After six months, 10,000km and one new tyre, sadly it’s time handy the little Nissan Qashqai e-Energy again.
Simply as we stated it could in November, once we printed our long-term evaluate introduction a month after taking supply, the small hybrid SUV made dozens of journeys to the Lang Lang proving floor in the course of the time we had been custodians of it, a circa-200km spherical journey every time.
Other than the lack of a front-right tyre to considered one of Victoria’s devious potholes, it proved itself to be a reliable and cozy freeway cruiser – one thing that got here as a shock given its on-paper credentials.
It additionally featured as our “police automotive” within the video the place we in contrast Waze, Google Maps and a automotive’s speedometer to a police-spec laser. Whereas it wasn’t seen in full very a lot, it was the right automotive for the job.
With a totally charged battery, the Qashqai was in a position to sit silently, working the heated seats (we’ve obtained to maintain Paul comfy, in spite of everything) and powering the laser through its 12V inside outlet.
WATCH: Paul’s video evaluate of the 2023 Nissan Qashqai Ti
It was additionally the service of our car-to-car monitoring digital camera for dozens of movies you could have watched. After we movie on the proving floor, we all the time do a lap of the monitor with a digital camera mounted on a monitoring automotive to get some shifting pictures for the video.
The Qashqai did a strong job, offering a clean base because of comfy suspension, and ample energy to have the ability to sustain with even a few of the sports activities vehicles we filmed.
The rear storage is one other shock with the Qashqai. Regardless of being classed as a small SUV, it has sufficient room within the boot for all the filming gear we stock to a shoot.
Usually, that consists of a big suitcase (the notorious pink ‘Subscribe’ suitcase you could have spied in a reverse digital camera), a big Pelican case, tripods, a slab of water and a choice of different unfastened objects.
WATCH: Google Maps vs Waze vs speedo: Which finest avoids a rushing high-quality?
I might usually put the rear seats down, simply to make accessing issues simpler as soon as a shoot begins. Nevertheless, you possibly can match all of it behind the second row if stacked accurately.
The not so good
That stated, now the unhealthy. The seats, whereas comfy, should not good for Australian summers.
The leather-based on them turns right into a glue-like substance on a sizzling day, and after working round filming on the proving floor with a digital camera within the parts, the very last thing I wish to do is sit in them as a result of I do know I’ll should peel myself off them.
They do have perforations within the inserts however there’s no cooling operate. Nissan in the event you’re studying this please add cooling. In reality, for any producer studying this, ventilated seats must be normal in Australia.
The opposite adverse is the infotainment system. Its touchscreen is massive at 12.3 inches, however the digital camera imaginative and prescient is nearly ineffective until you’re in excellent lighting circumstances. Mounting a GoPro on the again and connecting to my cellphone for reside viewing would offer a greater digital camera.
In my long-term introduction in regards to the Qashqai, I spoke about Apple CarPlay points. This appears to have solely gotten worse; past the drop-outs by way of toll gantries that causes prolonged lag, a brand new concern has developed…
If you happen to get into the automotive and switch it on and drive, wi-fi Apple CarPlay will join and work high-quality. Nevertheless, in the event you do a few quick drives – for instance working errands – and you end up out and in of the automotive, CarPlay will typically disconnect and never come again, no matter what you do. Even plugging in through a cable doesn’t work.
I discovered the one technique to repair it was to fully disconnect and delete the automotive from my cellphone and my cellphone from the automotive, then reconnect to rectify. This isn’t one thing I’ve had with different long-term automobiles I’ve frolicked in.
Ultimately, I gave up on wi-fi CarPlay and simply reverted to wired, which principally solved the problems. However generally the ghost gantries nonetheless trigger drop-outs.
It could appear to be a minor factor, however when your cellphone drops out and you’ll’t reconnect, and also you’re travelling by way of a brand new place, it may be a catastrophe.
Trip high quality and dealing with dynamics are nice, however 95 per cent of the time I used to be on cruise management on a motorway anyway, so getting the infotainment proper issues to me.
Hopefully that’s one thing Nissan has fastened with the just lately launched Qashqai facelift. Sure, you’ll discover our check automobile right here is the pre-update MY24 Nissan Qashqai Ti e-Energy, however the drivetrain and underpinnings stays the identical.
Travelling with the Qashqai
I’ll preface this part by saying this journey wasn’t an enormous journey, however it was insightful for the way the Qashqai e-Energy behaves on the open street.
On a weekend journey from Melbourne to Ballarat, a spherical journey of about 400km from my home, I anticipated the gasoline financial system to be horrible. It isn’t an extended drive, however it’s tortuous on a motorcar. Numerous hills, a number of elevation modifications and, sure, a number of velocity zone variations – good gasoline financial system’s worst nightmare.
However I used to be very stunned by the end result. On the finish of the journey it had averaged 4.9L/100km. Given you possibly can’t management the engine velocity within the e-Energy and the small 2.1kWh battery isn’t designed for lengthy distance journeys, it is a nice end result.
The most effective distance I ever obtained from a full tank was 981km, when my common velocity was 67km/h and the automotive indicated consumption of 5.2L/100km, which continues to be superb. So protecting greater than 1000km a tank is properly throughout the realms of risk.
Nevertheless, the ergonomics of the Qashqai automotive aren’t fairly as properly designed for long-distance driving. The seats begin to develop into a bit stiff and sticky after a few hours – one thing that may very well be fastened with a air flow operate…
And the tyres, whereas designed to be economical, are noisy. When you hit coarse-chip roadways outdoors of the town, they develop into very droney and require a moderately dramatic enhance in music quantity to drown the sound out.
Conversely, the suspension is surprisingly comfy. The Qashqai rides the bumps and dips of regional roads properly and all the time feels prefer it’s sustaining its composure. Cruising at 110km/h on the open street isn’t its pure habitat, however the Nissan will gladly do all of it day.
It should be stated that in the event you loaded the Qashqai up with 4 adults, this could be a special story – however for 2 folks and their baggage, this automotive actually hits the mark. It additionally appears to be like nice in blue!
Total, nevertheless, I believe the e-Energy system might use some work. It’s an amazing, distinctive powertrain idea, and with some improvement it may very well be a correct Toyota Hybrid rival. Nevertheless it wants an even bigger battery and a extra refined, and extra economical, engine to make it work rather well – maybe the next-gen e-Energy system due in 2026 will repair that too.
Nonetheless, any automotive that may journey 1000km between fills is doing fairly darn good.
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