Nissan Qashqai long-term test: report 6

The car Nissan Qashqai N-Connecta DIG-T MH 158 XTronic Run by John Bradshaw, chief photographer

Why it’s here To see if one of Britain's most popular family SUVs can cut it as an all-weather, all-purpose workhorse 

Needs to Carry heavy, bulky equipment all over the country while being comfy, safe and economical

Mileage 9242 List price £32,595 Target Price £30,760 Price as tested £33,050 Test economy 41.0mpg Official economy 44.3mpg 

24 May 2022 – Shapes sorted

Did you ever have one of those educational toys that gave you a range of brightly coloured cuboids, cylinders and prisms, and the challenge of finding the appropriately shaped hole to slot them through? Well, I did, and now my Nissan Qashqai has given me another one. And it's proving a bit of a godsend.

For my job as What Car?'s chief photographer,  I have to carry a lot of valuable camera gear around every day. And even with a boot big enough to hold it all, it's prone to tumbling around and colliding together expensively if it's not held securely in place.

Fortunately, Nissan's thoughtful 'luggage boards' are on hand to address that issue. Rather than just having a moveable boot floor, as is commonplace, Nissan provides moveable planks that can be configured (it says) in 20 different ways. They can be arranged vertically, horizontally or in a combination, and the effect is that they split the boot's volume into handy compartments.

After a period of fiddling, the layout I've arrived at ensures that I don't end up with knackered Nikons at journey's end. It's a feature that I didn't realise was there until quite recently, and now I reckon every car should have it.

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