A sneak peek drive of Nissan’s next-gen X-Trail

FUKUOKA, Japan—There is a saying that men would rather drive around lost for hours than ask for directions. Nowhere was that more true than when C! Magazine’s Ardie Lopez and I drove the 2015 Nissan X-Trail in its natural habitat in Japan.

The car actually had a state-of-the-art navigation system, but the text and the voice prompts were all in Japanese. We couldn’t even figure out if the system had an English setting buried among all the Japanese characters on the screen.

It took us an hour to catch up with the rest of the convoy composed of journalists from ASEAN countries. And all because the car we were following missed entering a crucial freeway ramp.

But the experience did make us bond with the new X-Trail even better. Here is a vehicle that has a huge load on its shoulders. It will no less than make or break Nissan’s fortunes here in the Philippines. We are, after all, crazy over SUVs. And even if the new Altima is a slick piece of work, the midsize executive sedan is pretty much Camry territory here. Ditto the equally capable Sylphy, which finds itself in perhaps the most competitive class of overachieving compact sedans.

But the X-Trail, which started deliveries in Japan last December, has the potential to do what the Montero Sport did for Mitsubishi here—make people beat a path to the dealership and line up for one. For one thing, it looks the part. Gone is the tall and boxy silhouette of its 2nd-generation predecessor (the boxy shape of the 1st-gen X-Trail sold well but had worn out its welcome by the time the 2nd-gen model—which looked too much like the old one—came out in 2011.  In its place is a much more rounded design that features distinctive cutlines in the side windows and curvaceous sweeps on the fenders. It presents a bold front end with Nissan’s signature V-shaped grille bracketed by expressive headlamps with LED daytime running lamps. It has a much more compelling and upscale-looking visage compared not just to its predecessor, but even to its contemporaries.

Most importantly, it’s substantially bigger than before. In fact, it seems a half size bigger than its CR-V/RAV 4/Tucson compact rivals and a mere half size smaller than the midsized Fortuner and Montero Sport. The increase in size (length, width, height, and wheelbase) translates to gobs of interior room—and even an optional third-row seat (ingeniously concealed under the cargo area floor when not in use) for 7-passenger seating.

The sumptuous all-black leather interior wouldn’t look out of place in an Audi. Nissan has always had the knack for making interiors that are a step above the competition in terms of level of luxury, build quality, and fit and finish—and the new X-Trail easily lives up to this. It’s a particularly hushed environment, and you wonder how much NVH (noise/vibration/harshness) suppression the company employed to make it almost as quiet and refined as an Altima. I particularly liked the new Spinal Support seats that definitely helped reduce fatigue in our four-hour drive through city streets, freeways, and mountain passes.

A solid and rigid body likewise takes much credit for this—which also results in a supple ride and responsive handling. It’s not as razor-sharp as a BMW X3, but it’s certainly more pliant over road imperfections—a boon in our poor metro streets. If anything, it’s easily a match for its Japanese competition, if not noticeably superior.

The 3rd-gen X-Trail is powered by Nissan’s butter-smooth MR20DD direct-injection petrol engine which develops 147ps at 6,000 rpm and a generous 207 Nm of torque at 4,400 rpm. It’s mated to Nissan’s XTRONIC CVT, which then transmits the power to all four wheels via Nissan’s state-of-the-art ALL MODE 4x4-i system. It also boasts a suite of advanced chassis control technologies, several of which have been adopted as world-firsts. Combined with other features that help improve fuel efficiency, the new X-Trail delivers best-in-class fuel economy of 16.4 km /L in Japan’s standard fuel economy rating system.

A notable cutting-edge feature is Emergency Brake, adopted by Nissan for the first time, and which is one of several features which complement the X-Trail’s Around View Monitor with the look-ma-no-hands Intelligent Parking Assist. We saw a first-hand demonstration of the latter feature, which differs from current Park Assist features in other cars in that the X-Trail’s version enables it to park automatically and perpendicularly into a parking slot. Current Park Assist features only work for parallel parking. Other features include Hill Start Assist, Advance Hill Descent Control, Yaw Moment Control, Active Ride Control, Active Engine Brake, Cornering Stability Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Warning, and Driver Attention Alert.

But while these high-tech chassis control features are useful in extreme driving, it’s a more down-to-earth technology that many new X-Trail users will appreciate every day. It’s the Intelligent Key-activated hands-free rear tailgate that opens when you wave a hand or object near the tailgate-mounted sensor—a boon when you’re holding objects in your hands.

The X-Trail is made in Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Kyushu, which will be the export base when the model lands on Philippine shores—perhaps sooner than you think.