Nissan Qashqai Review & Prices

The Nissan Qashqai is probably one of the first cars you think of when someone says ‘family SUV’. It’s almost become synonymous with the ‘crossover’ class and arguably started the whole craze back in 2008, when Nissan debuted the first model as a replacement for its Almera hatchback.

The Qashqai is a bit like a NOW album - it’s popular, and almost impossible to have a strong opinion about either way. Being good without being outstanding in any particular area is a formula that works really well for the latest generation of Qashqai - it’s a really good choice of family car, simply because there’s nothing on it that will annoy or frustrate. It’s also proudly built in Britain, in Nissan’s Sunderland plant - a nice extra if you’re into that sort of thing.

Available with a regular petrol engine or the interesting e-Power hybrid system, the Qashqai’s alternatives include talented cars such as the Citroen C5 Aircross, Dacia Bigster, Skoda Karoq, Kia Sportage, Peugeot 3008, MG HS and Ford Kuga to name but a few.

When it was launched, the third-generation Qashqai was quite a blandly-styled machine - but after a facelift in 2024 it’s much more eye-catching. There’s an intricately-styled grille at the front that blends seamlessly with sharp LED headlights and daytime running lights - a bit like the latest Peugeot models. The alloy wheel designs are all slick too, and round the back there are LED taillights as standard.

Inside, things are very sensible indeed, and Nissan’s resisted the urge to give the Qashqai a fully screen-driven cabin like some alternatives such as the VW Tiguan. So you get plenty of physical switches, including a full panel of climate controls - but they’re backed up by a large infotainment screen which, on all but the base model, runs an Android-powered infotainment system.

This means you get access to native Google apps as well as a really slick interface. It’s a nice touch and lifts the Qashqai over some alternatives with their own, rather poor manufacturer-fit systems - looking at you, MG HS.

In terms of practicality the Qashqai is very much middle-of-the-pack. The front and rear seats are pretty spacious, and there’s room for smaller items around the cabin, but the 504-litre boot is eclipsed by the Kia Sportage’s 591 litres and the VW Tiguan’s 615.

You get a choice of two engines. The base model is a 1.3-litre mild hybrid petrol with either a manual or automatic gearbox. It’s fine, but nothing more than that - fuel economy sits around 40mpg in the real world and it’s powerful enough without being particularly nippy.

The e-Power hybrid is much more interesting. Unlike regular hybrid systems, the engine never drives the wheels - it’s just a generator to keep the battery topped up. This means you get the smoothness and response of an EV, but powered by petrol. After an update in 2025 this e-Power model is definitely the Qashqai to get - it’s now one of the best hybrid SUVs around, though pre-update models were a little noisy and inefficient on the motorway.

Whichever engine you go for, the Qashqai is a comfortable car to drive around in at any speed, soaking up bumps well and keeping wind and road noise to a minimum. Like the rest of the car, the driving experience isn’t exciting - but it’s predictable, which is great.

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The Qashqai range starts at just over £30,000, so it’s undercut by the Dacia Bigster and MG HS but on a par with or significantly cheaper than most other alternatives. The hybrid e-Power model weighs in at just under £35,000 - again, undercut by the Dacia and MG but cheaper than most proper hybrids.

The basic Acenta Premium model is best avoided - it gets dual-zone climate control, wireless smartphone connectivity and keyless entry, but misses out on that proper Google-based infotainment system. Plus, its small alloy wheels and cloth seats look rather plain. Mid-spec N-Connecta is much more attractive, with 18-inch wheels, the Google system, a wireless charger and 360-degree camera setup.

Models at the top of the range are knocking on £40,000 but do get 20-inch wheels, quilted leather seats with a massage function, Bose sound system and posher suspension - but at that price, you’d do better buying a car with a posher badge.

The Qashqai is easy to drive with good visibility and light controls, plus the e-Power hybrid is fantastic - just don’t expect any excitement

In town

Driving the Qashqai round town is a doddle. You sit up nice and high, with lots of adjustment in the seating position and steering column, so it’s easy to get comfortable. Visibility is decent, even over the shoulder, and the 360-degree camera system being standard from the good-value mid-spec trim is a real boon when it comes to parking.

The mild hybrid engine has enough pickup from low speeds, but the manual gearbox has a long throw and feels rubbery, while the optional automatic is a bit hesitant out of junctions. The e-Power hybrid is much better, giving you instant response thanks to its electric motors.

The suspension does a reasonable job of dealing with bumps, even on the largest 20-inch wheels - but a Citroen C5 Aircross is much comfier.

On the motorway

All of the engines have a reasonable amount of punch, so joining the motorway is a relaxed experience and things are nice and chilled at the legal limit. The e-Power is again the best here, and since its 2025 update even gets pretty good fuel economy at a cruise - the older version struggled to top 35mpg on a motorway run. Now 55mpg+ is much more achievable.

There’s a little bit of tyre noise, especially on the bigger wheels, but it’s not too bad. Nissan’s assisted driving tech is also fine - it’s not as smooth in operation as the systems on Skoda Karoq or Kia Sportage, but it’s better than the slightly clunky system on a Peugeot 3008.

On a twisty road

The Qashqai feels very neutral on a twisty road. It doesn’t lean too much in bends, and the steering is accurate, but there’s very little feedback through the wheel or the driver’s seat. It doesn’t encourage you to press on in the way that a Ford Kuga or Mazda CX-5 does.

There is a Sport driving mode, which in the e-Power unlocks an extra little bit of power, but you can’t really tell any difference. The Qashqai is best driven in a more relaxed fashion, where you can enjoy the comfortable suspension.

The spacious and well-thought-out interior offers plenty of practical touches, although other similar models have a larger boot

Most drivers ought to be able to get comfortable up front, though the seats don't quite have the range of adjustment of a Skoda Karoq. We found that our 6'2" tester had his seat as far back as it would go, and the steering wheel doesn't have the biggest range of adjustment either.

Front passengers can make use of a set of large cupholders set into the centre console as well as generous door pockets which will take big water bottles as well. Got to stay hydrated these days.

Two different types of USB ports and a 12-volt plug point are provided ahead of the stubby gear lever, and you can place personal items out of sight in the smallish glovebox or the more generously proportioned central bin. There's also a wireless charging pad on most models, with a lip to keep your phone secure.

Space in the back seats

In the rear, the two comfortable outer seats will comfortably accommodate adults, while the central one will be best left for children or teenagers. Legroom is pretty good – better than in the old Qashqai, but not as good as in the Tiguan – and headroom is generous too, even if you have the panoramic sunroof fitted.

The rear doors open 85 degrees wide, aiding ingress and egress, and two scoops in the door pockets will take a pair of water bottles. The fold down central armrest incorporates some rather flimsy cupholders as well.

If you want to fit a child seat the rear doors open really wide so the back seats are easy to access. The ISOFIX points sit beneath a small latch, and the bonus of good legroom means there’s decent space for a child seat without having to push those in the front forward.

Boot space

Compared to alternatives like the Kia Sportage and Volkswagen Tiguan, the Qashqai falls a bit short in terms of boot space. With 504 litres compared to the 591 litres of the Sportage and 615 litres in the Tiguan, you may need to leave a bag behind, but it’s still spacious enough to take a baby stroller and a couple of squishy bags.

You can now spec an electrically-operated tailgate, which makes loading easier when you’re carrying armfuls of shopping, as does the low load lip. Fold the rear seats down and you get 1,539 litres of space, still less than the Sportage and Tiguan, but the boot floor is flat and wide so you can make the most of the space available. N-Connecta models have a configurable boot floor, however this takes boot space down to 479 litres. If you take the Tekna+ model the Bose sound system’s amplifier further impinges on boot space, so you get just 436 litres. Hooks, tethering points and a 12-volt socket are provided across all models.

Much-improved cabin quality and decent tech make the Qashqai competent if not particularly exciting inside

The Qashqai’s interior is a pretty nice place to sit, but aside from the posh materials and attractive design it’s also really easy to use - which is much more important. It doesn’t have the wow factor of something like a Peugeot 3008, but the improvements that came with the 2024 facelift do add in some fetching metal-effect trim on the centre console and a huge swathe of Alcantara suede across the dashboard, both of which are very pleasant.

All Qashqais now come with a large, 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system. On base cars, the feature list is pretty standard but all other trims have a full suite of Google-powered upgrades. The most important of these is built-in Google Maps - far superior to most built-in sat-navs in terms of accuracy, updates, and ease-of-use. 

You also get access to the Google Play Store which means you can download additional apps, such as Waze for navigation, Spotify for music or your favourite podcast app. 

The screen is big and clear, but once you’re out of the Google-specific apps it’s not the most straightforward to navigate. The same goes for the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, which isn’t particularly attractive and can be a bit of an information overload. It’s a shame this can’t display maps in full screen like the VW Tiguan’s system can.

Underneath the touchscreen you’ll find a full panel of climate controls, which is great to see - so many new cars have these either partially or completely operated through the touchscreen, which isn’t much fun to do on the move. There’s even a few useful shortcut buttons immediately above these, including one to dim the touchscreen for night driving and a shortcut to the Qashqai’s 360-degree camera system.

Overall build quality feels good - who’d expect less from a car built in Sunderland? Apart from the nice fabric panel, there are some pleasantly squidgy plastics atop the dashboard and the doors, but you don’t need to look too far to find scratchier ones. That’s par for the course in a car like this, though, and even the cheap materials feel hard wearing.

There are a couple of engine options for the Qashqai. The base models get a 1.3-litre mild hybrid petrol engine with 140hp and a six-speed manual gearbox. There’s also a 158hp version of this engine available, which can be had with a manual or a CVT automatic.

In our time with the 140hp manual, we averaged around 40mpg - about what you’d expect from a fairly large, petrol-powered SUV, but nothing particularly groundbreaking. A 150hp Skoda Karoq would return similar economy.

If you want the ultimate in penny-pinching you should go for the e-Power hybrid. This is a unique system, which instead of using the engine to drive the wheels simply uses it as a generator to charge the battery. All the driving is done by an electric motor.

The e-Power quotes an official mpg figure of more than 60, and in our testing we actually got pretty close to that even with some motorway runs. That’s better than you’ll get from a Citroen C5 Aircross Hybrid, a Kia Sportage Hybrid or a Ford Kuga Hybrid.

This version also has the lowest CO2 emissions, at just 102g/km. This means cheaper first year road tax than the mild hybrids, and more favourable company car tax rates - though it’s not anywhere near as cost-effective in terms of Benefit-in-Kind as a plug-in hybrid alternative would be.

The Qashqai scored a full five out of five stars in the Euro NCAP ratings, scoring 91% for both adult and child occupant safety. Safety assists were rated even higher at 95% - this is one safe SUV.

Active passive and safety features include rear cross traffic alert, blind spot intervention, forward collision warning and lane intervention systems. Adaptive cruise control and rear parking sensors are also standard across all models. Nissan's made it really easy to switch off the EU-mandated speed limit warnings in the Qashqai - you simply need to set it up once as a 'Custom' mode, and then it's just two button presses at the start of every drive.

The Qashqai has regularly toped the medium-sized SUV sales charts and yet the previous model was not considered the last word in reliability by owners. The new model feels considerably more substantial and well-built, addressing many of the concerns raised with the older Qashqai.

It’s too soon to tell how it will fare in the reliability stakes, but everything seems to pointing to a much-improved product. There have been two minor recalls so far, with one being for a steering assist system that can cause a noise while in operation.

Nissan was pretty much bang smack in the middle of the 2025 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming 15th out of 31 manufacturers.

A pretty standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty is offered here, with the opportunity to extend coverage as long as the car is less than 10-years old and has covered under 100,000-miles. The EV dedicated components also come with their own five-year/60,000-mile warranty.