New Nissan X-Trail: first drive - Buying and owning

One of the criticisms of the outgoing X-Trail was its reliability - many suffered from engine problems, and many of our readers reported that the dealership network wasn't good enough when these faults did appear.

Nissan hopes the new one will be significantly better - although the X-Trail's cabin is rather dour, the quality of the plastics and build is generally impressive and everything has a reassuringly solid feel.

Decent discounts should soon be available on the X-Trail's list price and we expect it to hold its value reasonably well.

When it comes to running costs, the X-Trail will cost more to run than an equivalent family saloon, but each of the diesel engines returns almost 40mpg and carbon dioxide emissions are competitive for the class.