Slicktop
Believe it or not, price reductions are the order of the day in car land. The Nissan X-Trail was just reduced by €7,000 this week, making it suddenly more affordable than a Renault Espace.
‘Slicktop’. That term is used in America to refer to a police car without a light bar on the roof, but in popular parlance it also ends up on cars that are delivered without a sunroof, for example. The American term also came to mind when we saw the basic version of the Nissan X-Trail, because it is the only version of this SUV without roof rails. The result is a neat ‘smooth’ roof, and a nice piece of recognition.
You might regret those rails, but those longitudinal ornaments don’t really have a practical purpose. More important is what the basic version of the X-Trail, which is traditionally called Acenta, has to offer. The X-Trail is now more interesting than ever in the Netherlands. A price reduction of no less than 7 grand means that you now have such an Acenta from €45,340. This makes this Nissan cheaper than the Renault Espace, a similarly large SUV that has little to do with the X-Trail despite the connection between Nissan and Renault. A Skoda Kodiaq or Peugeot 5008 is also more expensive, although it must be said that the X-Trail, with a length of 4.69 meters, lags somewhat behind its competitors. Its luggage space of 575 liters is also smaller and brings us to the biggest handicap of the X-Trail for those hoping for a seven-seater, because that option is still only available in combination with four-wheel drive with this car. This somewhat bizarre choice means that a Nissan X-Trial with seven seats costs at least €51,140 even after the price reduction, of which €1,200 is for the extra seats, which are still optional. ‘Four-wheel drive’ here means an extra electric motor on the rear axle, because the X-Trail is always an e-Power hybrid in which the combustion engine never directly drives the wheels. In the basic version, a single 204 hp electric motor on the front wheels does this, powered by a battery and a 1.5-liter three-cylinder petrol engine.
In addition to those roof rails, you can also recognize the Acenta by its clear side and rear windows and by the absence of the anthracite-colored decoration on the rear bumper, but that is all manageable. The basic X-Trail does share the LED headlights and taillights, color-matched mirrors and door handles, shark fin antenna and even the 18-inch light-alloy wheels with its more expensive brother, and still looks great. The only ‘free’ color is white, which in turn is one of the two non-metallic paints in the range. The other is bright red, for which you pay remarkably more (€900) than for most metallic shades (from €800).
It is a pity that configurator images do not give a good impression of the materials used, because the Nissan X-Trail Acenta is the only X-Trail without artificial leather finish of dashboard and door panels. This makes it look a little less ‘premium’, but it certainly does not depend on the actual equipment. The cheapest X-Trail ‘simply’ has climate control with two zones, an automatically dimming interior mirror, electrically folding exterior mirrors, a wireless phone charger, light and rain sensors, parking sensors all around, a reversing camera and adaptive cruise control. Little to complain about, or it must be the size of the touchscreen. With the Acenta, the touchscreen has a diameter of only 8 inches, which is in stark contrast to the 12.3-inch instrumentation and the 12.3-inch touchscreen that are in more expensive versions. In addition, those versions get navigation and the Nissan has to make do with Android Auto and Apple Carplay, also in wired form. The N-Connecta also has an electric tailgate and flexible luggage space layout as extras.
The author’s choice
Nissan X-Trail as blue Tekna. Actually better, but you pay a lot extra for it.
The basic version of the Nissan X-Trail is fine for a basic version, but a problem quickly arises if you want something more. There are almost no separate options and, apart from that larger screen, the €3,000 more expensive N-Connecta mainly offers visual advantages, such as that interior finish, the roof rails and ambient lighting. If you want seat heating, for example, you immediately have to go to an N-Trek or Tekna, and depending on that choice you will pay €51,040 or €51,840. Because the N-Trek mainly offers frills and the Tekna is even better equipped when it comes to luxury, I would still go for such a Tekna if possible. That too is 7 grand cheaper than before, but of course no bargain. By the way, I prefer a blue one, with the gray interior that can be ordered on the Tekna at no extra cost. If the budget does not stretch that far, I think the Acenta is a better deal than the N-Connecta. So just take the real basic version, but also in blue.