  Paul reviews the 2020 Nissan X Trail N-Trek – a car that was once the BEST SELLING SUV in the world! So...what went wrong and why has it fallen out of favour with the car buying world? Paul gets behind the wheel to do a detailed review and fine out!  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! #nissan #review #xtrail  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. That car behind me has been around longer than my hairstyle, which is a long time,

00:04 but precisely the third generation Nissan X-Trail has been around for about seven years, so it's

00:09 getting a bit long in the tooth. Nissan has rolled out some special editions, and this one here is

00:15 called the N-Trek. It's going to set you back about $40,000, and you can see the rest of the

00:20 pricing of the X-Trail range in the comments below. And this one here sits just beneath the

00:25 top spec model. There is a new version of the X-Trail coming probably next year or the year after,

00:30 they're working on it as we speak, but this used to be the best-selling SUV in the world, but it

00:35 seems to have now fallen out of favor with a lot of buyers. Now, if you're a bit pressed for time,

00:39 if you look up there, there's some time codes you can skip ahead to other parts of this review,

00:42 otherwise you can scroll down to the description where you have our time codes, you simply click

00:47 on those and they'll push you ahead. If you haven't done so already, I'd love for you guys to

00:50 subscribe to our channel and also press the bell icon, that'll tell you each time we have a new car

00:56 on video. Let's chat styling. So, five exterior colors. The thing I find interesting, yes,

01:02 the car is ancient, but you never would have picked it. When you look at it from the outside,

01:06 it actually still looks really good, and we were just discussing this before that regardless of

01:10 the age of the car, people are still buying this based on perception, but also the looks. So,

01:14 you're not deterring any people there, the N-Trek simply steps it up. You've got these weather

01:18 shields here and along the side of the car, and a fascinating thing at the front here is the use of

01:23 black and chrome. It actually works really well. Normally when you have chrome up against something

01:28 so dark, it kind of looks a little bit tacky, but Nissan's done a good job there, and they haven't

01:32 gone overboard here with grille. LED running lights, so you see them sitting there. Come around

01:37 to the side here, you'll see the 19-inch alloy wheels, and because SUV, you've got this plastic

01:42 cladding on the outside, that kind of gives it that rugged look and that rugged appeal, which

01:48 I guess Nissan's known for. As we go more along the side of the car, have a look at this little

01:51 hump here. This services the 360-degree camera, so I'll run you through that one when we go inside

01:57 the car. These are those weather shields I was talking about, some sturdy roof racks there,

02:01 and then right around the back of the car, you have more LED light treatment around here. Again,

02:05 this is something that helps the X-Trail stand out. It is still a good-looking car, isn't it? And

02:10 then the N-Trek badge there. Let's talk styling. Unlike the exterior, the interior is pretty bland.

02:16 There's a lot of black in here, and it's only really broken up by the small infotainment screen.

02:21 It kind of looks a little bit modern, but it's nowhere near as trendy or as fancy as things like

02:25 the new CX-5 or even the Ford Escape, the Volkswagen Tiguan. They've all really stepped

02:30 the game ahead in terms of providing a premium and stylish-looking interior. Now, let me get my

02:36 hardness tested, because this is something we have started using to see how hard some of the

02:40 materials are in cabins. This is from 0 to 100, 100 being a hard surface, so I'm going to test

02:48 this now. So, on the top here, we get a reading of 60. That's actually pretty good, but this bit here,

02:55 which looks like it's soft material because it's got this fake stitching through it,

02:59 isn't actually soft. Have a look at this. That maxes the meter out there at 98, and then if we

03:04 have a look here at the centre console cover, that's more modest, 19. That's even softer than

03:10 the Mazda CX-9. That's a $70,000 car, the one that we tested, so that is impressive, but it is a

03:16 little bit disappointing that even with this, they've gone to no effort to actually make that

03:20 a soft-touch surface, and perhaps they even offer a different colour here to break apart a lot of the

03:24 black. Even these highlights here are in black, so you really cannot get past that as the main colour

03:30 of this interior. So, we've had a look at style, let's look at infotainment, and there's actually

03:34 an Instagram question here from Andy Ports. The question is, "Does it have Apple CarPlay?" Andy,

03:41 unfortunately, it doesn't. So, despite having a screen that would be perfect for Apple CarPlay,

03:46 this doesn't have it, and it probably won't be coming until the new model arrives, which is

03:50 really disappointing. Moving on, 7-inch infotainment system. This really isn't a very

03:56 good infotainment system. If you want to see a full review of this, you can click up here and

04:00 watch our full infotainment review. But, in short, 7-inch screen. It is fairly high resolution,

04:05 but the functionality of it isn't great. We've already seen it doesn't come with any smartphone

04:08 mirroring. There is a Nissan Connect app, which allows you to extend the functionality of it with

04:13 extra apps, but that really doesn't work very well, and it has like a two-star rating on the

04:18 App Store, so that kind of gives you an idea of what owners actually think of that application.

04:23 Radio-wise, AM/FM/DAB digital, so at least it's got a breadth of options to choose from there.

04:29 Navigation is built into the screen. It's not super easy to use. To actually get to the screen

04:34 where you put navigation details in, it's like a two-step process, three before you even reach the

04:40 first entry point, so that is a little bit slow and confusing. And all of the menu structures just

04:45 don't really make sense. They're all kind of all over the place, so that is a disappointing system.

04:50 Outside of the infotainment system, you've got an eight-speaker Bose stereo. It's actually a pretty

04:54 good sound system, so ticked it is in there. Dual-zone climate control. This cluster is easy

04:58 to use. You have one USB port, two 12-volt outlets, and then an auxiliary port as well.

05:04 Heated seats. You also have hill descent control, an ability to switch between two-wheel drive and

05:09 four-wheel drive, which I'll go into a bit more detail when we hit the road in the car. And then

05:13 safety features. You have low-speed AEB, so that only works at city speeds. You also have basic

05:19 functions such as rear cross-traffic alert and a 360-degree camera. Now, the 360-degree camera

05:25 sounds good in theory, but the implementation isn't very good. It's very low quality, and it's

05:31 pretty hard to see out of it at night time. So I feel like I've been pretty negative here in terms

05:35 of the X-Trails interior. Let me know in the comments below, have you bought one of these?

05:39 What am I missing here? Is there redeeming qualities about the interior? Let me know in

05:43 the comments below. What about practicality and comfort? I guess you could look past a lot of

05:48 the deficiencies here if it is actually a comfortable car to sit in and to drive.

05:52 So, phone storage. I'll grab my phone. It sort of doesn't really fit up the front there.

05:58 That's going to move around a lot. And it doesn't really fit in the cup holders either.

06:02 What about an actual bottle? That fits in there. And then there's a centre divider in there as

06:07 well. And in the door, you've got door pockets. They're not huge, so you'll fit a bottle plus a

06:12 couple of other odds and ends. The centre console is fairly deep. You can almost lose half a hand

06:17 in there, and that's where your other 12-volt outlet is. And then the glove box is pretty

06:21 decently sized as well. The seats themselves are really comfortable. So you have a really

06:25 nicely appointed seat there. It hugs you in nicely, and it feels like it would be good for

06:29 a longer road trip. In terms of the park brake, this is like stepping back in time. It's a foot

06:35 operated park brake. Most manufacturers these days use an electrically actuated park brake,

06:40 so you just pull a little switch. This is seriously old school. And then when it does

06:44 become a little stretched, you have to push it virtually into the carpet to activate the park

06:49 brake. So that's a disappointing thing to have. And here where I rest my knee, it's all extremely

06:54 hard there. I'd love to see a soft surface there, so for longer drives, you don't get fatigue on

06:59 your knees. You're going around corners and keep bumping it. Okay, I've got to throw a positive

07:03 in here, and I've just found one. The carpets, it's a bit like a Rolls Royce. They're plush pile.

07:07 Your fingers almost get lost in them, so they look very nice. Your kids are going to like it back

07:12 here because there is acres of room. There's even acres of room for an adult. I've got this in my

07:17 normal driving position, and I've got plenty of knee room there. Toe room is pretty good as well

07:21 with my plush pile carpet. Rear air vents as well to keep you cool on those hot summer days. But

07:27 you'll notice here there's a lack of USB connectivity, so charging the kids' devices

07:32 just isn't going to be happening back here. Now, it may look like there's no center armrest,

07:36 but this is quite a clever system. Instead of a 60/40 split folding seat, this is like a 40/20/40.

07:43 Adds up to 100. This drops down, and then you have access to the boot, and then in there you've

07:47 got your two cup holders, and this sort of gives you a nice divider between the two backseat

07:52 passengers. You then have ISOFIX points, and because this car is available in seven seats

07:58 in some configurations, it means that these seats can slide forwards and backwards, so that gives

08:04 you a bit more flexibility in terms of boot room too. You've got map pockets in the back of the

08:08 seats, and then also pockets in the doors, but while they fit a bottle, you can't really get

08:12 much else in there. There's not a great deal of room for odds and ends. Let's look at cargo space,

08:16 but before I open it up, have a listen to this. That's plastic. So, Nissan actually developed a

08:23 system with a plastics company to replace all the metal or aluminium that you'd normally find

08:29 on a boot lid, because it kind of doesn't stand the logic test. Why would you need to have a

08:34 full metal boot lid when you can save 30% of weight by going entirely plastic? So, that's a really

08:39 clever way to do things by Nissan. Here you have 565 litres of cargo space available, but there are

08:45 so many clever features. While this is the base of your load floor, it can be dropped down. You can

08:51 either hide things under here, or if you want to lower the load floor altogether, you simply drop

08:57 these down, and then you have a second stage of load floor loading. You can remove them altogether

09:03 and reveal your space saver spare tyre under there. Pop this all back. Let's have a look at

09:08 the cargo blind. This obviously extends to cover your luggage, it sneaks into place there. But what

09:14 if you don't want it there? Normally what you would do in an SUV like this is take it down,

09:19 and then it'd sit there and get in the way of everything. But there is a clever solution here

09:24 from Nissan. We tuck this out of the way for the moment, pull these two sides off, and then,

09:32 like magic, that disappears. So, you all of a sudden have a hidey hole for your cargo blind.

09:42 What about these seats? They drop pretty easily as well, the way they disappear. And that is how

09:48 you get your 945 litres of cargo space. Remember too, that behind here you've also got load hooks.

09:54 If you do need to secure anything, you just tie them down to that, and then your jack

09:58 lives off to the side here. So that is a really practical and usable space,

10:02 and I love this dual-tiered floor system. How practical is it though? Let's get our luggage.

10:08 So that slides in there, even if the seats were up, that would still fit. And then we can also

10:13 throw our bag in as well, just for reference. Look at that, this is the definition of a family hauler.

10:18 So I've hit the road in the X-Trail, and the first thing I've noticed here is how light the

10:25 steering is. My goodness, the wheel itself is actually really nice and sporty. It's got a flat

10:30 bottom on it, it kind of feels like it belongs in a sports car, not a family SUV. But outside of that,

10:35 the actual response to the steering is excellent, which means when you are parking and doing slow

10:40 speed manoeuvres, it's going to be easier to get the wheel around without too much resistance.

10:44 We've got three different driving modes per se. When I say driving modes, I mean where the torque

10:50 is going to get distributed. So you can lock the car into two-wheel drive, which sends torque

10:54 exclusively to the front wheels. You then have traction control and stability control on top of

10:59 that, but that always limits it to two-wheel drive. You can then flick it over to auto.

11:03 Auto then investigates how much traction control intervention comes in, and it tells the car,

11:10 "Okay, the front wheels are slipping, let's send some torque to the rear axle," and the second it

11:14 needs it, it shuffles all the way back there. You then have a final mode, which is four-wheel drive

11:19 lock. That's the mode you can use on unsealed surfaces, because you don't want the differential

11:23 winding up, and that sends an equal amount of torque to all four wheels, and that's good if

11:27 you're doing any light off-roading. In terms of ground clearance, you've got around 220mm of

11:32 ground clearance available to you. So you're not going to be trekking across Australia, but there

11:37 is enough there in case you need to go to a campsite or some remote location where you've

11:42 got to clear some obstacles. Under the bonnet is a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder

11:48 petrol engine, produces 126 kilowatts of power and 226 newton-metres of torque. It's not a

11:55 groundbreaking amount, but I quite like the way that it interacts with this gearbox. The only

11:59 thing I don't like is that there really isn't a turbocharged option. You can go down the path of

12:03 a diesel, but I'm not a huge, huge fan of that diesel engine. This is kind of the best compromise

12:08 between the entry-level 2.0-litre and that diesel engine. One of the benefits of not having a

12:13 turbocharged petrol engine is the fuel economy, which is a combined 8.3 litres per 100 kilometres.

12:19 We've been averaging a little over nine, which is about where you'd expect it to be with a mix of

12:24 mainly city driving and highway driving as well. The engine is mated to a continuously variable

12:29 transmission. Now that name, CVT, it sends chills down the spines of some car enthusiasts,

12:36 but I actually think it's a pretty good implementation of it here. A CVT is always

12:40 quite a noisy thing to have in a car because the second you step on the throttle, the revs climb

12:46 and it erupts into a flurry of torque delivery. But as is the case here in the Nissan, as you roll

12:52 into the throttle, it actually gradually increases the torque, so it really gets you into the torque

12:57 band of the engine and makes it all quite seamless. And in my opinion, that's way better than a dual

13:01 clutch gearbox, which can be quite clunky, especially on hills. Let's talk about the ride.

13:05 You would assume that in a medium SUV, you want a soft ride that really soaks up bumps nicely.

13:11 The X-Trail, on the other hand, is on the side of sportiness, which isn't great because you want to

13:16 be comfortable behind the wheel. The 19-inch alloy wheels probably don't help, but the suspension is

13:21 tuned for sportiness, which means it is quite firm and can be quite jittery. Even on almost a

13:26 perfectly smooth surface like this, we're feeling everything through the cabin here, which really

13:30 isn't a pleasant feeling. Let's talk visibility quickly. At the front, it's great. I can see the

13:35 end of the bonnet there, so it makes parking pretty easy. The wing mirrors are big, and that's

13:40 great because you're never going to lose anything in there. And then built into the side here,

13:43 you've got a blind spot monitor. Visibility at the back is excellent as well. The window is huge.

13:48 The only thing you're going to run into is if you have a car full of people, seeing over their heads

13:53 could be a little tricky because the heads are quite in line there with the rear window. What

13:57 about cabin noise? It's not too bad. It isn't fantastic. It's not very quiet, but equally,

14:03 it's not as loud as some of its competitors in this segment. So that means if you are driving

14:07 on a country road and you are going on coarse chip surfaces, it's not going to send you deaf

14:11 while you're travelling along with the family. So the Nissan X-Trail, the problem with the

14:15 Nissan X-Trail isn't so much the Nissan X-Trail, it's all of the other competitors in this segment.

14:20 The medium SUV segment is so competitive that right now a car like this that's old and out

14:25 of date in terms of technology just doesn't represent good value for money. So why would

14:30 you actually buy one? Well, it still looks really good. It's nice and modern. Dealers are doing

14:34 really good deals on them because they need to get rid of stock. So from a value proposition,

14:38 this is fantastic. You can load it up with the family and all your stuff, but if you are looking

14:42 at it comparatively against its competitors, they're all materially better in most ways.

14:46 They have better engines, better tech, and are a better value proposition. So save money if you

14:51 want to buy this, but if you do want the best in the class, this isn't going to be it. If you like

14:56 this video, I would absolutely love if you guys could hit the like button, press subscribe,

15:00 and also press the bell icon as well. That'll tell you every single time we post a new review.

15:05 But in the interim, let me know in the comments below, did you buy one of these? What do you

15:09 like about it? And what convinced you to buy it over some of its competitors? I'm really keen to

15:14 get the feedback from you guys. You can also see the full review of this car at carexpert.com.au.

15:20 But until next time, take it easy. Digital radio.

15:22 Let's get this out of me. Holy, why is that so loud? Holy.

Detailed review: 2020 Nissan X Trail/Rogue N-Trek - Once the BEST selling SUV in the world. 4K

Category

Transcript

Recommended