Westserve

X - the unknown quantity

I wrote a little while ago about some of my frustrations in trying to choose a replacement vehicle for the next 4-5 years.

I was looking to downsize from my much-liked VE Commodore SV6 to a mid-sized, wagon of some kind. I would have liked a vehicle with a turbo Diesel to improve fuel economy and lower emissions. But with price and other limitations, there were few options in that field, and thanks to Australian diesel fuel pricing, you still need to have a pretty high annual mileage to recoup the additional cost of the fuel and the diesel engine option.

Long story short, the best vehicle for my particular needs and within my price range was the Nissan X-Trail. And I picked my X-Trial up last Monday.

First impressions?
Pretty good.
Main things I miss from the SV6 are: 6 cylinder power, sharp steering with real feel, bags of personal room, fantastic looking body.
Things I don’t miss: Claustrophobic black interior, terrible rear and front quarter vision, poor exterior rear vision mirror view, poor contrast instrumentation.

What I really like about the X-Trail (so far): Great vision, excellent rear vision mirrors, driving position (more upright), ease of ingress and egress (that’s getting in and out, in case you didn’t know!), great carrying space in the back, versatile interior design, not scraping the body kit on driveways and parking lot ‘buffers’, 4 cylinder economy.

What I don’t like: Pretty ordinary body, 4 cylinder performance, less legroom (I’m nearly 2 metres tall, remember).

But these are just normal compromises and overall, I’m really happy with the choice and I think it will serve us well over the next few years.

Promise I’ll stop talking about cars now.
Oh, and apologies for the dodgy photo. Light was not good and I was in a bit of a rush…