Efficient diesel completes Nissan X-Trail range

NISSAN has added a comparatively small 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine option to its X-Trail medium SUV range, delivering a lower official combined fuel consumption figure than the segment’s top-sellers, while being only slightly off the pace on performance.

Producing 96kW of power and 320Nm of torque, the X-Trail’s four-cylinder includes idle-stop technology and is rated to consume 5.3 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle in both front-drive and all-wheel drive configurations.

With a starting price of $35,380 plus on-road costs for the front-drive TS variant, Nissan has also positioned the diesel X-Trail as more affordable than the cheapest oil-burners offered on its top-five selling medium SUV contemporaries.

The entry-level diesel X-Trail’s standard automatic continuously variable transmission (CVT) is arguably the more desirable feature at this end of the market, compared with closest price rivals, the Toyota RAV4 ($35,690) and Subaru Forester ($35,490), that trade an auto ’box for all-wheel drive.

Nissan charges a $300 premium for AWD on the diesel X-Trail, but this comes at the expense of automatic transmission availability – and Nissan Australia confirmed to GoAuto that the chances of releasing an automatic AWD X-Trail in future are remote.

Larger engines in both the Toyota (2.2-litre, 110kW/340Nm) and Subaru (2.0-litre, 108kW/350Nm) outgun the X-Trail on engine performance but at the expense of higher official fuel figures (5.6L/100km and 5.9L/100km respectively).

Diesel X-Trails are offered in five-seat configuration only, with the TS sharing equipment levels with the petrol ST and including a 5.0-inch colour dash display with reversing camera multiple audio inputs, and Bluetooth smartphone connectivity, keyless entry and start, cruise control, 17-inch alloy wheels and a roof spoiler.

The upmarket TL diesel is equivalent to the petrol Ti, is priced at $46,280 for the 2WD and packs advanced safety technologies such as lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, moving object detection, LED headlights and rain-sensing wipers.

Other luxuries include leather upholstery, electric front seat adjustment and heating, dual-zone climate control, a 7.0-inch hi-res screen with digital radio, sat-nav and 360-degree around-view camera display, a powered tailgate with hands-free sensor opening, a self-dimming interior mirror, a sunroof, 18-inch alloys, roof rails and privacy glass.

Manual diesel X-Trails are rated to tow braked trailers of up to 2000kg, while all other variants can tow 1500kg unbraked.

According to VFACTS, Nissan sold 8991 X-Trails in Australia to the end of September this year, making it fourth most popular medium SUV after the Mazda CX-5 (16,643 units), Toyota RAV4 (13,335 units) and Subaru Forester (9667 units).

Nissan X-Trail pricing*

ST 2WD 2.0 petrol	$27,990
ST 2WD 2.5 petrol (a)	$30,490
ST 2WD 2.5 seven seat petrol (a)	$31,580
ST 4WD 2.5 petrol (a)	$33,980
TS 2WD 1.6 turbo diesel (a)	$35,380
TS 4WD 1.6 turbo diesel	$35,680
ST-L 4WD 2.5 petrol (a)	$36,590
ST-L 2WD 2.5 seven seat petrol (a)	$37,590
ST-L 4WD 2.5 petrol (a)	$39,490
Ti 4WD 2.5 petrol (a)	$45,190
TL 2WD 1.6 turbo diesel (a)	$46,280
TL 4WD 1.6 turbo diesel	$46,580

*Excludes on-road costs.