URBAN LEGEND

X-TRAIL EXCELS IN THE SUBURBS

- PETER ANDERSON

NISSAN X-TRAIL Ti AWD
Price as tested $49,990 drive away
This month 478km @ 7.8L/100km
Overall 890km @ 8.7L/100km

ONE OF the things that really surprised me about the first month with the X-Trail was its unflappability. It's not as though past versions have been particularly flappable; that would be perhaps be a little unfair. But this one is a heftier machine with a road presence you feel from the driver's seat.

It's larger and heavier than the previous model, an SUV I drove many times over its years on sale. But this new one feels even more composed and somehow grippier, which feels vaguely odd to note given that an all-wheel-drive X-Trail has usually been very good both on- and off-road.

I think the real change is the weight of the controls. The feel through the steering wheel is more substantial than past versions, and it's quite interesting how my memory keeps blurting out how much better the new car feels as a whole. It steers well, rides much better and generally gives a greater impression of solidity.

We got a preview of this in the X-Trail's twin, the Mitsubishi Outlander, a car so much better than the one it replaces it's scarcely believable it came from the same manufacturer. The gains for the X-Trail are significant but not as wildly improved as the three-diamond equivalent.