Tag Archives: Nissan

NISSAN LEAF: end of the road for electric pioneer

HOW quickly things change in the electric car world. This is the second generation LEAF which hit the roads in 2018 and offered owners the ability to travel a fair bit further on a charge of its battery pack than some of its opposition could do at the time.

But the hard fact is 168 miles just doesn’t pass muster six years on, and Nissan have decided to stop production to concentrate on new BEVs (battery electric vehicles) it has up its sleeve, like the new Ariya sampled a couple of weeks ago. Continue reading →

NISSAN ARIYA e-4ORCE: big SUV is one for the family

ONE of the first things you notice about electric cars is the distinct lack of a good old fashioned front grille.

In its place will be a large slab of solid bodywork, because with no engine upfront needing cooling air flowing over it, the slats of old are about as much use as mudflaps on a tortoise.

But it’s still all about airflow and low drag co-efficient, hence the slippery shapes you see on the roads. Continue reading →

NISSAN X-TRAIL: flagship model has family appeal


WHAT started off as a relatively cheap and chunky 4×4 back in 2001 has become something a bit different – particularly when it comes to quality.

Because there’s nothing cheap about the interior of the latest X-Trail, Nissan’s flagship SUV – the fit and finish is way above what you got for your money back then. Continue reading →

NISSAN QASHQAI TEKNA+: first of the many still going strong

IT was a bit of a break in tradition when Nissan named their all new SUV over 15 years ago.

Up till then it had been, in the main, numbers or place names that had distinguished cars from their rivals.

But Qashqai? Naming it after a desert-dwelling nomadic tribe from south west Iran was definitely different, but would it attract sales across Europe? Continue reading →

TOYOTA C-HR HYBRID: Japanese giant’s 21st century Transformer

THERE’S very little chance of Toyota’s reputation for building decent hybrid powered cars getting a kicking with the latest C-HR.

They just seem to get better with each update and upgrade and from a drivers point of view the process is simplicity itself.

Toyota’s full hybrids are engineered to run on power from their petrol engine and their electric motor but they’re also capable of running on electric impetus alone – which is what makes a full hybrid different from other mild versions.

Continue reading →