2018 Nissan X-TRAIL vs 2019

What's the difference?

Should you buy a 2018 Nissan X-Trail ST-L N-Sport? If you can get your hands on one, then it could be a good option. The X-Trail in general doesn’t set any benchmarks in the mid-size SUV space, but it doesn’t do anything particularly badly, either. I guess that’s why it sells so well.

I would personally choose a Honda CR-V over it, or possibly a Mazda CX-5. But I could also be tempted to wait to see how the new-generation Subaru Forester and Toyota RAV4 models shape up…

Let’s start with the good things. First, visibility all around is excellent – the A-pillars are thin and bend away to give you a better view and the rear windows are large and make parking simple. The X-Trail is also an easy SUV to pilot in car parks, with light and accurate steering and also on the motorway, where it’s big enough to feel secure and planted.

Now, the not so good. The CVT makes the engine drone and the nature of these automatics means acceleration isn’t brisk. Next, the ride is good on a smooth surface, but on Sydney’s patchwork of roads the X-Trail struggled to keep us comfortable with a firm impact felt over even the smallest of bumps.

Nissan has added the N-Sport models to its X-Trail, Pathfinder and 370Z ranges to ‘up the cool factor’ of each of the respective donor cars. But is there anything more uncool than trying to be cool?

Teenage insecurities aside, the X-Trail N-Sport essentially brandishes a black pack over the ST-L model, with 18-inch black alloy wheels (stepping up from 17s on the ST-L), gloss black mirror caps, a lower body kit with dark metallic front and rear bumper finisher and black side skirts, and a dark chrome front grille and black roof rails.

You can have the X-Trail N-Sport in four colours, and none will cost you any extra – 'Diamond Black' (which seems a bit pointless), 'Gun Metallic' (grey), 'Brilliant Silver' or 'Ivory Pearl' (white). 

It’s not the most attractive of the mid-size SUV set to begin with, and the N-Sport model arguably doesn’t make it any prettier, either…

And you don’t get anything else different, and the cabin remains identical - check out the interior pictures for proof.

If minimal changes to the design of a car over the years translates to a better resale value, then the X-Trail should be a winner here, because not much has changed since the 2017 update.

That said, it’s a good-looking SUV that has aged well. I’m talking about its tough exterior, which somehow combines curvy elegance with a powerful stance.

The same can’t be said for its insides, which have dated. There’s the small screen and the analogue instrument cluster, all surrounded by a busy cabin full of buttons when we now live in a world of minimalist, cleanly designed cockpits.

Want to see how the French would design an X-Trail? The Renault Koleos is the French company’s restyled version of its Japanese partner company’s SUV, and it's very different indeed.

The Ti is the top-of-the-range petrol X-Trail and what sets it apart visually from the lower grades are the chrome strips, which skirt under the doors, a panoramic sunroof, LED headlights, 19-inch aluminium-alloy wheels... and that’s it.

The dark tinted windows you can see on our test cars also come on the ST-L grade below, and so do those roof rails and fog lights.

The Ti’s insides don’t look much different from the ST-L’s either (are you starting to get the message here?) with the black leather seats and larger touchscreen.

What are the X-Trail’s dimensions? At just under 4.7m long, 1.8m wide and 1.7m tall the X-Trail is longer than a RAV4, a CX-5 and even a Forester, which makes it a big, mid-sized SUV that’s getting into Hyundai Sant Fe territory, and that bodes well for space inside. 

The X-Trail’s cabin offers one of the roomier spaces in the mid-size segment: it’s a thoughtful cabin, and family buyers will be well served by it.

There is storage for bottles in all four doors, there are cupholders between the front seats and there’s a fold-down centre section of the back seat with cup storage, too (not an armrest, but a small portion that also doubles as a ski-port). There’s a pair of map pockets for those in the back, and good loose item storage up front, with a nice cubby in front of the shifter and a good covered centre bin.

Space in the rear is pretty good for the class, with easily enough room for me - a 183cm human adult man - to sit behind my own driving position very comfortably, with enough leg, head and toe room for long trips, and there’s enough width to the cabin to account for three adults, too.

There are the usual kid seat fittings - ISOFIX and top tether attachment points - and there are rear air-vents too.

While some versions of the X-Trail come with seven seats, the N Sport doesn’t. But it does have sliding second row seats to allow extra boot space or more legroom, depending on your requirements.

The boot is very clever - offering an adjustable false floor system known as 'Divide-n-Hide' that can be configured to suit whatever you’re carrying. The boot space luggage capacity is 565 litres with the back seats up, and that figure increases to 945L with the seats folded down.

There’s a space-saver spare under the boot floor, too. 

As practical as the X-Trail is, it doesn’t feel overly special inside. The flat-bottom steering wheel is sporty and all, and the materials are all of a decent quality… but there’s no real wow-factor to be had here. Even little things like the digital driver info display being really crisp, and the touchscreen multimedia system being more pixelated - they don’t make it feel loveable, even if it is very likeable. 

Practicality has long been the X-Trail’s strength, but in recent times rivals have come out with better packaging and more modern utilities, such as wireless charging and USB ports.

Still, it does have tall, wide-opening doors, which make getting in and out easy, big front seats and great rear legroom (I’m 191cm tall and can sit behind my driving position with about 30mm to spare), plus good storage space in the form of cupholders (two up front and two in the back), door pockets and a deep centre-console storage bin.

Headroom is reduced thanks to the sunroof, which comes standard on the Ti;  it’s also partly due to the theatre-style seating in the second row, which has the passengers sitting high for better visibility. Great for kids, but not for tall adults.

The X-Trail Ti is a five-seater, so if you need seven seats I have good news and bad news, and then good news again. The first good news is that a seven-seat version of the X-Trail can be had in the form of the ST or ST-L, and both cost a lot less than the Ti. The bad news is that those grades don’t come with all the Ti’s features, but the other good news is that this means they don’t have a sunroof, and therefore headroom is great in the second row.

Back to the Ti. For charging and media you have two 12V outlets up front, along with a USB port, and a 12V in the boot.

At this price point we’d like to see more USB ports. The new RAV4 GXL has five USB ports on board, including two in the second row, along with a wireless phone charger up front.

Backseat riders do have directional air vents, though.

The X-Trail does have a big boot – we’re talking 565 litres with the second row in place and 945 litres with those seats folded flat. Keep in mind those aren’t VDA litres, which is what Volkswagen and Mazda use to calculate boot sizes.

The Ti’s list price of $45,040 makes it the second-most expensive X-Trail in the line-up, sitting under the top-of-the-range TL. The thing is, both share the same standard features. Well, the only differences, really, are to do with the engines, which we'll get to below.

Coming standard on the Ti are a seven-inch screen, digital radio, sat nav, dual-zone climate control, heated and power front seats, leather upholstery, roof rails, LED adaptive headlights, a heated steering wheel, auto tailgate with kick-open function, heated rear seats, Bose eight-speaker stereo, panoramic sun roof and 19-inch alloy wheels.

Is it good value? Nope. The X-Trail’s features list hasn’t changed since 2017,  and while there are plenty of great attributes to this SUV, keeping up in terms of in-car tech isn’t one of them. The $38,590 Touring grade of the Mazda CX-5 has an excellent head-up display, plus Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Talking of rivals, there’s also the Renault Koleos Intens X-Tronic, which is a rebadged and restyled ‘Frenchified’ version of the same Nissan SUV, but for $45,990. Then there’s the top of the range Mazda CX-5 GT for $45,890 (it sits above the Touring), the new Toyota RAV4 Cruiser at $44,490, and the top-spec Subaru Forester at just $41,490.

The last three SUVs have especially moved the benchmark forward in terms of tech and features, leaving the X-Trail behind.

The X-Trail ST-L N-Sport models are available only with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 126kW of power and 226Nm of torque. Those aren’t huge numbers, but it gets the job done just fine.

For the N-Sport model you can choose between the 2WD or 4WD model, the latter featuring Nissan’s intelligent shift-on-the-fly system, which will apportion torque between the front and rear axles as needed - but it’s a front-biased system.

Both the 2WD and 4WD models come with a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Towing capacity for X-Trail models with the 2.5-litre engine is 750 kilograms for an un-braked trailer and 1500kg for a braked trailer.

You know how I said the X-Trail Ti has the same features as the TL but for less money? Well the reason is the engine – the Ti is a petrol and the TL is a diesel. Both are all-wheel drive.

Powering the Ti is a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine making 126kW and 226Nm. I found that to be only just enough oomph (kerb weight is 1.5 tonnes) out on motorways and hilly country roads when overtaking.

The continuously variable transmission (CVT) does nothing for the driving experience, either, causing the engine to ‘drone-on’ and providing lacklustre acceleration, but it is a fuel-efficient automatic (see the mileage figures below).

The X-Trail Ti comes with an intelligent all-wheel-drive system a dial on the centre console allows the driver to select from three modes: 2WD, which will send drive to the front wheels only, but will activate all-wheel drive if it detects a loss of traction; Auto, which monitors the four wheels and will distribute torque to maintain traction; while in LOCK the electronically controlled coupling splits the torque evenly between the front and back. The Lock mode works at up to 40km/h and will switch to Auto mode at higher speeds.

It’s important to remember that while the X-Trail Ti will handle a bit of mild off-roading, such as dirt and gravel roads, the vehicle isn’t equipped with High and Low range four-wheel drive, which is vital for serious off-road excursions.

Nissan claims fuel consumption of 7.9 litres per 100 kilometres for the 2WD model and 8.3L/100km for the 4WD version, which is heavier. The kerb weight of the five-seat ST-L 2WD model is 1493kg, while the 4WD tips the scales at 1549kg.

During our time in the X-Trail ST-L N-Sport 4WD we saw about 9.0L/100km displayed most of the time, but that fell to 8.6L/100km on open road, limited traffic cruising with two on-board. 

It has a 60-litre fuel tank, which allows good cruising range, and happily drinks standard 91 RON unleaded.

The Ti has a 2.5-litre petrol engine and Nissan says that after a combination of urban and open roads your fuel consumption should be 8.3L/100km. I took our test car on motorways, CBD peak-hour commutes and on suburban duties, too, with preschool picks ups and shopping thrown in, and when I measured mileage at the pump I calculated our test car was using 11.1L/100km.

Just to be totally clear, all my testing was done in the Auto drive mode setting,  which toggles between front wheel drive and all-wheel drive, when the system detects a wheel slipping.

In general there is nothing that the X-Trail does brilliantly in terms of the drive experience, but nor is there anything that it does really poorly. 

That’s true of the N-Sport model, too, even with the sportier exterior additions and bigger alloy wheels than the ST-L.

It still rides fine - not exceptionally well, but with enough composure over bumps to feel well controlled and comfortable enough. The back seat experience is a little more lumpy, but not enough to make the kids complain. 

It exhibits a bit of body roll in corners, and while the twisty mountain roads near Cairns and Port Douglas in Far North Queensland would have been much better suited to the 370Z N-Sport, and while my time behind the wheel of the X-Trail through about 40km of cornering roads was tolerable and hassle-free, it wasn’t fun. That may matter to you, or not. 

The steering is decently weighted and responsive enough, but doesn’t have the lightness and accuracy of a VW Tiguan, nor the involved nature of the CX-5 or CR-V. There’s some understeer if you’re pushing it - but that’s not what this car is about.

Its drivetrain does an okay job in most situations. It will punch hard when you plant your right foot to overtake or get away from an intersection quickly, and while the CVT auto makes for a noisy experience in those situations, it deals with getting things going just fine. Again, the perky turbo in the CR-V or Tiguan will offer more engagement, not to mention more refinement, too.

Let’s start with the good things. First, visibility all around is excellent – the A-pillars are thin and bend away to give you a better view and the rear windows are large and make parking simple. The X-Trail is also an easy SUV to pilot in car parks, with light and accurate steering and also on the motorway, where it’s big enough to feel secure and planted.

Now, the not so good. The CVT makes the engine drone and the nature of these automatics means acceleration isn’t brisk. Next, the ride is good on a smooth surface, but on Sydney’s patchwork of roads the X-Trail struggled to keep us comfortable with a firm impact felt over even the smallest of bumps.

The X-Trail was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2017 and the Ti comes with advanced safety equipment such as AEB, which will brake automatically to avoid a collision with another car at speeds over 5km/h, and will brake to avoid an impact (as best it can) with pedestrians from 10-60km/h. There’s also rear cross traffic alert, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assistance, plus adaptive cruise control, which worked well for me on motorways.

Nissan remains one of the few manufacturers to continue with a three-year/100,000km warranty for its models. Many competitors offer superior warranty plans, both in terms of duration and kilometre cover.

All X-Trails require servicing every six months or 10,000km, which is annoyingly short in terms of intervals, as plenty of competitors only need maintenance every 12 months/15,000km. However, Nissan’s capped price service plan covers six years/120,000km, which is better than the likes of Toyota (the current RAV4’s plan only spans three years/60,000km. 

X-Trail models with the 2.5-litre engine will cost you, on average, about $321 per service, or $642 per year. Not especially cheap - in fact, dearer than the likes of the German-sourced Volkswagen Tiguan.

Brake fluid top-ups are due every 24 months/40,000km at a cost of $32 each time. 

The X-Trail Ti is covered by Nissan’s five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty and five years’ roadside assistance, which is transferable to the next owner at no cost.

Servicing is recommended at 10,000km/12-month intervals and as a guide you can expect to pay $234 for the first service, $384 for the next, $244 for the third, $459 for the fourth and $254 for the fifth.