Overview
NISSAN has launched its refreshed Qashqai SUV vary to native showrooms this week, the MY25 replace seeing a substantial change in styling and connectivity.
Priced from $34,665 plus on-road prices – and with an introductory value of $32,665 till April 30 – the Hyundai Kona and Toyota Corolla Cross rival brings no change to the mannequin’s tried and examined mechanical package deal.
Importantly, the grade stroll for the MY25 Nissan Qashqai now extra carefully resembles that of the bigger X-Path: The entry ST grade is unchanged, however the ST+ turns into the ST-L, the ST-L the Ti, and the Ti the Ti-L.
The vary is topped by the addition of the trendy N-Design e-Energy, one among two petrol-electric grades provided throughout the Qashqai vary.
The N-Design grade is characterised by body-coloured sill and wheel arche trims, 20-inch alloy wheels, gloss black wing mirror scalps, and blackened roof rails.
These modifications be a part of broader updates together with a placing three-dimensional grille, new LED headlights and DRLs, Tremendous Pink tail-lights with clear lenses, and a bevy of grade-specific alloy wheels starting from 17- to twenty inches in diameter.
Three new paint colors be a part of the Qashqai palette: Pearl White, Black Onyx, and Deep Ocean. A black-painted roof is on the market on Ti grades and above.
Transferring inside, Nissan says the Qashqai’s cabin has been “enhanced to ship an upscale atmosphere” with new patterned finishes adorning the centre management and ornamental insert between the higher dashboard and glovebox.
On larger trim grades we discover the appliance of Alcantara inserts on the dashboard, door card inlays, door armrests, centre console lid, and front-seat knee pads.
Upholstery is likewise refreshed with the N-Design grade adopting Alcantara and artificial leather-based mixture seating materials.
Nissan now provides the Qashqai vary with ambient LED lighting on Ti grades and above and a bigger 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity for all variants.
Additional, related automobile providers and the Nissan Join app give homeowners “immediate entry to their automobile, with the power to entry key well being and standing data, journey historical past and any automobile disturbances, together with theft and tow alert” through their cell phone.
Underneath the bonnet, the 2025 Nissan Qashqai retains the previous mannequin’s selection of a 110kW/250Nm 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and repeatedly variable transmission or petrol-electric e-Energy unit comprising 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with energy generator, inverter and electrical motor. Complete system energy for the latter is 140kW/330Nm.
Nissan provides the Qashqai vary with a 10-year/300,000km guarantee together with roadside help and flat value servicing bundle. Service intervals are set at 12 months or 15,000km (whichever comes first) and priced at $399 per go to.
Driving Impressions
We’ve coated the complicated workings of Nissan’s e-Energy vary intimately earlier than, so we’ll spare you the main points, for those who don’t thoughts; remembering in fact there is no such thing as a change to the petrol or petrol-electric drivelines of the brand new Qashqai, its chassis, proportions, or value.
The MY25 makeover is all about styling and know-how, as coated above. Which implies in a nutshell that the Qashqai is not any completely different to drive … effectively, at the very least that’s the idea.
In observe, it’s an improved model of its former self – a good-looking and well-finished five-seat Small phase SUV that deserves to promote much better than it does in our humble opinion.
Why? Effectively, for starters, the Qashqai is a fantastically completed contender that shames practically all its Japanese compatriots, excluding maybe the Honda HR-V.
Additionally it is impressively quiet, aided by elevated noise suppression supplies within the firewall and intelligent noise cancelling know-how, and deftly agile in a method that doesn’t compromise journey.
That mentioned, the 20-inch wheel and tyre combo could be a little agency on unbroken surfaces.
Tools inclusions are beneficiant and security above par. On the time of testing in 2022 (remembering the MY25 Qashqai is a facelift and never an all-new mannequin), the Qashqai scored one among ANCAP’s greatest outcomes on file for baby occupant safety and security help know-how. ISOFIX and top-tether baby seat restraints are customary on all grades.
Furthermore, that security know-how isn’t overly bothersome or intrusive. On an prolonged drive program by Melbourne’s northern suburbs and picturesque Yarra Valley, the Qashqai’s ADAS tech carried out exceptionally effectively, confused solely by poor lane markings and crumbling highway edges that will problem even the very best in market.
The Qashqai’s connectivity and infotainment tech is fairly straightforward to make use of too, though the newly launched related automobile providers are just a little outdated hat. With restricted performance compared with others within the phase it stays helpful however just isn’t as characteristic wealthy as we might have preferred. Nonetheless, kudos to Nissan for providing it right here with out jacking up the worth.
We discovered the Qashqai acquainted and comfy, the entrance seats generously proportioned for a Small SUV phase automobile, and with each pleasant ergonomics and first rate outward imaginative and prescient. Supportive seats provide a degree of refinement to a package deal that appears larger within the entrance and cargo space than within the rear – although if rear legroom is a matter, there’s at all times the X-Path for not far more cash.
Cargo area is attention-grabbing in that it reduces incrementally in larger trim grades. Qashqai ST and ST-L provide 504 litres with the 60:40 rear seats in place, Ti and Ti-L petrol variants 479 litres, and Ti-L and N-Design e-Energy variants 452 and 404 litres respectively. Nonetheless, it’s much more beneficiant than the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross (380 litres) or Hyundai Kona (407 litres).
The battery of the e-Energy duo accounts for a few of the distinction in cargo capability, although it’s price remembering these variants don’t include a spare wheel. All informed, cargo area ranges from 1328 to 1447 litres, whereas braked towing capability jumps dramatically from 750kg in e-Energy fashions to a extra helpful 1500kg in petrol grades.
A turning circle of 11.1m isn’t as tight as a few of the Qashqai’s rivals, however is complemented by sweetly weighted and responsive steering, and in larger grades semi-autonomous parking help.
We discovered the efficiency of the petrol Qashqai each linear and responsive, however not practically as spectacular because the e-Energy grades. The extra 30kW and 80Nm actually provides the Qashqai e-Energy some sparkle on the open highway, effortlessly returning to the 100km/h restrict after slowing for townships and tackling hills with out elevating a sweat.
The front-driven format is calm and doesn’t tug on the ‘wheel (torque steer) in the best way a few of the Qashqai’s lesser rivals can. The automobile’s dynamics are correct and effectively acquitted, the physique management distinctive for a automobile that doesn’t declare to be “sporty”. Whereas the journey can really feel a contact agency, it nonetheless delivers a cushty journey we expect only a few would contemplate harsh.
On the gasoline financial system entrance – and noting the Qashqai’s want for 95RON or larger premium unleaded, we had been impressed to search out the consumption actuality lived as much as the declare. Nissan quotes a 6.1 litre per 100km Mixed cycle utilization charge for ST and ST-L grades, 5.8L/100km in high-grade ICE grades, and 4.8L/100km for e-Energy grades.
On check, we achieved excessive six-litre figures within the petrol Ti-L and low five-litre numbers within the N-Design e-Energy. With the Qashqai’s 55-litre gasoline tank, that ought to return petrol homeowners a driving vary of round 785km and petrol-electric homeowners 1050km – a pity then the e-Energy Qashqai duo is a lot dearer than its closest rivals…
Even so, we actually take pleasure in driving the Qashqai and stay impressed by its refinement and ‘premiumness’.
In that respect, it’s a automobile that could be a far nearer match to the likes of the Honda HR-V and Renault Arkana than it’s a Hyundai Kona or Toyota Corolla Cross, which Nissan tells us displays the preferences of most Qashqai patrons (who appear to favor the best grades nearly solely).
Whether or not that continues in a toughening financial local weather stays to be seen, however if in case you have the coin, we expect you would definitely do far worse. In our view, the Qashqai is a ripper little automobile that deserves to promote much better than it does.
Maybe the new-look and added tech will assist it discover its potential.
