stay in the game face competition from increasingly sharp, Nissan Qashqai updates its block with a new diesel for the first time with a start & stop. What make it even more attractive, not to mention the secret weapon of a new system for parking assistance. The Dean of crossovers has not said its last word The Qashqai to Nissan, it’s like the Megane to Renault or Golf for Volkswagen, a success story.

However, the reception by the press at its presentation in 2007 did not bode well. It must be said that when the specialist 4×4 ( Patrol , Pathfinder , Navara etc …) reveals a car that is not a 4×4 … but are still in full, and not a compact sedan … but again just as the platform that the segment market, there is much to be a little disconcerted

Looking back, this evolution of the segment C was needed to innovate and differentiate themselves from existing models, offer something new to motorists, but the blow the idea seemed far-fetched.

Crossover , the word is out by marketing, as others would say “42″ to the great question of the origin of Earth, the universe and everything else. A word barbarian, tote, vague and yet so descriptive for the newcomer, since mixing of genres it will be much issue with the Qashqai.

4 years later, the sauce seems to have taken as the plants Sunderland (England) and Kanda (Japan) produced their 1,000,000 th unit in September. In France, the Qashqai health care with 19,806 sales in 2010 and 22,779 expected this year.

However, Nissan does not dwell on his achievements and continues to refine her baby throughout his career. As from other players as 3008 , the Dacia Duster , the Kia Sportage or Volkswagen Tiguan are in competition (more or less directly) with the Japanese crossover, and offer more powerful engines and / or more efficient.

a massive facelift in 2010 allowing the Qashqai to display a more aggressive front , lights and plastic renewed more flattering to eye, the time has come to dwell in the heart of the beast.

NEW ENGINE, NEW AMBITIONS

Exit block 2.0 dCi 150 hp under the hood of officiating Qashqai date , there will be more than 4×4 automatic transmission Tekna .

Instead, the 1.6 dCi 130 hp dug in the bank organ Renault made its appearance. Although on paper the engine lost twenty horses in exchange, he promises some significant advantages .

Starting with an identical pair of 320 Nm, available now in the lowest turns (at 1750 r / min against 2000 before), but that’s not all.

Alliance engineers have also striven to reduce power consumption by multiple refinements.

From the decrease in displacement made, the transplant of a low pressure EGR valve, changing the gear ratios, the presence of an advanced management of engine temperature, the establishment of an oil pump with variable flow and a mastery of the more pronounced shape of the air vortex formed in the cylinder at intake ( Swirl ), the gains are substantial.

There

and a 15% consumption and emissions of CO ₂ on the engine begin shipping in October without Start & ; stop and down 24% on the version sold with February 2012 (because of the tsunami in Japan, Hitachi observed delay delivery of its Start / Stop and Nissan would rather run the engine at all costs).

In figures, this gives us the 4.9 l/100 km and 129 g / km CO ₂ for the version without Start & Stop and the 4.5 l/100 km and 119 g / km for the version equipped with the accessory planned for next year.

Good news, in addition to the consumption down to 2.0 dCi (5.9 l/100 km for the latter), the appearance of this motor Start & Stop enables the Qashqai to enjoy the all-wheel drive without penalty (5.1 l/100 km and 135 g / km in declination 4×4). Companies are not forgotten (30% of sales in 2011) and have their TVS be divided by 2.

To enhance the attractiveness of its Qashqai, Nissan take this update engine to provide a innovative system Active View Monitor (AVM, optional to 400 €) usually reserved for premium brands. This tool will display on the central screen of the car a bird’s eye view of the car, thanks to cameras mounted around. This maneuver by making the city more convenient, especially for the female often seduced by the model.

What convince us to try out this crossover brought up to date and room to check on the contribution of these new …

a friendly Travel Companion

In practice, this new 1.6 dCi block is consistent on the road . The revving that are strong linear and it does not feel the need to play too much of the control box to gain over or to cross the passes despite staging a rather encouraging savings.

Course, raw performance are a notch below the 2.0 dCi 150 hp (0 to 100 km in 9.5 s against 10.3 s, V-Max to 190 km / h vs 194 km / h), but this loss does not so noticeable in-situ , arbitration Nissan does not interfere unduly driving pleasure.

However, and unlike a Renault Scenic with the same engine the 320 Nm of torque assert their presence at least the start-up (1480 kg of the Qashqai tame effect) and the imperfect sound of the engine block is no longer present on board.

Also, if the Start & Stop has been quite steadfast in our tests, there are some vibrations poorly controlled and a little slow at runtime compared to other systems (VW in mind).

Still, one can only applaud the effort since we have consumed only 5.9 l/100 km on real our journey by driving normally mixed and 6.7 l/100 km at a faster pace.

With the added bonus of educational stops because each engine flame by Start & Stop , the onboard computer displays the number of kg of CO ₂ saved . Not stupid, even if you prefer to display first the ignition time saved, more meaningful to the motorist.

Special mention also for the AVM system (€ 400) to display the Qashqai top view of the drive way and GTA during maneuvers. We could test the blind driving our car windshield and hidden this system surprised us by its approach . We just regret not being able to manually switch between different cameras to get a better view of the field.

At discharge we had never seen this kind of system Bird-View outside the vehicle type Premium BMW, Range Rover or Audi, then bravo for democratization.

A PRIZE IN THE MAKING

price side, the arrival of the 1.6 dCi can offer an upmarket more economical than before.

While the passage of the 1.5 dCi 110 hp 2.0 dCi demanded € 2,300 before, the difference between the bestseller and the newcomer is more than € 1,950 all finishes combined.

wheel drive always requires additional € 2,200 (this time without penalty), but to go to the automatic transmission (on 2.0 dCi 150 hp only) but it will pay € 1,750 (€ 1,500 against before the arrival of the 1.6 dCi).

Also, a Qashqai 1.6 dCi 130 hp is trading at € 25,600 in Acenta , € 27,700 in Connect Edition and € 29,050 in Tekna .

But beware, these rates are for the version without Start & Stop ” / i> sold between October 2011 and January 2012 . In addition, it will add between 350 and 499 € (we estimate) to take advantage of the last version. Long wait ….