47 NAT

I was looking at Rav4, CRV and Xtrail for the other half and xtrail keeps popping up. Anyone got any experience of them. Either petrol or diesel, although I read that diesels eat turbos but apart from that there suppose to be quite capable motors.

stilover

My old man has an X-Trail Diesel. It's the 140bhp version. Not bad TBH, speed wise. His is an Auto.

The down side to them is they are no where near an X5, Q5, Cayenne in terms of on road handling. More old school 4x4.

However, they are very good in muddy and snowy conditions. Would keep driving way after all the 3 above got stuck.

47 NAT

That's what I was hoping to read
Has it been reliable enough? I know Nissan aren't the cream of the crop marque wise but they are usually good value for the money and reliable.

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Mrs D has had a 2.2DCI for 4 yrs, it's a very versitile and a good utilitarian car. Great for using and abusing, snow, mud, pulling horse boxes, loading up with kids and kit for hols we wouldn't be without it.
Typically ours had an intercooler done under warranty (early ones had pressed joints which were then replaced by welded joints.) Turbo went at about 80k, Nissan wanted c.£1.5k I had a recon one fitted for £700. We'll keep it and kill it. (I have a feeling it'll take a while!) CRV and RAV4 are more refined but the Xtrail wins if you want to use the 4wd.
(It does 30mpg)

D

stilover

He's had 2 X-Trails now. Nothing has gone wrong with either.

lozgti1

Just sold our 2.5 petrol.7years old,93k on the clock

Reliability? had to put a new bulb in for interior light.Otherwise,never a problem.

Sad to see it go (£3500 p/ex for fully leathered,sat navved,safari lights,electric heated seats someone is going to get a lovely car)

Ayde

iTrader: (6)

What was the 2.5 petrol like on fuel, I've read the manuals average around 31mpg? Saw one local for sale at a dealers and I'm very tempted!

Ayde.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

What years/generations are you looking at? As all of them (RAV4, CRV, Xtrail) are much imporved on the current shapes. But teh first gens of all of them are well, naff. IMO.

I think my mate gets about 28-29mpg on 50mile commutes from his old shape X-trail 2.5 petrol. I'll ask him tonight. IMO its pretty under powered (not enough torque) and needs working through the gears to making any progress, but its not too bad for tottering through town at in 30mph traffic, but mpg does suffer.

The old shape ones are not bad motor for a cheap load lugger. But IMO absolutely horrible to drive. And the interior is just plain nasty. The average van is a nicer place to be (and to drive). Plus the road noise is not nice at all (standard M+S tyres). To compare just for the sakes of it: a Xsara Picasso 1.6 HDi 110 has more poke than the old X-trail 2.5 petrol and is much nicer to drive (barring the gearshift) and much better on fuel (average 45mpg).

New shape ones are much improved.

Also beware of Nissan tax; that is parts are very expensive, so if on the unlucky chance something does go wrong, if its a non service item prepare to pay through the nose for a genuine item.

Personally I think if it has to be a semi-mock-4x4. Then I'd go for a CRV. Nicer to drive and nicer inside (well, sort of, its still a bit nasty). Although still devoid of character from a driver's perspective, but all them are like that, so it the case of picking the lesser of the two evils.

I know its not the list but its always a favoruite with women: The Freelander (old shape), avoid it with a double length barge pole. The X-trail is miles better in every way.

Ayde

iTrader: (6)

I have had a look at the CRV, top of my list is a low mileage N/A Forester or Legacy I think. I missed a nice 2004 Forester X with only 42k and fsh for £5500ono the other week. Think I'll just wait till one comes up again

lozgti1

Agreed on the 25-30 mpg which isn't bad really!

As to interior wise,certainly not posh but we wanted it for wipe clean boot etc.Never got too precious over it and it did the job.

Thought it drove rather well too.Kept forgetting after getting out of mx it didn't take the corners as well.Still 170bhp and 0-60 in about 10 secs.Not bad really for a truck

My wife loved hers.And I did! I think they look quite cool in a certain kind of way!

lozgti1

Oh,and Im sure its a Renault engine for the diesel

47 NAT

Thanks for the replies

Was looking around at 04 onwards and for about £5k+ . Would prefer a manual whatever it's going to be. CRV and Rav'4 hold there money quite well which is good but the xtrail SVE is pretty good spec and cheaper.
I read a couple of reviews on the honest john website which said about the turbos. We would be keeping it for a fair few years so don't want big repair/service bills either.
lozgti's one sounded ideal

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

IIRC, with my experiece with Renault engines, namely the 2.2Dci. I don't know if this is teh same unit in teh X-trail or not. But they also popped turbos, now we found this was usually due to crankcase pressurisation or a blocked oil return from the turbo. Somtimes this also causes a piston to melt due to the engine running on its own oil.

Ultimately that boiled down to a problems with the oil degrading. Be it lack of changes for the type of use (short journeys etc) or wrong quality/grade.

Just someting to keep in mind when browsing the Honest John forums; As its the first homage to anyone with a problem with their car, and they tend to be the kind of folk who have no clue on caring for cars and generally drive them "'til they stop". For instance, becuase a manufacturer says you can do x,000miles and xxmonths between services with xx grade oil for typical driving situations, it doesn't mean that everyone can drive to the limits of those reccomendations (even though we all tend to do that ) especially if your driving habits aren't 'typical' to what they expect (short journeys, towing, etc.

Inncidentally, I note alot of X-trails DCis are used to tow large caravans, there must be four twin axle sheds towed by an X-trail within 300yards of my house. Seeing that they won some caravan club 'tow car of the year award'. I'd speculate there are probably quite a few out there being used for towing without giving the due respect on the strain it puts on the engine and drivetrain, maybe that would explain the turbo issue.

47 NAT

Have noticed the ones with tow bars look a bit tired all round and there usually the ones with the lower miles.
Wouldn't ever entertain the idea of a L/Rover at all. I'd not have one in the drive way unless it was either free or virtually free.
When did the newer shape come out?