Ever had that one friend in school, who was rather unassuming and stayed out of the spotlight? But as they got older, they suddenly had, as the kids say these days, quite the glow-up.

Sound familiar? Well, the Nissan Qashqai is the textbook representation of that. Just take a look at its predecessors, and perhaps you’ll understand why.

Are Looks Everything? Possibly

With this all-new third generation Qashqai, Nissan went on a completely different design tangent. Compared to the previous iterations, the third generation is perhaps one of the best looking entrants in its class.

At first glance, the Qashqai immediately came across as a baby X-Trail. The front fascia presented itself with a bold and aggressive design, sleek lines for its headlights, and lastly accentuated with an angular strip for its daytime running lights.

Nissan didn’t stray away from the design cues that made the Qashqai easy to live with. With clean lines down the side, a roofline that appears to be visually sloping but still providing plenty of headroom, it’s tied together with an unfussy yet pleasing rear end. Plus, being painted in Magnetic Blue only adds further to its aesthetic appeal.

An Upmarket Interior

No synthetic leather or vinyl here – someone at Nissan decided that it’d be best for the Qashqai to have an interior upholstered mostly in soft nappa leather. With leather this smooth and supple, it really stands out amongst its compact crossover competitors in the interior department.

There’s a noticeable difference to your user experience with the car as a result of this material, further enhanced with its diamond-pleated pattern. High touch points around the cabin like the door cards, arm rest and dashboard are covered in a soft-touch material.

This provides a firm yet pleasant sensation to the touch. The steering wheel is also wrapped in soft and smooth material, complimenting the rest of the cabin.

Interior space for passengers is fairly generous too. Three people will fit into the back comfortably, even for longer trips. And even with a driver’s seat set slightly further back, this writer didn’t have any issues fitting behind his own seat. 

Small and Smooth

The Qashqai comes with a 1.3-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that pumps out 156 bhp and 270 Nm of torque. This is coupled to a smooth-shifting continuously variable transmission, sending drive to the front wheels.

For a small displacement powerplant, torque delivery is smooth. There is a healthy wave of torque until the upper bands of the rev range.

The Qashqai comes as standard with a suite of driving aids and safety systems for a smoother and safer drive. Adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning come factory fitted, as well as a 360 degree camera system and a heads-up display.

The heads-up display, besides showing speed and adaptive cruise control information, can also recognise speed limit signs, as well as display navigation information not only from the in-built GPS, but also when connected to Android Auto or Apple Carplay. 

The Qashqai isn’t going to be the most exciting and responsive car to drive, but you already knew this. What it does well, though, is provide a smooth and comfortable daily drive, with space aplenty for passengers. Honestly, is there much more to be asked from that?

There’s Always A But

There is a literal price to pay for this power. The Qashqai does not qualify for Cat A COE, so it is naturally priced higher than its rivals. Which is an issue, seeing that buyers in the compact crossover segment tend to be more price sensitive.

These are the folks that’d opt for the wallet-friendly option, instead of paying for a package that presents better value. But if you have an extra $2,000 to spend a year on depreciation, you’d be blessed with a family-friendly crossover with niceties (in “Prestige” trim as featured) like 19-inch rims, a premium 10-speaker Bose surround sound system, a panoramic glass roof, and a larger 9-inch infotainment screen.

Did we also mention that the car is incredibly practical? It has space for five adults and 504 litres of cargo space. It may cost more than some of its closest competitors, but it definitely feels like more car.

We’d recommend you not leave it out of your shortlist. Go for a test drive, experience it for yourself, and you’ll see why this is possibly a much more desirable product than what its rivals are offering! 

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