Review of the 2018 Nissan Qashqai Crossover

If Nissan’s strategists are sure of anything, it’s that Canadian motorists love sport utility vehicles. Since 2011, they have introduced no fewer than six of them, of different sizes and vocations, to meet the needs of various types of buyers. 

The Qashqai was launched in 2017 as a central part of Nissan’s plan to capture as much of the utility-model market as possible, and it has certainly made a splash! In just one year, it has become Nissan’s second-best seller across Canada. At the end of April, it overtook the Murano, and it is currently outperformed only by the omnipotent Rogue, the brand’s most popular model since 2012. This year the model took home our Auto123.com award as 2018 Subcompact SUV of the Year.

In a sign of the times, Nissan’s power trio of utility models combined to generate 55% of the company’s sales during the first quarter of 2018. Just 10 years ago, the Nissan lineup included only two ‘utes… 

Better than a compact car?

In Nissan’s view, the popularity of the Qashqai is related to the advantages it offers in comparison with a compact car, for example the Sentra. In many respects, this is undeniably true. Higher ground clearance (187 mm for the Qashqai, 161 for the Sentra) gives the driver a higher seating position, often cited as one of the prime factors that fueled the rise of SUVs. In addition, its modifiable trunk accessible via a large hatchback (which happens to be very easy to lift) confers great versatility on the model; no sedan can hope to compete with that, what with the constraints imposed by the regular car trunk. Take a look at the cargo capacities of the two models: the Sentra’s trunk provides 428 litres of usable space, while the Qashqai starts at 563 litres and climbs as high as 1,730 depending on the deployment of the rear bench, which can be folded down in split fashion.

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