Nissan Qashqai long-term test: report 9

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 15,405 List price £31,535 Target price £28,425 Price as tested £33,135 Test economy 42.5 mpg Official economy 44.3 mpg

14 September 2022 – The Qashqai aims to please

In my previous diary entry, I touched upon how the 'sport' in Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) refers not to raciness on the part of the vehicle, but leisure on the part of its owner. Handily, I've since had the chance to see how my Nissan Qashqai turns its hand to active pursuits – well, one. Archery.

William Tell's favourite passtime has become something of a tradition in my family, too. Every year, my sisters Catherine and Judith join me for a day's archery in deepest Herefordshire, which is a trip of about 160 miles from my home in Twickenham. It's a trip back in time in more ways than one, harking back to the days when we'd travel together on family days out, albeit in a Vauxhall Chevette family car, rather than a modern family SUV.

While our attendance of the Bow Meeting is regular enough that we know vaguely how to get there, I'm still reliant on sat-nav to home in on its precise location. In the case of the Qashqai, that means a relatively straightforward procedure of entering the full seven-digit postcode via the 9.0in infotainment touchscreen. This is easy enough to do when stationary, as the final task before setting off on a journey, but it's rather trickier when you're in motion; although the Qashqai's ride is far from bumpy, it's still far from easy to accurately jab all the right letters in the right order to enter a useful destination.

Once we were confident that the car knew where we wanted to go, the journey itself passed with no drama – such is life with the Qashqai. That said, I was soon reminded of an annoying quirk of its traffic sign recognition system. While it's generally pretty quick to pick up speed limits posted on overhead gantries, it's nothing like as good at recognising that they've ended. If I relied on the dashboard display, I might easily find myself being overtaken by HGVs when I'm sticking to 50mph for no reason.

Anyway, there were no comfort-related gripes from either of my sisters, even on the twistier roads as we crossed into Herefordshire. When the sat-nav announced that we'd reached our destination, though – we hadn't. As has happened before, even in urban areas, the sat-nav got us to within 200 yards of where we wanted to be, despite using a full-length postcode. On the return journey, I used Waze via the standard Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring system instead; it proved much more accurate and provided traffic predictions into the bargain.

And the archery? You might not believe it, but I was on target more often than the sat nav.

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