Apparently, its ‘sculptured muscular lines create a distinctive silhouette’ well, not to us anyway. Maybe it will look ‘distinctive’ in the metal and on the road, but from these early release pictures, the new Nissan X-Trail looks like… well, all the other SUVs on the roads, which is a shame because at present, the X-Trail is probably one of the most distinctive SUVs on, and off, the roads.
The recent Frankfurt Motor Show was the venue for a number of premieres and new concept vehicles. Nissan showed its latest X-Trail, and its US version, called the Rogue. It’s built on the jointly developed Nissan/Renault Common Module Family (CMF) platform and will be available in some 190 countries around the world. That’s some claim, and underlines the importance of the vehicle; to get to 190 countries the X-Trail will be built in no less than nine different manufacturing plants around the globe.
Having recently attended the Goodwood Revival, Hils yearns for the ‘good ol’ days’ when vehicles have character
The mileage may not have crept up by much, but believe me, I’ve not been short of adventures. Twice in the space of a month, the Discovery has reminded me of the dangers of solo greenlaning, something I am prone to doing. The first time, I was in a popular area called Nant-y-Moch. It’s pretty much on the doorstep and I know the lanes well, so there’s little chance of getting stuck. But, there’s always the danger of mechanical trauma.
Hils Everitt – Editor at Large
Bob Cooke – contributor
I felt a bit nervous about taking the Grand Vitara off the tarmac. On the one hand the little Suzuki in its previous incarnations has an almost legendary reputation as a serious high-fun off-roader, on the other is the feeling that the current model is just too much of a tarmac-oriented highway cruiser to warrant taking it on anything more off-road than a well-maintained gravel track. There are two conflicting aspects of the latest version. The publicity material trumpets the permanent four wheel drive transmission with centre diff lock and low range as endowing the Grand Vitara with exceptional off-road agility, yet the tape measure shows little more than 180mm of ground clearance, and the exhaust back box seems scarily vulnerable hanging under the back bumper a mere 240mm above ground. While it’s true that the Grand’s excellent departure angle is such that on a flat and level rise the rear bumper would touch down before the silencer did, but since most off-road trails are rutted I’d be wary of taking it anywhere near its theoretical capability.
If you’re keen to test your 4×4 away from the metalled highway, you effectively have three options. Pay and play sites, greenlaning or an off-road centre. We decided to head to one of the latter, David Mitchell’s Landcraft in Bala, Snowdonia. Personally, I thought it would be an intriguing opportunity to put my own Land Rover Discovery through its paces, and to see what other vehicles and drivers would be there. We could also find out what made people choose this experience over other options.
Mazda is introducing two new models to the Mazda CX-5 compact SUV line-up – both fitted with the company’s innovative fuel-saving SKYACTIV technology – the SE‑L Lux and SE-L Lux Nav.
Elsewhere in News, we comment on the sales success of Land Rover’s Evoque. It’s interesting, therefore, to report on another SUV that has been a global sales phenomenon. Skoda’s Yeti has been around for longer than the Evoque, having been launched in 2009, and a total of 263,200 Yetis is impressive, more so, however, is that some 87,400 Yetis were sold in 2012 and that figure looks like being matched for 2013 – in a depressed European market let’s not forget. Production is truly global with models built in the Czech plant of Kvasiny, in Russia at Nizhny Novgorod and production will be starting in Shanghai, China, by the end of this year.
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