There were a lot of frustrated mums around last month during all that snow.
Schools had closed and there was no chance to demonstrate that choosing a 4x4 was the Right Thing for their childrens benefit.
After all, the mums who had such cars could have got their kids to school snug and warm while the rest walked and slid their way along the roads and pavements. Or they would have done if anyone had turned up to open the schools in the first place.
Weve all got a bit pathetic about snow. Back in the winter of 63, when it was piled high and lasted from Boxing Day 62 to the following March, the buses ran, the schools were open, and many of us walked to lessons every day, often two or three miles each way. No-one had 4x4s back then except farmers the Range Rover was still four years away from being invented and seven years from being made.
To be fair, the roads are busier now and the advent of 4x4 for cars does make for safer driving in dodgy conditions. And the benefits were immediately demonstrated on the day my Nissan Qashqai +2 was collected. The guy who came for it tried to get it off my driveway using two wheel drive and quickly admitted defeat. I showed him that selecting 4x4 mode instantly overcame the snow and ice. He was suitably impressed and went on his way feeling snug and safe.
The Qashqai is the replacement for two good, if bland, cars the Almera, and Primera. Its named after a nomadic tribe from the deserts of South Western Iran but recent experience shows it could equally well have been named the Inuit.
Nissan describes it as its "urban nomad" The Qashqai is rather good at what its supposed to do, which is to offer a car the size of a Ford Focus or C-Max that feels altogether bigger. When I served in the police, we had a diminutive senior officer who was affectionately known as Trophy, after the Whitbread pint that thought it was a quart. The Nissan follows the same general thinking.
For those who would rather it was a gallon, there's now a longer version with seven seats based on the car sold in the United States. But whether bought as a five or seven seater, the Qashqai is good at its job. Whats more, it achieved a best ever score in the EuroNCAP tests which means families will never feel safer.
Two litre petrol and diesel versions come with the option of four wheel drive and my Qashqai +2 had the diesel lump under the bonnet. I have previously had the 1.5 dCi on test and it worked hard for its living, with the result it managed 47 mpg rather than the 50 plus a 1.9 litre VW would give. The trade-off was that the Nissan felt more refined and if you spend a long time at the wheel this is important and worth the loss of around 5 mpg.
The +2 obviously felt much more athletic with its 148 bhp because despite the extra seats and extra length, there doesnt really appear to be much more bulk. In fact you have to look closely to see if it is the seven seat version the clue is that the small window at the rear of each side is slightly lengthened. But it suffered on fuel consumption, only managing 34 mpg.
With so little apparent extra space, the Qashqai +2 has rear seats that are really only for children, especially as you need to be fairly fit to reach them. But the centre row has not suffered and there is still room for adults, which is often not the case with other cars of this type.
Our test car was in Tekna trim, which means a list price of £22,222, rather more than Id want to pay. In two wheel drive with a 1.6 petrol engine it lists at £15,495 while the cheapest 4x4 is the 2.0 petrol Acenta at £19,726. Some would feel that extra security worth paying for and who am I to disagree?
Maurice Hardy
Families buying cars today hardly know they are born. The Nissan Qashqai presents a roomy form of transport, the more so when it has seven seats, but when I was a girl a car with the proportions of a Ford Fiesta would have coped with a family of six. Mind you, things like safety and seat belts were largely ignored back then.
Squashing your kids in these days is not only unwise but also illegal, although in the old days when the world moved and drove more slowly it was not such a problem. If you want to make the most of the Qashqai, then opting for the seven seat version almost seems to make sense for the £1,447 it costs.
With all the seats folded, this Nissan offers 1,520 litres of load volume, which is only seven litres more than the 1,513 litres of the five seater. Most of the extra space that would have been liberated by the growth in size has been swallowed by the extra seats but the +2 is still a great package.
There's also lots of stowage space around the cabin, like a huge cooled glove box that holds 14 litres of stuff or 15 cans of drink, beating the previous record of 13 set by the Nissan Note. In the centre console, you can hide eight CDs in their cases while various other pockets complete the Qashqai's near-perfect family car package.
Annette Hardy
Car: Nissan Qashqai +2 2.0 dCI Tekna
Does it fit your ego?...
0-62 mph: 11.3 secs
Top speed: 117 mph
Bhp: 148 @ 4000 rpm
Torque: 236 lb ft @ 2000 rpm
...and your wallet?...
Price: £22,222
Urban: 31.7 mpg
Extra urban: 47.95 mpg
Combined: 40.0 mpg
CO2 emissions: 188 g/km
Insurance Group: 11
Best bits: roomy seven seat body; still sensible dimensions; refined diesel engine.
