USED Nissan X-Trail 4x4 (01 - 07)

My car

I recently had the use of a 2.5 SVE auto from a hire company after my Golf TDI was written off in an accident.

I took it on holiday to Scarborough and found it lovely to drive, apart from the auto gearbox and the fact that after a diesel Golf, it drank fuel!

It had plenty of room for my three children and luggage and felt very safe and secure on the road. The engine, for its size, felt underpowered and the gearbox was doing a lot of changing up and down ratios if you were in hilly areas.

I would love to have had a manual diesel as I think it would have made a good car great to drive. Needless to say, it ran faultlessly with no problems at all. I would definitely consider one when I change in a year's time.

My car

I have owned the X-Trail for two years and bought it as a tow car, and in this capacity it is excellent. The engine pulls very well and I have had no problem even with the caravan fully laden and bikes or wind-surfers on the roof.

The cabin quality leaves a bit to be desired and the carpets do not appear to be very durable. The load capacity does not seem as large as your average estate car. I have had problems with the gears in first and second being stiff when cold and experienced a top-end rattle. The dealer changed the timing tensioner but this has made no difference.

Overall, it's a great motor but I will go for the SVE next time.

My car

Over three years of ownership and 50,000-plus miles, it has been a very practical all-round family car. I bought it to use as a towcar and have been impressed with its abilities. There have been a few niggles, notably the premature wear on the cloth driver's seat back, and the corroded alloys. All work was carried out under warranty. The engine isn't exactly refined but is pretty economical and servicing costs have been reasonable, too.

My car

It was delivered new in January 2005. Since then I have been struggling to get dealers (two of them) and Nissan UK to recognise that engine performance is less than to be expected from common rail.

Between 1500 and 2500rpm, the knock is pronounced, lessening with temperature increase but always there.

The mpg barely achieves 32mpg, even though 80% of my journeys are 60 motorway miles.

As with one of your previous contributors, I feel that neither Nissan or their dealers have any interest when they have the money. Why are there not better rights for new purchase? If I had bought it secondhand, I could have returned it within 30 days for a refund.