Category: Small 4x4s 
Price Range: £19,245 to £26,795
Quality, looks, decent performance.
Freelander has better image; not much else.
Comfort upgrades make this a serious threat to Freelander's market domination.
Nissan's likeable X-Trail was first introduced in 2001, so the mid-life facelifted model you see here didn't take long to come around. However, this is a minor transformation to an already winning formula: on sale from December 2003, the '04 model-year X-Trail hasn't had too many changes made to it. Better seats, an improved interior and minor styling flourishes keep an already competitive small 4x4 near the top of the class. Its rivals are cars such as the Land Rover Freelander, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Santa Fe.
The Land Rover is the biggest threat to all models in this class and the biggest-selling model, enjoying a strong heritage and a brand-image that the others can only dream about. Nevertheless, cars like the X-Trail should have Land Rover worried. The X-Trail offers respectable off-road ability with laudable on-road performance, sound reliability and quality, and is highly desirable. We're big fans of the X-Trail, and if you're in the market for a 4x4, it comes highly recommended.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Nissan X-TRAIL
wrote on 30 12 2007
wrote on 18 10 2007
wrote on 31 07 2007