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Driving Experience

Here’s where things get a little technical. Nissan’s hybrid drive system is unique in that the engine, in this car a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder, doesn’t drive the wheels of the car directly.

The engine’s job is to power a generator that charges the onboard batteries, which power the two electric motors in the car. There’s one at each axle for intelligent four-wheel drive, which is why this car gets the slightly awkward e-4orce name as well.

It’s a powerful car, however the suspension is soft and comfortable so it doesn’t really encourage spirited cornering. There’s no multi-speed gearbox here, as the drivetrain is very much like that of an EV, with power from the motors sent to the wheels through a reduction gearbox for each motor.

On paper it’s a tiny bit quicker in a straight line sprint than the Toyota Harrier Hybrid, but that’s not the whole story as in typical EV fashion it jumps from a standstill to around 60km/h very quickly, before tapering off slightly on forward punch. 

A pair of buttons on the centre console engages EV-only mode and e-pedal driving. EV-only is useful only if you have a light right foot and keep the power output below 30 percent as displayed on the power metre. If you accelerate harder the petrol engine will fire up to help generate more power for the electrical systems. Also, don’t expect the car to maintain a steady state cruise for more than ten minutes on electric power alone. Once the batteries drop to 25 percent charge, the petrol engine begins the recharging process.

That time we drive a Nissan Note e-power for as long as we could, and learnt something about e-Power magic in the process

e-Pedal is that unique mode where the accelerator pedal ‘engine brakes’ the car with regenerative braking to more aggressively recharge the batteries when you release it past a certain point. In practice, we found that e-Pedal driving works better in low speed driving around housing estates, while the standard drive mode is more efficient on highways where the car can cruise more effectively.

Unlike most crossover urban SUVs, the X-Trail has a proper off road driving mode where the can intelligently know which wheels are slipping and which wheel to direct power to through the clever use of individual wheel braking. Combined with its high stance, this is a big, comfortable car that’s more versatile than many others.

Active safety systems are pretty much standard equipment on almost all new cars these days and the X-Trail is no exception. Packaged as the Nissan Intelligent Mobility suite, it includes lane departure warning and the very useful adaptive cruise control, which follows the car ahead of you and will automatically apply the brakes to maintain a driver-set safety gap when the car ahead slows down.

This Chinese car brand is on track to become a worldwide force to be reckoned with

As you would expect from a true hybrid, the engine switches on and off quite unobtrusively and doesn’t disrupt the driving experience. We returned 6.5L/100km in fuel economy over three days and that’s even better than the official specification of 6.7L/100km.

With Singapore’s huge taxes on petrol, using the excuse that it’s to encourage people to drive EVs, we’re not going to have many years of internal combustion engine-only cars left here. Yet you’ll almost never find a petrol-electric hybrid car owner complaining about fuel economy. They’re a good balance and you’ll never have to worry about driving across to Malaysia either. 

Conclusion & Competition

The big talking point is how expensive cars have become and the Nissan X-Trail is no exception with its S$255,800 with COE sticker price at time of launch. Compare this to the slightly smaller five-seater Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, now going for around S$220k with COE. At the time of the Tucson Hybrid’s launch in late 2021 it cost just S$162k with COE. It looked expensive then, but now they look like bargain prices. 

The product itself is an excellent family vehicle that is also very versatile with its configurable seating. It may be wide and kind of long but it’s not all that difficult to drive in tight spaces, and arguably has much better all-round visibility than many large MPVs.

It actually has another credible 5+2 SUV competitor in the form of the Peugeot 5008. The French Peugeot however, is not a hybrid, is only front-wheel driven, and has just 129 horsepower from its 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbo engine compared to the Nissan X-Trail’s 201 horsepower. But don’t dismiss the Peugeot just yet, as it has a nicely upmarket cabin feel and is very economical on fuel as well. It’s also much cheaper on the account of its simpler mechanicals and Category A COE classification.  

The last word on the Nissan X-Trail e-Power is that in Singaporean specification, it’s got more than enough power for a Malaysian road trip, boasts an almost luxurious level of comfort, and is very efficient on fuel as well.

2023 Nissan X-Trail e-Power e-4orce Prestige

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