Nissan X Trail

The X-Trail has come back after a long gap, and it does look fresh and relevant with modern design bits such as the split headlamp treatment. 

Despite sporting 20-inch alloy rims, the X-Trail somehow manages to get dwarfed by certain SUVs from a segment below. 

Three colour schemes on offer; black, silver and white. While the latter two may look and feel a bit too plain, the black paint scheme attracts quite a bit of attention. 

The rear of the X-Trail might remind you of the Kicks, with a similar bulging tailgate and the treatment of the tail lamps. 

The front seats are genuinely comfortable and hold you very well. However, the same cannot be said about the middle row, as there is a hump below the bench, making it somewhat uncomfortable for taller or larger-built passengers.

There are soft-touch materials on certain areas in the cabin, but a majority of it is all fabric, which, although is more practical given our weather conditions, it does not feel as premium. 

There are obvious signs of cost-cutting; for example the housing of the infotainment screen. The border around the screen pod suggests that there could have been a much larger unit on offer. 

The wood-like finish on the panel near the front armrest looks and feels like it belongs to a car from a lower segment. 

The NVH and sound insulation levels are rather great, and the cabin hardly lets you feel anything. Even tyre noise has been curbed quite well. Only Sport mode makes things a little loud in an otherwise calm and quiet cabin, but it’s not a con for sure.

The fact that a car priced upwards of Rs 45 lakh does not offer ventilated seats or electric seat height adjustment is baffling in current times. 

Another sign of cost-cutting; the ORVMs have an ADAS blind spot monitor sensor placed, but it does not work, and neither has it been highlighted as a feature by Nissan. 

The sound system sounds gets surprisingly rough as you increase the volume, and does not feel on-par for its price.

The 8-inch touch screen, although small, does work rather well and there seemed to be no glitches or lags during our time with the car.

The car felt like a comfortable mile-muncher with two people and a couple of small bags on-board. However, the engine’s capabilities with a full load of passengers and luggage remains untested for now.

The CVT transmission actually does a good job of holding revs in both Standard and Sport modes. 

The engine is very smooth, refined and it also sounds quite nice at higher rpms, especially in Sport mode. 

Despite being low on numbers, the engine is quite responsive and feels more than enough in Standard mode. There is no real need to switch to Sport mode.