The area where the old Qashqai mainly showed its age was inland, but this generation has made great strides in this area.
That said, taking up digital technology is avoided. With a more stylish dashboard, some horizontal decorative strips and a large touchscreen in the middle, it looks completely contemporary.
All the materials you’re likely to touch regularly in the car have a pleasant, soft finish and the many buttons and switchgear have a nice weight to them. The inner frames also feel firmly screwed together.
This car is extremely easy to jump into and get the hang of, as all the major functions are controlled by a physical button or dial. There’s a separate panel for the HVAC controls, and even driver assistance features like the steering assist and head-up display can be turned on or off with a button. It’s all remarkably common sense, with no touch-sensitive panel in sight apart from the large infotainment screen.
Continuing the common sense theme, the Qashqai allows occupants to charge their devices any way they want, with multiple 12V sockets, two USB-A and two USB-C ports and a wireless charging pad on most trim levels . Here, as elsewhere, convenience is paramount, and the Qashqai offers plenty.
Access to the rear cabin is easy thanks to the doors that open to 90 degrees. Once there, legroom is about average for the class, with plenty of headroom even with the panoramic sunroof (which is a fixed panel and doesn’t actually open).
It means that tall adults will fit without any problems, but they will only feel averagely comfortable on longer trips. The rear seats don’t do anything fancy, like recline or slide, and they fold in a 40/60 split, rather than a more versatile 40/20/40 split.
Flexibility tricks are reserved for the shoe, which is quite cleverly conceived. It has removable floor panels that can be raised or lowered, or placed upright to create a partition that prevents groceries from sliding around. The panels can also be turned over, creating a wipeable surface on which to place muddy or dirty items. Once they’re all in place, it creates a flat loading area with some useful extra space underneath.
The Qashqai’s 504-litre boot is average for the class, but well above the Ford Kuga’s 412 litres. However, it is beaten by the Volkswagen Tiguan’s 520 liters and outclassed by the Honda CR-V hybrid, which offers 596 liters.
Nissan Qashqai infotainment and satellite navigation
The Visia version is so basic that it doesn’t even get a touchscreen, but Acenta Premium has a 7.0-inch screen, and on N-Connecta it becomes a 9.0-inch screen, accompanied by a 12.0-inch digital driver display. 3 inches.
Both versions of the touchscreen have Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. On the larger version, CarPlay is wireless.
The larger system in the Tekna car is the more responsive unit and its many shortcuts (both physical under the screen and virtual ones at the bottom) make it quite easy to navigate. The way the screen is mounted on the dashboard also gives you a small edge to rest your hand on, keeping it steady as you tap the screen while on the move.
It’s a shame that the graphics already look dated, the center screen even more so than the driver’s display. If CarPlay is wireless and there’s also a wireless charging pad, it’s hard to think of a reason to use the built-in navigation and audio systems, especially since the smartphone mirroring is so well integrated.