Why the new Nissan Qashqai is perfect for the urban jungle
We recently spent a week with Nissan’s new Qashqai, and while we usually plan our test drives out and away from the city, we decided to spend the entire week in the Qashqai’s natural environment, the urban jungle.
Nissan says that the Qashqai is Europe’s best-selling urban crossover in Europe, so of course, we were quite excited to see how it fairs in Cape Town’s city centre, where congested intersections and busy parking lots can prove most challenging (and incredibly frustrating) at the worst of times.
For me, a car aimed at those who spend most of the time in the city needs to prove a number of things, before I’d consider it a worthy companion for my busy daily commutes. It needs to take the exhaustion out of trying to navigate around a busy and often confusing city centre. It needs to make me feel safe and comfortable enough to not loath the experience of trying to avoid erratic and unpredictable taxi drivers, and most important, is that I need to feel that at the end of a hard day at work, I can hop back into the car and feel ready to hit the road home, quickly and easily.
Nissan’s new Qashqai, with its upgraded design, has a striking appearance that looks great in any urban environment. Even its reflection looks good when whizzing past some of Cape Town’s glistening buildings! I love its new ‘Vivid Blue’ colour option, it really enhances the Qashqai’s new styling, and beautifully outlines Nissan’s iconic V-motion grille and headlights.
Every working woman needs her car to be as tech savvy and connected as she is. Like the X-Trail and Patrol, the new Qashqai introduces Nissan’s latest innovative technology, known as NIM (Nissan Intelligent Mobility), to make city driving safer and more convenient than ever before.
NIM features include:
- Intelligent Blind Spot Warning: Alerts the driver of a vehicle in the adjacent lane during lane changes.
- Intelligent Emergency Braking: Helps avoid collisions by detecting the distance of the preceding vehicle and activating the brakes, if necessary.
- Intelligent Forward Collision Warning: Sensors analyse the relative velocity of the preceding vehicle as well as the vehicle in front of the preceding one. If the system detects potential risks, it alerts the driver to slow down with visual and audible alerts and will also tighten the seat belt.
- Around View Monitor: Using five cameras positioned around the vehicle, this technology provides a 360-degree view of your surroundings.
- Intelligent Cross Traffic Alert: When backing out of a parking space, this feature can detect and warn the driver of vehicles that are approaching behind the Qashqai.
- Moving Object Detection: Linked to the Around View Monitor, the system analyses video signals in an image-processing unit from the cameras attached to the front, rear and both side-view mirrors of the vehicle. It is then able to detect certain moving objects around the vehicle in real time.
Not only do I work in the city, I live in it too, and when you’re constantly surrounded by the hustle and bustle of it all, you don’t realise how desensitized you become to noise pollution, until you’ve experienced the sudden peace and quiet that comes the minute after you’ve closed your car windows. It’s almost as though you’re having some sort of out-of-body experience, so much so that your ears pop and you come back down to earth once in the comfort of your quieter in-cabin environment. Nissan has worked hard to improve the Qashqai’s sound proofing to make it a more relaxing and enjoyable city car. Even out on the highway, road noise is limited.
Also read: Car Review: New Nissan Qashqai
Overall, the new Qashqai really impressed me as a favourable SUV for the city, and after spending a week with it in the CBD, it’s easy to believe why it has become known as Europe’s best-selling urban crossover.
If you’re in the market for an SUV that’s light, relaxing and that stands out in and around the city, the new Qashqai is a worthy consideration.
PRICING
The updated range is now priced as below:
1.2 T Visia – R334 900
1.2 T Visia + Alloys – R346 700
1.2 T Acenta – R367 000
1.2 T Acenta CVT – R381 000
1.2 T Acenta Plus CVT – R394 000
1.5 dCI Acenta – R394 000
1.5 dCI Acenta Plus – R407 000
1.5 dCI Tekna – R434 000
The Qashqai is backed up by Nissan Assured including 24-hour roadside assistance and has a class-leading 6-year/150,000km warranty, and a comprehensive 3-year/90,000km service plan.