Nissan Qashqai review

The Nissan Qashqai is the car credited with starting the seemingly unstoppable family SUV trend and most manufacturers you can name have followed its lead with a rival model.

For the Qashqai, that means hot competition: it's had to evolve to stay competitive in its class. To keep it fighting fit, Nissan has armed this third-generation car with new technology and engines while retaining the qualities that made it popular in the first place.

That's not all – the Qashqai has also been given a facelift designed to breathe new life into its challenge to the best family SUVs. The latest changes include styling tweaks inside and out, as well as upgrades to the infotainment system and improved refinement.

Nissan Qashqai video review

The question now is, does the Nissan Qashqai still rule its class or has a young pretender stolen its crown? Is it as spacious as the Kia Sportage or Skoda Karoq or as fun to drive as the Seat Ateca? And can its top trims rival the premium-feel of the BMW X1 and Volvo XC40? Let's find out...

While there are three different engines available with the Nissan Qashqai, the entry-level 138bhp 1.3 DIG-T 140 mild-hybrid petrol engine is the one that we’d go for. It’s a little languid at low revs, pausing slightly when you ask for more power, but if you drop down a gear (on manual gearbox versions) you'll have the oomph to pass slower cars safely and get up to motorway speeds.

For a bit more power, you can upgrade to a more powerful 156bhp version, which drops the 0-62mph sprint from 10.2 seconds to 9.5 seconds, but it doesn’t feel noticeably faster and we’re not sure it’s worth the extra investment. You can, though, add four-wheel drive to that version.

Alternatively, you can swap to the Qashqai e-Power, which gets a 1.5-litre petrol engine that exists solely to charge an electric battery. The battery powers an electric motor that drives the front wheels, giving you instant electric car acceleration but without the need to plug it in to charge. With a 0-62mph sprint of 7.9 seconds, it’s by far the fastest Qashqai – and it feels it.

The Qashqai is available with wheels ranging from 17in to 20in, and the choice you make will have a big impact on ride comfort. We think the sweet spot is with the 18in wheels that come with our favourite N-Connecta trim. With those equipped, the suspension deals with scruffy surfaces at low speeds well and comfort isn’t far behind the Skoda Karoq.

We’d suggest avoiding the 19in and 20in wheels on the higher trims if comfort is important to you. With those larger wheels fitted, the Qashqai makes more of a fuss of bumps as they pass under the car, leading to a bit of fidget on faster roads.

If you go for N-Design, Tekna+ trim or equip the top-spec engine with optional four-wheel drive you get more sophisticated suspension that helps to mitigate the effect of the larger wheels.

Nissan would like us to believe that the Qashqai is fun to drive. We’re not convinced about that, because it's not as rewarding or capable as some rival family SUVs including the Seat Ateca and Toyota C-HR.

We’d like a slightly better sense of connection with the front wheels through the steering wheel to give more confidence. That would be helped by a bit more initial steering weight and the wheel returning naturally to centre more positively on the way out of faster corners. That said, the light steering works well around town.

While there's more body lean than in the Ateca, the Qashqai isn't wallowy, and there's a healthy reserve of grip if you need it.

Refined is good for the most part, with the Qashqai producing very little wind and road noise, while all its engines are more muted than the Ateca and Karoq petrols when worked hard. Less impressive is the slight thump that the 19in and 20in wheel produce through potholes and sharper bumps – the 18in wheels are much better.

The standard six-speed manual gearbox is easy enough to use, giving a light yet positive change that makes it simple to find the right gear. The DIG-T 158 engine is also available with an automatic gearbox that's smooth and responsive enough for most situations.

The e-Power system has a couple of specific advantages, not just over other Qashqais but over many other hybrid cars. The electric motor doesn’t require a gearbox so you never need to worry about it hunting for gears like the hybrid Kia Sportage does when you put your foot down. Plus, the electric motor’s power delivery is consistently smooth and the engine remains hushed as it charges the battery.

“The automatic gearbox, called Xtronic, is smooth and I found it helps to contribute to impressive refinement.” – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

The driving position in the Nissan Qashqai is superb. The driver's seat is comfy, and lines up well with the pedals and steering wheel (which is height and reach adjustable). All versions except entry-level Acenta Premium have electrically adjustable lumbar support, while Tekna and Tekna+ models add full electric adjustment. The Tekna+ even has seat memory settings and a massage function.

You feel as though you’re sitting higher up from the road than you do in a conventional hatchback (or the Seat Ateca for that matter), which is something most SUV fans will appreciate.

The dashboard includes chunky controls for the air conditioning that are easy to find while you’re driving. If you go for N-Connecta trim or above, the 7in digital driver's display and analogue instrument dials are replaced with a 12.3in digital driver's display that's bright and easy to read. Tekna and Tekna+ get a 10.8in head-up display.

Seeing out of the front and sides of the Qashqai isn’t too tricky, although the Skoda Karoq has slightly less obstructive windscreen pillars. That rival also gives you better rear visibility, thanks to its generous rear glass area.

In fact, like many other rivals, the Qashqai has a swept-up rear window line and wider rear pillars, which hamper the over-the-shoulder view. Luckily, parking isn’t too much of a challenge because every Qashqai gets rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera, while going for N-Connecta trim or above swaps that for a 360-degree bird’s eye view camera and adds front parking sensors.

All versions have LED headlights, and they're adaptive on N-Design, Tekna and Tekna+ trim and above, so you can leave them on high beam without dazzling other drivers.

Every Qashqai now comes with a new 12.3in infotainment touchscreen, which is a little more polished than its previous infotainment systems.

Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring are standard across the range, while all but the entry-level trim also come with Google Maps, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built in, which means the sat-nav app and voice command function are impressively easy and helpful to use. 

The graphics (especially for the sat-nav map) are sharp but there are quite a few sub-menus to sift through when looking for certain functions. It’s certainly one of the better systems from Nissan, but we still find the Mazda CX-5’s system a bit easier to use when driving because that car comes with a physical rotary controller.

The Qashqai’s interior looks smart and feels well put together compared with many of its mainstream rivals'.

Stitched faux-leather panels on the dashboard and doors give the ambience a welcome lift, there’s a big choice of ambient interior lighting colour on all but the entry-level trim, and most of the knobs, buttons and switches on the dashboard feel well-engineered.

The Karoq is just as good, while the Mazda CX-30 and Peugeot 3008 are even more upmarket inside (although the margins aren’t huge). Indeed, if you want a family SUV that has a notably plusher interior, you’ll need to fork out for a BMW X1 or Volvo XC40.

“While the new infotainment system is an improvement over the old one, I still found myself relying on Apple CarPlay to get around the multiple menus of the native system.” – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

There’s decent space for adults in the front of the Nissan Qashqai, with more than enough leg room and enough head room for six-footers to sit in comfort. That’s true even if you go for models with a panoramic glass roof (standard on N-Design and Tekna), which eats into head room a bit.

The interior is a good width, meaning that even a pair of broad rugby players won’t need to worry about constantly rubbing shoulders.

Storage wise, you’ll find a reasonable-sized glovebox, a cubby beneath the front centre armrest and a couple of cupholders. The front door bins are not particularly generous though.

Getting in and out of the Qashqai's back seats is easy thanks to rear doors that open really wide. That's also a blessing if you’re putting kids in child seats.

The rear seats are reasonably roomy by family SUV standards. Two six-footers will fit just fine, with good head room (especially if you avoid versions with a panoramic roof) and a fair amount of knee room and foot space for the two outer passengers. 

Three tall adults will find it more of a squeeze and the raised centre seat means there's less head room for the middle passenger. There’s also a wide hump in the middle of the floor. As a result, the Kia Sportage, Seat Ateca and Skoda Karoq will all be better if you regularly have three adults in the back.

The Qashqai's rear seatbacks fold down in a traditional 60/40 split rather than the more versatile 40/20/40 split offered by rivals including the Audi Q3.

The seats don’t do anything else clever, such as sliding back and forth or reclining. Some versions of the Skoda Karoq offer those features, and even let you remove the rear seats entirely.

There are no handles in the Qashqai's boot to release the rear seatbacks, which you do get with some rivals, including the Seat Ateca. You have to open each rear door to access a release catch on top of the seatback then haul the seatback forwards yourself.

Boot space depends which trim level you go for, with the Acenta Premium giving you 504 litres, N-Connecta and Tekna 479 litres and the others 455 litres. That makes the even largest boot slightly smaller than the Ateca’s and around 20 litres shy of the Karoq.

In more relatable terms, though, we still managed to fit seven carry-on suitcases below the parcel shelf of the smallest Qashqai boot. That’s one less than the Ateca and two behind the Karoq.

Helpfully, one side of the false floor is carpeted, but if you flip it over you’ll find a wipe-clean surface that’s handy if you’re carrying muddy boots. The floor is in two sections, and you can slot it vertically across the centre of the boot to create a divider to stop your shopping sliding around.

“The Tekna+ loses some boot space due to its upgraded Bose stereo system, so bear that in mind when deciding between the higher trims (and avoid it on the options list, if you need more boot space).” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Broadly speaking, the mild-hybrid Nissan Qashqais are priced in line with the Kia Sportage, the Seat Ateca and the Skoda Karoq. Opting for the e-Power version adds a small premium but the entry-level e-Power still costs about the same as a Sportage hybrid in its cheapest trim.

When it comes to running costs, in our Real MPG tests an earlier version of the DIG-T 158 averaged 40.1mpg – a respectable if not outstanding figure. Official figures suggest that the DIG-T 140 is slightly less frugal than the 158, while the e-Power’s hybrid system will manage up to 53.3mpg. 

If you’re hunting for a company car that attracts low benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax bills, we’d suggest looking at a plug-in hybrid such as the BYD Seal U-DMi or, if your lifestyle allows, an electric SUV such as the Skoda Enyaq.

Entry-level Acenta Premium is pretty well equipped, coming with keyless ignition, dual-zone climate control, automatic windscreen wipers and automatic LED headlights.

Even so, we think that N-Connecta is the one to go for. As well as 18in wheels and extra visibility aids you also get wireless charging, rear privacy glass, ambient interior lighting and the other bits we’ve mentioned.

Above that, N-Design, Tekna and Tekna+ all bring lots of extra equipment, including even larger wheels, an electric tailgate, a head-up display, a heated steering wheel and heated seats, but they’re all a little too expensive to recommend.

In the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey the Qashqai performed pretty well against its peers in the family SUV table, finishing within the top half of the rankings, but below the Volvo XC40 and Kia Sportage.

Nissan as a brand didn’t perform anywhere near as well, claiming 28th place out of the 31 included manufacturers. That places it below Citroen, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Skoda, Ford and Seat.

In case things do go wrong, Nissan offers a three-year/ 60,000-mile standard warranty, but that’s pretty par for the course. Hyundai, Kia and Toyota all offer longer warranties.

The latest Qashqai scored five stars out of five when it was appraised for safety by Euro NCAP in 2021. The results show that the model did well at protecting adults and children, scoring highly in all areas.

There’s plenty of standard safety kit, with even entry-level Acenta Premium models coming with automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, traffic-sign recognition, lane-keeping assistance and e-Call emergency response.

If you go for the e-Power or the more expensive Tekna or Tekna+ trims, you get Nissan’s ProPilot driver assistance system. That adds a self-steering function that allows the Qashqai to keep itself in the centre of a lane on motorways and dual carriageways (you must keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times). When paired with an automatic gearbox it uses software from the sat-nav to anticipate the speed you should be going and adjust it for you.

“The Qashqai’s head-up display is great. It’s a shame it’s only fitted as standard to Tekna and Tekna+ models, but even so, you’d still have to pay extra for it in an equivalent Honda HR-V.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

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