Nissan X-TRAIL Station Wagon 2001 - Present

The X-trail is Nissan's 'Soft Roader', cars designed to look as if they're going to spend a while off road but never get any closer to nature than the school field. It lines up against the Land Rover Freelander and the Toyota Rav 4, and the Nissan more than holds it's own, only really playing second fiddle to the Freelander.

In the unlikely event that the car is taken off road it is more than capable of handling even the most hostile terrain. A surprisingly easy to drive for a large 4x4 X-trail is confident and stable on the road. It can be a little unsteady on the motorway at speed, owing to it's size but so are many of it's contepmorories. The steering gives good feel at speeds which makes for a nice driving experience but unfortunately it make it quite heavy when in town and especially when parking.

There are a number of different engine options. It's probably worth forgetting the 2.0 litre as it offers poor fuel economy and too little power. The 2.5 litre petrol engine offers good power, although the same poor fuel figures (30 mpg), but the pick of the bunch is the 2.2 litre turbo diesel which boasts 134 bhp and 39 mpg.

Inside passenges are treated to great seats with both leg and head room aplenty. There is room for four to travel in comfort and not worry too much when they pick up another passenger. The ride noise can be a minor irritation but that can be put out of their minds with the standard delivery CD player and audio system.

The X-trail hasn't quite scaled top of this mountain yet but the Land Rover can feel it's breath on it's back window.

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