FAMILY CAR REVIEW: NISSAN X-TRAIL ST-L

In the front, there are two cup holders in the central console which are heated and cooled, by switching around the divider between the two cup holders. I love this feature as I drink black tea and am regularly wanting it to cool down to a drinkable temperature without having to dilute it with cold water!!

The cup holders are big enough to hold a 600ml bottle, a big refillable drinks bottle or they will easily hold a large disposable coffee cup too. The cup holders are quite deep, so the coffee cup sits almost flush with the surround, meaning that if the cup is quite full then it is quite difficult to lift out as you can only hold the upper rim of the cup.

The door pockets are not lined so they rattle. They will hold my large refillable water bottle or a 600ml water bottle with either my iPad or wallet standing on their ends.

The central console has a small well behind the cup holders, in between, there are heated seat controls, which is good for putting the key in.

In front of the gear lever is another larger shallow well that is perfect for your phone because above it is the USB socket to plug it in. There is also a AUX and 12V socket situated here.

There is a second 12V socket in the central console storage box, which is a good size and has two pen holding clips that I think could also be handy for winding your phone charger cable around.

The glove box is a good size also, it holds the thick manual, my iPad and wallet with room to the side of them for more.

There is a glasses case in the ceiling with the interior light controls.

In the back of the X-Trail, there is a 1/3 size map pocket which is only just big enough for an iPad, but the top does stick out a bit so you can see it is in there.

The door pocket in the back is only a bottle holder; you can put a 600ml, baby bottle or sippy cup all fit in there individually. The backrest of the middle seat folds forward and there are two plastic moulded cup holders in the back of that, which holds a disposable coffee cup well, a baby bottle rattles around a little.

In the third row of the X-trail, there is a cup holder on the right-hand side and a plastic well on the left. The cup holder is a good size, holding either a 600ml or large refillable water bottle.

When only five seats are in use, you can get thirteen shopping bags in the boot of the X-Trail; five across the back of the boot, five across the front and three in the middle.

With the umbrella stroller in the boot, you can fit ten shopping bags.

With the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller in the boot, you can fit six shopping bags.

As a seven-seater, you can fit five shopping bags across the boot. You can fit the basic umbrella stroller but with no bags unless they balanced on top.

You could easily get a large dog in the boot when using just five seats.

There is a 12V socket on the right-hand side of the boot and a fixed light that comes on automatically when the boot is opened. There are no bag hooks in the X-Trail boot but there are four anchor points for a cargo net when you are using it as a five-seater only. It is relatively easy to put things in and out of the X-Trail boot; it is a good height that you do not have to bend down into and the floor is quite even with a nice soft surface, easy for sliding things in and out.

The parcel shelf is a retractable blind that goes across the width of the car behind the middle row of seats. It stores in a long plastic moulded box underneath the boot floor.                                                                                                                                                     

When you are using the third row of seats you have to store the blind away. Storing the blind is actually quite tricky, as you have to remove the piece of floor which is the lid to the compartment and then two plastic pieces of the boot floor on either side too. It is an extremely tight fit to get it in and out that I felt was unnecessarily annoying! I actually found once I had got it into the compartment I couldn’t get it back out again and so left it stored away! When you are not storing the blind away, the area is quite useful for wet or beach gear to keep it separate from the rest of the boot!

The media system sits on the map page and to do anything you have to touch the screen and it makes a clicking noise that I could not work out how or if you could turn that off. I found it really difficult to navigate the system used in the Nissan X-Trail. I found things I was looking for were not stored in the place I would have thought were obvious to look.

To turn the sat-nav voice volume up or down took me a long time to find and then it would only turn down to five, which was still very loud. Because the touchscreen sometimes did not register my touch, I found I was pressing down thinking it would go below five but after ten more presses decided this must have been the lowest setting. You can set the sat-nav to just be a digital display in front of you but it beeped when i did this, which was also annoying.

You can click a camera button on the left, which will bring up your rearview camera at any time you are stationary, which I liked. I find I sometimes if the car I am driving has bad rear visibility when stationary I will slip it into reverse so the camera comes up and I can see behind me, especially in car parks or on my drive, just to check I am well positioned usually. So I found this was a really useful feature.

There were no parking sensors on the X-Trail we drove, or lane departure warning, which all made for a quieter drive! The indicators are a nice quiet sound too, which would not disturb my sleeping baby.

The media system does not use Apple CarPlay, and I think it would greatly improve the usability of the system if it did. When I plugged my phone in whilst nursery rhymes were playing it took a few seconds for my phone to register and then it did continue to play them through the car speakers. It is not the easiest system to use. It is not obvious what the buttons do and I found the music control buttons were quite hidden in the screen and hard to find.

The stereo keeps playing when you turn the car off until you press the key lock. So the last thing you listened to is remembered on the stereo and will come blaring out at you if you do not remember to turn the stereo off before the engine. 

The doors are very quiet to open and not too bad at all to close, so they would not disturb a sleeping baby. You can get in and out of the car with the engine running once you come to a stop and an alarm does not sound.

Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!) 

The car does rock a little when you come to a stop and apply the foot brake, it lasts quite a while and is quite dramatic, which I found could be disrupting for a sleeping baby.

The X-Trail is a quiet car to drive with minimal engine and road noise is minimal, and I think that is why the air-conditioning fan sounds so loud because there is so little other background noise.

The driver can lock the doors and windows from their door and an alarm sounds if someone in the front two rows of seats takes their seatbelt off whilst the car is driving, but not if you have come to a complete stop and still have the engine running. There are no seatbelt removal reminders for the third row of seats.

There are cross path sensors on the X-Trail which I found far too sensitive. Reversing out of my driveway a car has been coming down the road and quite far away and it has started beeping. I wouldn’t have even really known what it was beeping in relation to if I wasn’t reviewing it. This feature would be useful in a carpark where there are children around to ensure no one runs across the back of you whilst reversing out but being this sensitive it really would disturb a sleeping baby and annoy a tired mum!!

How many child seats will fit in the Nissan X-Trail?

The X-Trail is a seven-seater but I could only fit two child seats! I fitted a rear-facing Mountain Buggy Protect infant capsule in one outer seat and a rear-facing Infasecure Kompressor 4 in the other outer seat. I did not have room for a forward-facing child seat between them. 

In the second row of seats, there are ISOFix points in each of the two outer seats. 

There are top tether points for all three second-row seats. The outer seats have anchor points in their backrests and the central seat's top tether anchor point is in the ceiling in the far back. If you use that central seat's top tether then any passengers in the third row of seats would have the top tether strap going across their faces.

When installing the child seats, I found the ISOFix was easy to locate but not easy to connect as they are buried deep within the joins of the fabric of the backrests.

The top tethers in the backrests are easy to connect, but you do need to bring the seat backs forward slightly in order to access the anchor points. They are located within a slit of fabric rather than a plastic moulded guide but they do stick out slightly making them easy to locate and attach. Due to its location in the ceiling, the central top tether is easiest to connect from the boot. 

I noticed that the seats of the car are very slippery leather. During my testing, I found that putting a mat underneath child seats helps prevent them slide around. I found that I slid around a bit as we went around corners, so it was best to use a grippy mat underneath all child seats in this X-Trail.

There is plenty of room to post Bub into their car seat from inside the car as the ceiling is nice and tall. From outside the door opening is a nice large door space as well, but when the second-row seat is in the furthest back position, the side pillar intrudes in your space. If you slide the middle row seat base forward then you have a lot more room. It depends on the positioning of that second-row seat base. I found it is easiest to have it furthest forward, put Tulsi into her child seat and then slide the middle row of seats back in order to give the front passengers more leg room.

Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

There is room to feed bub in the second row of seats if there is only one child seat installed. The seats are black leather but they are perforated, which traps sand and crumbs and is harder to clean. 

Legroom in the X-Trail is quite complex. The second row of seats are split 60:40 and slides forward and backwards in order for you to adjust the legroom available for all rows of seats. In order to use the third row of seats, you have to move the second row forward. In order to install rear-facing child seats in the second row of seats and you have a tall front passenger or driver, you have to slide the second row backwards. So you have a bit of a standoff between the rows! So if like us, both adults now travel in the front of the car and one is tall and you have a rear facing child seat, then you would not be able to use the third row of seats as there is simply not enough legroom available! You definitely need to test where each member of your family will be able to fit in the X-Trail before buying it! Also, to access the third row you have to bring the second-row seatback forward and that means un-installing a child seat if it is fitted there!

The driver's seat is not very comfortable. The front of the seat base tilts upwards and I always find this uncomfortable. The seats force you to sit in a ‘C’ shape the seat base coming up at the front and the headrest sticking forward meaning you definitely can not wear a ponytail! 

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

In a week I could not find a comfortable position, which annoyed me as I feel like Nissan have thought of everything with the X-Trail. The seats are even heated, which I loved, but just not enjoyable to sit in.

The second-row seats are split-fold 40:20:40 and the outer seats are comfortable, with even the central seat back being surprisingly comfortable considering it has the fold-down cup holders in. However, the seatbelt clip is right under your bottom so there is no way a mum could travel in that central seat.

The third-row seats are actually quite comfortable to sit on, but you have to put their headrests fully up which really obstructs the rear visibility for the driver.

Visibility is really poor for third-row passengers. You have the headrests, the baby mirror, the child seats, booster seat (and a top tether in your face if the middle position is being used for a child seat) so visibility is extremely poor with all that obstructing your view forwards. There are side windows in the far back but they are quite small.

I found the X-Trail one of the worst cars I’ve driven for visibility as the driver. I think its length and the shallow back window made it impossible to see out of the back. I also had difficulty seeing out of the side windows with child seats, top tether straps, headrest mirrors and headrests all in the way. With rear-facing child seats installed I found I couldn’t really see anything from behind the front windows. I found I relied heavily on the reversing camera, however the image is not very clear so I felt quite blind driving it. The side mirrors are not enormous which also contributed to the lack of visibility.

Tulsi was happy rear-facing in the second row of seats. With the seat base bought forward, she had more o a view out of the window, which I think she enjoyed.

The steering wheel fully adjusts in/out and up/down. The cruise control on the X-Trail is controlled by simple buttons on the right of the steering wheel, and you have a digital display to set the speeds with which is pretty accurate.

The air-conditioning controls on the central console of the X-Trail are simple to use and easy to reach whilst driving. I found I had to put the fan speed up quite high to get an effective flow. Unfortunately, the fan is very loud and sounds like an aeroplane taking off! This would be distracting for a baby trying to get to sleep or it could work like white noise!!

There are four air-conditioning vents in the front, but all are quite small for a seven-seater. There are two central vents and one at either end of the dashboard.

There are air vents in the back of the central console, that can be reached by the driver. There are no air vents for the third row of seats, which would just be too hot in a hot summer without them.

The windows are all darkly tinted which is good for shading passengers, the back windscreen is sloped, but obviously very close to passengers in the third row of seats.

There are lit vanity mirrors on both sides in the front. The interior lights controls are above your head. You can press them on individually, both or with the doors.

In the second row, the ceiling light is centrally located and cannot be reached or controlled from the front. There is no interior light for the third row.

I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bedtime and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a five minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

There is nothing to complain about with how the X-Trail drives. It is smooth around town, it doesn’t make me think ‘yeah this is fun!’ but it is fine up and down hills, not too loud or with any struggle from the engine. It just does its job without any problem in all situations, suburbs, town, open roads and motorways. It was simple and enjoyable.

To park the X-Trail is quite simple too, as I have said reversing visibility is compromised so you rely heavily on the camera but it is not difficult and I have not struggled. Parking front in has been fine too for a longer car I have not had any problems maneuvering at slow speeds.

There are handles above the doors in the back but they are quite close to the rear of the doors. You could hang a child's toy from them when the seat base is in the furthest back position, where it would be okay, but if you had it in the furthest forward position it would be in the wrong place to hold a baby toy. There is only a coat hook on the right, but not on the left.

There are three 12V sockets in the X-Trail. One in the front central console next to the USB point, one in the central console storage box and one in the boot as well.

The general aesthetics of the X-trail interior are pleasant. There is an ‘M’ shaped curve to the dashboard and everything is shaped around that. There is a big piece of plastic on the dash that is moulded to look like leather. Nissan have gone to a lot of effort to tie everything together and make it look good. All the surfaces would wipe clean easily too.

The window control buttons feel a bit of a cheap plastic compared to everything else which lets it down a little.

The floor mats are carpet throughout the X-trail and there is keyless entry and start but there is not a powered tailgate.

The Nissan X-Trail is equipped with seven SRS airbags as standard. Front and side airbags for both front passengers and a knee airbag for the driver, as well as curtain airbags offering protection for the rear side passengers (but not those in the third row).

The X-Trail has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, scoring 35.28 out of 37.

In the frontal offset test, the X-Trail scored 14.68 out of 16, with a perfect 16 points awarded in the side impact test and a maximum 2 points in the pole test. Whiplash protection was rated ‘good’ and pedestrian protection ‘acceptable’. It scored 2.6 out of 3 for seat belt reminders because they are not fitted to the optional third-row seats.

The X-Trail range comes with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) for low and high speeds, emergency brake-assist (EBA), electronic stability control (ESC), traction control and anti-lock brakes with electronic brake distribution (EBD) as standard.

As of May 2017, all Australian delivered X-Trails come with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and forward collision warning for speeds below 100km/h.

The ST-L model we drove had pedestrian detection system for the AEB that works up to 60km/h as well as blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. It also had a 360-degree camera and reversing camera with Moving Object Detection.

Worryingly the third row of seats do not have seat belt reminders or side curtain airbags, so your third-row passengers have no protection at all! It is normally the place children get seated as they are the only people who fit! You would want a little protection for them in the way of a side airbag.

The only safety concern I had whilst driving the X-Trail was when driving on the motorway in the rain and a warning appeared on the digital display saying the autonomous emergency braking sensor was not working. This was most likely the kind of driving conditions I would have wanted it to be working the most so it was a little worrying that it couldn’t handle a bit of rain.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.

I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!