SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We try the 2013 version of Nissan’s 2.0-litre Qashqai +2 extended-family bus

For families with wanderlust

Posted on 21 January 2013

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday January 23, 2013

Families and businesses looking for something short of a maxi taxi but bigger than the usual five-seat bus apparently feel overlooked: “But what is there?” they ask. Only 40 possibilities we counted plus model variants, that’s what. They range in price from about R265 000 to over a million.

Nissan makes four of them; Grand Livina, Pathfinder, Primastar and Qashqai +2. We got reacquainted with the 2.0-litre Qashqai +2, seater of seven, in Acenta trim, recently. Dealing with the details first, there is no 4x4 and no diesel, nor is there an automatic. Only two engines are offered – a 1600 and the 2.0-litre – and there are just two trim levels. That’s Visia for the little one and Acenta for the more powerful version.

The odd-sounding model name comes from a Turkic-speaking tribe of semi-nomads inhabiting the hills of south-western Iran, so Nissan hopes the car will appeal to families with wanderlust, seeking new vistas beyond ever-extending horizons. They decided to use the Japanese home market name, Dualis, in Australia though. Those Aussies talk funny and Qashqai might have come out sounding like “cash cow.”

To turn a plain Qashqai into a plus-two, Nissan extended its wheelbase by 135 mm and stretched the body 211 mm longer. Then they added a pair of chairs that fold individually down into the boot floor. Apart from the greater comfort offered by the longer wheelbase, buyers gain a useful 40 litres of luggage space when it’s in normal five-seat mode.

Differentiating Acentas from Visias are rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, automatic climate control, six airbags rather than four, six gears instead of five, alloy wheels, vehicle dynamic control, fog lights in front, cruise control, smarter cloth on the seats and leather covering for the gear knob and steering wheel.

Standard equipment on both versions includes disc brakes front and rear with ABS, EBD and BA, power windows all ‘round, powered mirrors, rear fog lamps, child proof locks and ISOFix anchorages, roof rails, a radio and CD player with Bluetooth, USB and auxiliary and an on-board computer. Suspension is by means of McPherson struts in front and an independent multilink setup at the back.

It may be a few years old and last facelifted in 2010, but Qashqai is still worth putting on your shopping list. The engine revs freely and pulls strongly, cruising at about 3100 rpm at 120 km/h in top gear. Ride quality is excellent; better than most over speed humps and very comfortable on dirt. Its 200 mm ground clearance is more than on some SUVs, providing reassurance when the going gets rough.

Interior trim is a pleasant mix of hard and soft surfaces, with a minimum of texture changes and is nicely fitted. The mechanically adjustable seats are comfortable while being more supportive than those in your average family bus. Controls are generally well laid out and work well, although it is a slight stretch to the odd-numbered gears and the parking brake is sited for left hand drive – not too far over, but a conscious reach. It is also a good idea to make sure the sliding armrest is pushed back before using the brake, because it gets in the way.

Pedals are comfortably spaced and there is enough room for big left feet to get past the clutch pedal and down to the resting pad on the floor. The view outward, despite the coupé-like styling of the rear side windows, is acceptable while the rear window is big enough to see what’s coming up from behind.

Briefly, despite its apparent lack of power according to the spec sheet, this Qashqai performs very willingly and gives an excellent account of itself both in city traffic and on the open road. It is also very spacious and supremely comfortable. The mother of your children might just “accidentally” hide the keys from you over weekends as well, unless you beg nicely.

Test unit courtesy of Nissan SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R327 050
Engine: 1997 cc, four-cylinder, petrol
Power: 102 kW at 5200 rpm
Torque: 198 Nm at 4400 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 193 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10,6 l/100 km
Tank: 65 litres
Luggage: 130/450/1520 litres
EuroNCAP: 5 stars
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/90 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals


What We Do

 This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.


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