• Seven seats an option…
• …But the rearmost seats are only for short journeys
• Physical heating controls are a bonus

How much space is there?

Space up front is good with loads of head and kneeroom, deep door pockets and a couple of cupholders next to the gear selector. All versions of the X-Trail come as standard with five seats, with seven seats an optional extra. That additional seating capacity puts it up against the Skoda Kodiaq and Kia Sorento, which leave the Nissan trailing in their wake.

But even Nissan admits that the third row is only suitable for those below 1.6m tall, so they’re best thought of as occasional pews for short journeys or for child use only, rather like you’ll find in the 5+2 Land Rover Discovery Sport. Left as a five seater, there’s plenty of space for tall adults to sit in the back, even with a lanky driver.

The rear doors open wide and the apertures are quite large, making loading children and seats a doddle. Only when getting into the third row do you wish they were a bit longer.

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Boot space and storage

A sliding rear bench is standard from Tekna grade and optional on N-Connecta allowing you to increase bootspace at the expense of second row legroom. The second row of seats in the X-Trail is split 60:40 unless you opt for the Tekna and Tekna+ trim levels, which get a more versatile 40:20:40 layout. 

Even with the rear seat slid all the way back, you get 585 litres of bootspace in the mild hybrid or 575 in the e-Power. This drops to 485 litres on seven seaters, with just 120 litres of boot space with the rear chairs erected. In reality you only lose underfloor storage with the seven-seater, so in most scenarios the five-seater’s boot is a very similar size.

One aspect we really like about the X-Trail’s luggage area is that the bootfloor is flat when you fold the rear seats down – increasingly rare these days. There are a good selection of cubbies and storage solutions in the main cabin. However, the Skoda Kodiaq and Kia Sorento both have larger, more adaptable boots.

Is it easy to park?

There’s no getting around it, the X-Trail feels like (and is) a large car. The view out of the front is uninhibited, but rear visibility is compromised by the small windows and chunky bodysides.

All models come with parking sensors, but we think most people would want to go for mid-spec cars as they come with a rear camera. A 360 degree camera is also available.

Safety

• Five star Euro NCAP rating
• Scores very highly in safety assist
• Advanced semi-autonomous tech

The Nissan X-Trail received a five out of five from Euro NCAP, with the test organisation complimenting Nissan on how well the X-Trail performed in the safety assist category. This is because the X-Trail comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), blindspot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, and a driver attention alert system as standard.

Nissan’s semi-autonomous tech, called ProPilot+, is well worth the extra money. It helps keep you in lane on the motorway and speeds up and slows down the car in relation to what other cars around it are doing. It works much like other manufacturer’s systems, but is super smooth and measured, very rarely applying the brakes or steering for no reason.

The X-Trail has four Isofix points, one in the front and three across the middle row.

Watch: Nissan X-Trail Euro NCAP crash test