Nissan X-Trail

Soft-roaders - it’s a term used to categorise light-duty offroaders and has taken a derogatory flavour of late. Trailer Boat’s stablemate CarPoint recently put six so-called soft-roaders through their offroad paces at a Melbourne 4X4 training centre and discovered the only limitations these types of vehicles have is more often the bloke sitting in the driver’s seat.

Three-foot-deep river crossings, steep hill ascents and treacherous descents, rock-hopping and even the odd mud bog; the Nissan X-Trail and five of its competitors passed every test without putting a wheel wrong.

If you’re interested in reading the results of that six-vehicle comparison, visit www.CarPoint.com.au.

Vehicles like the X-Trail are often overlooked because of a ill-deserved soft-roader image, both by four-wheel drivers and towing types alike. Yet for most of us, whose towing requirements don’t extend to a 35ft six-berth cruiser, a Nissan X-Trail would be a sensible alternative to that gas-guzzling Patrol or LandCruiser.

Betcha didn’t know the Nissan X-Trail is rated to tow 2000kg. We dropped an 1600kg boat and trailer combo on the back to find the X-Trail’s limits and it performed better than we expected. But more on that in a minute. For now, let’s take a quick look at the X-Trail. The X-Trail is one-third of Nissan’s four-wheel drive triumvirate, which includes the all-conquering Patrol and mid-size Pathfinder. The X-Trail is offered in three levels of specification and price ranging from $31,000 to $42,000, but all share a basic mechanical package.

Up front is a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine which has been tuned for trailer-pulling torque rather than outright acceleration: 132kW of power and 245Nm of torque puts the X-Trail at the top of its class.

The engine is offered with a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission and it drives the front wheels. A simple dash-mounted dial allows the driver to move from 2WD to “Auto” or “Lock”. Auto mode transfers drive to the rear wheels when the front wheels slip; Lock sets a constant torque split of 53/47 front to rear for constant four-wheel drive.

For such a compact car, the X-Trail is quite spacious inside. Its tall roof provides plenty of headroom front and rear and also allows the back seats to be positioned slightly higher for good legroom. There’s a decent amount of space in the boot, and the rear seats fold flat quite easily for extra luggage room.

One trait we didn’t like is the instrument cluster mounted in the centre of the dash, not straight ahead of the driver. S’pose it just takes a bit of getting used to. But full points for the interior trim patterns and colour choices; it screams active lifestyle and sets the X-Trail apart from the boring beige crowd.

On the road the X-Trail turned out to be a minor revelation. As mentioned, we threw it in at the deep end and it responded to the challenge. The engine pulls well on the straight and easily kept up with traffic, though struggling a bit on hills.

Stability wasn’t a problem, even though there was a good breeze blowing, and the ABS-equipped four-wheel disc brakes pulled up easily. Reversing is another area the X-Trail shows its mettle - its shortish wheel base makes it quite agile and responsive.

We’d probably not recommend the X-Trail if your needs run towards its maximum limit on a regular basis. But for those of us towing 4-5m powerboats, it’s a better choice than big diesels.

And for smaller boats, personal watercraft or tinnies, if you must go four-wheel drive, then don’t go past the Nissan X-Trail for performance and value for money.