Recently we road tested the Ford Tourneo Grand Connect, an industrial-sized MPV which made the segment’s distant progenitor, Renault’s original Espace, look like an art deco exhibit.
The Ford was and is the supreme seven-seater statement – a dysmorphic anti-hero, made imperiously roomy by an inherited reverence to cargo space utterly regardless of its effect on appearance.
Such unashamed and unimpeachable practicality made it rightly popular in the office. But it isn’t the focus of this group test. It couldn’t be, not least because even Ford views it as a niche prospect.
At the end of the day, most people simply don’t want a van in a cheap frock. Increasingly, they want an SUV in short trousers.
The crossover now represents a serious alternative for mainstream seven-seat buyers. It has done for a while, but as the reason for this mustering of family troop carriers is the new Nissan X-Trail, it seems all the more official now.
This is, after all, the manufacturer responsible for introducing the concept to people who previously thought themselves happy with a supermini or hatchback.
As the crossover’s structural asset is nominally one of greater height – the rearmost seats fitting more conveniently under a vaulted ceiling than they would in an otherwise similarly proportioned estate – the range-topping X-Trail ought to find itself well placed to make similar inroads into MPV territory.
Moreover, it takes but one look to see that no additional marketing budget will be required to convince customers which is the more stylish option.
Read the full Nissan X-Trail review
Compared with the Ford S-Max, Seat Alhambra and Peugeot 5008 – familiar and very decent MPVs all – the Nissan is visually striking in a way that simply isn’t achievable when you’re maximising interior space. Where the MPVs sprout embarrassed half-noses beneath their vast windscreens, the X-Trail has a proper bonnet – and a thrusting, frowning one at that.
As if to prove a point, it’s even more chiselled than the Hyundai Santa Fe brought along to provide direct competition. The Korean contestant has a hefty, almost American presence in the metal, and although it conveys the same pumped-up ruggedness so obviously denied to the frumpy MPVs, it’s not nearly as athletic as the younger X-Trail.
Emerging victorious from the image-measuring contest was one source of the Nissan Juke’s and Nissan Qashqai’s success, and Nissan’s rivals understate its importance at their peril.
But the halo model must do much more than simply walk the walk here; buyers of big MPVs are still fulfilling an obvious practical requirement, so the X-Trail’s ability to seat, satisfy and absorb a large family’s punishment is as fundamental to its appeal as making the Qashqai handle like a hatchback was.
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Avg tank mpg of 45 is decent too for something weighing in at 1700kgs.
Now - the practicality/7 seats thing. A previous poster commented on the age of the people stuffed into the far back seats. And yes 95% of the time they are under 15 so comfort is (perhaps sadly) not a massive parent priority. There just can't be that many drivers wanting to cart around adults in the 6th and 7th seats! Surely practical features i.e. the things as an owner you engage with every day that makes your life easier - these are the things which are important. The flex 7 seats of the Zaf with the sliding rear bench is a perfect example of a well thought out feature which makes a massive difference to family living. Cubby-holes are essential too and the Zaf has plenty of them too.
Please not to be alone
Who drives these things in