Nissan Qashqai Prestige Facelift Review: Tasty Fusion

What we like:

Attractive design

Punchy - if you are on the power band

What we dislike:

Reasonably comfy interior with good UX

Not very fuel efficient

CVT lag is discernible

The Qashqai looks as Japanese as they come, especially with the facelifted version presented here. It wouldn’t look out of place along the glittery streets of Ginza, with the bold new front design. The rear is less of a change, but overall the Qashqai does look very attractive.

Little would anyone suspect though that underneath its bonnet sits an European engine. Shared with Renault and Mercedes, the 1.3-litre turbo petrol is unusually peppy for the segment, developing 156 bhp and 270 Nm. But unlike its counterparts, Nissan pairs it with a CVT gearbox.

Mechanically, nothing discernable has changed compared to the pre-facelift model. The Qashqai is surprisingly torquey, but it isn’t delivered in a linear fashion. Instead, it comes in one huge wave after the CVT catches on to your intention. This takes getting used to, but there’s no doubting the Qashqai’s pace. All that zippiness does affect its fuel consumption though. After our test drive, we clocked in at around 9.5 km/l - given that it’s a mild-hybrid drivetrain, I expected better.

At least Nissan kept the Qashqai up-to-date on the safety front. Blind spot warning, lane departure warning and rear cross traffic alert are now all standard in whatever trim you choose, which is an upgrade from its predecessor.

If you opt for the higher Prestige trim, you will get intelligent lane intervention and rear automatic emergency braking. That’s not all as you get a bunch of other goodies too, like LED sequential turn indicators, 19-inch rims, electric and memory seat for the driver and suede elements in the interior.

The Qashqai presents well inside and out but it’s a really tough environment right now for cars of its type. Given that the market has shifted significantly towards hybrids and electric cars, the Qashqai arguably would have been more competitive had it been offered as an e-POWER model instead. Sadly, that would have bumped up its already sharp price even higher.

Photos by James Wong

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