The Nissan Qashqai no longer needs to be admired from afar

Jim you've never got your head round the success of the qashqai because you live amongst the ,dare I say it, pretentious world of motoring journalism in which power and driver refinement rule. Have you ever asked yourself this simple question, how many buyers share your views and preconceived ideas, 5%, 10%, maybe even 15%? You are of course not alone, the motoring press is full of people who share equally out of sync views. Consider how many women and older age people buy cars, at least 50 % of the car buying public perhaps? Compare that to the top gear set to which you belong to and it's easy to see why your views don't tally with the car buying public. So why is the qashqai successful? Simple, most drivers don't need SUVS but it gives the advantages of it without many of the downsides. Number one is safety. Most buyers of such vehicles will have families and moms will do the school run in such vehicles. Many moms will find qashqais easy to drive and park, which is vital on the school run in congested conditions with little parking available, not so easy in a big land rover. Equally the high driving position and chunky ness makes qashqai drivers feel alot more secure than VW golf drivers. Affordability, comfort, I could go on. The qashqai does not do anything brilliantly but it does everything very well. I have been driving a qashqai for 2 years, tekna1.5 dci, and I have no driver thrills anymore but I am in my mid 40s, I'm not suffering from a mid life crisis, there are no roads on which to drive fast and even if there was my cargo generally consists of the wife and kids so I would never dream of taking a bend at 60 mph+ So is the qashqai boring which is really what you insinuate? Yes it is but I personally find German exec saloons boring and yet motoring journos constantly rave about them, I guess I have never got my head around that conundrum.