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jalalski Profile
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Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: SUTHERLAND, SYDNEY
TOTAL POSTS: 29100
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T32 X-TRAIL ST-L First Test Drive Report


Hi Guys,

Just returned from the local Nissan dealership after spending an hour or so test driving the all new T32 Exy.

It was the 2WD ST-L version 2.5LT petrol (5 seater) - CVT Transmission

First impressions when I sae the car from the outside sitting in the dealer's yard was .....this looks like the Dualis and almost a 100% copy of the Mazda CX7 or CX9.

I opened the tailgate and was astonished to see how small and narrow it was compared to both the T30 and T31. I mean Nissan did do some fancy shelving options but the size of the boot of the T32 is nowhere near as practical and spacious like the previous models and I think this will be one of the major let downs when they start selling these!

Full size steel wheel spare is included with this vehicle which came with 17" alloys.

Next I opened the driver's side door and was nicely greeted with an awesome dash layout....I mean it really is VERY VERY nice and gives the impression of luxury, this is highly attributed to the fact that Nissan Australia finally decided to import an X-Trail with a fully integrated head unit rather than plugging in some half-baked after market option or using the piss poor screen size of the Nissan Connect system which they used in the T31 Series 5.

The air-con climate controls are exactly where they should be and now at least if offers the option of split zoning whereby the driver and the passenger can each set their own temperature the way they want it.

The engine push start button is a nice touch indeed and the way you start the car is by pressing on the brake pedal and pushing the start engine button once.

The handbrake has also been replaced with a much more practical footbrake, so you get more space in the centre console for storage and it now also offer air-cooled cup holders there. The centre console storage also has a power point in which is a big bonus. You also have a dedicated power outlet and a USB outlet for your electronics.

The head unit is DAB enabled, so you will be listening to digital radio stations which finally solves the problem of crappy radio reception of all previous models.

The satellite navigation seems well advanced and captures the satellites and calculates the route VERY fast indeed.

Sound quality is very good and it also comes built-in with phone answering ability as standard and includes the phone answering buttons in the steering wheel.

The rear air conditioning vents work perfectly fine and pump cold air at a very good rate, so the rear passengers can actually feel the cold air flow rather than just look at the vents with almost no air coming out of them like it is the case with the T31 on hot days like today.

The rear leg room has increased in size and after sitting in the back I felt very comfortable. This leg room increase came at a cost of reducing the boot size which is a VERY high price to pay and I would much rather preferred to have kept the large boot size to use for camping gear....etc

The leather seats are OK but for some reason they felt more synthetic to me compared to the T31 leather seats found in the Ti. The door trims do include leather inserts which are nice and soft and in general you don't get the feeling of that plastic interior when you sit in the T32. This is a good improvement indeed.

It was time to jump in the car and take it for a test drive around the block, so I started reversing out of the dealership and happy to say that I totally relied on the Around View Monitor to reverse out successfully without straining my neck. The large screen size (7" I think it was) offered a perfect view of everything. You still to use the old trusted method of reversing, but it is nice to know that the technology is there to assist you when you need it.

I hit the road and was nicely surprised by the responsiveness of the CVT. I mean it looks to me that Nissan have totally changed the way the CVT transmission behaves and you can now force gear changes and the car accelerates like a rocket. The responsiveness of the accelerator pedal is amazing and the most important thing is that you don't hear the engine revving its guts out trying to keep up with the transmission which is another huge improvement and bonus.

The car corners and handles very good and even going over speed humps it feels nice and smooth with no rattles at all.

The car feels much lighter on the road compared to the T31 and that is mainly attributed to the fact that it is indeed a smaller car and a much more suited shape for this size engine.

The electronic dash driver information display includes very nice graphics of what the car is doing and when you turn the engine off it gives a graph analysis of the fuel consumption and how and when your fuel consumption spiked. In my case it was very easy to tell when the fuel consumption hit the top during the test drive emoticon

The lighting of the instrument panel is white and it dims when you turn on the headlights.

The headlights on this model were still halogen with an LED strip which I thought was disappointing, as I think it is time Nissan offered HID headlights as standard across all models.

The tail lights are not LED either and very hard to see in daylight, so this is another let down compared to the T31.

The mirrors now offer integrated turning signal indicators which Nissan has finally implemented and included it as standard on the T32.

The design of the alloy wheels looks a bit boring compared to the nice look and feel of the T31 alloy wheels, but this is a personal taste and others may find the T32 alloys attractive.

The shape of the front grill and the integrated forward facing camera which is part of the AVM system has got a nice feel about it and I think it compliments the car nicely. The same applies to the nice position of the front bumper fog lamps.

All in all, it is a nice package but I doubt you can justify spending close to $50 grand (on the Ti 4WD version), as I doubt you will ever use the T32 for towing and off-roading, so I see Nissan Australia being more successful in selling the 2WD versions of the T32 rather than the 4WD versions because the T32 is now a true City Car!

Here are some photos of the T32 I test drove today. (see slideshow HERE)

I hope you found this report informative and I look forward to hearing your own views and opinions when you get a chance to test drive one.

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15/Mar/2014, 1:48 pm Link to this post Send Private Message MSN Blog
 
Revhead Kev Profile
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Date Registered: 10-2006
Location: Mona Vale, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
TOTAL POSTS: 6355
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Re: T32 X-TRAIL ST-L First Test Drive Report


Looking at your pics Jalal, it seems like it is really a 2+2 with the centre rear seat not being comfortable for any lengthy drives. Did you try it out ?

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Kev X450(c) T30 Guru
03 Titanium Ti T30 Series 1 **MODIFIED**
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17/Mar/2014, 12:38 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message Blog
 
jalalski Profile
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Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: SUTHERLAND, SYDNEY
TOTAL POSTS: 29100
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Re:


Yes I did try it out and the seating position for me as an adult felt much more roomy in the legs area than the T30 and T31, however the challenge would be to be to fit 3 adults at the back and I bet they'd quickly forget about the additional leg room space LOL emoticon

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17/Mar/2014, 1:40 pm Link to this post Send Private Message MSN Blog
 
freewill11 Profile
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X-TRAIL HOLIC
 


Date Registered: 02-2008
Location: North Maclean Qld
TOTAL POSTS: 4150
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If I am going to spend another 50k on a car it will be the MUX and it will have full 4wd in it prepared to what the X-trail has turned into.

I do not like it one bit at all and will never purchase one.

Thanks for doing the review Jalal.

Regards Scot.

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T31 2008 CVT TI Series 1 Electric Blue
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19/Mar/2014, 11:04 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message
 
Exywarrior Profile
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X-TRAIL FANATIC
 


Date Registered: 10-2011
Location: Darwin, NT
TOTAL POSTS: 325
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Good review indeed, Jalal.

I notice the car comes with Yokohama Geolandar tyres which will please some.

Clearly Nissan has decided that the X-Trail does not need to be a serious off-road option in its class any more, which I think a lot of current X-Trailers will find extremely disappointing. There is just no way a T32 would make it up Mt Coree or indeed do many of the other trips that people have done and reported previously.

I also think the lack of a diesel option is rather short sighted given the growing popularity of diesel cars in Aus as a greener option than petrol counterparts (generally modern diesels emit much less CO2). Maybe the negative experience with the M9R and the pending jump to Euro V rules might have discouraged them.

Overall I'm disappointed and in three years' time I'll likely be going to another brand that offers a mid-size diesel 4WD that has some talent off the road. The pickin's are getting pretty thin!

Last edited by Exywarrior, 22/Mar/2014, 11:33 pm


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Mark T
2011 Series 4 T31 TL Auto - Twilight, factory towbar, factory mats, tinting, Cooper CS5s, cathodic protection, paint protection, yada yada...and no Provent
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22/Mar/2014, 11:31 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message Blog
 
jalalski Profile
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Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: SUTHERLAND, SYDNEY
TOTAL POSTS: 29100
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Hi Mark,

The Diesel T32 is coming and will be available by end of this year. Nissan Japan are doing a bit of homework on the T32 Diesel before they release it to the market and this may indicate they are trying to sort some of the current problems and avoid repeating them in the T32.

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23/Mar/2014, 6:17 am Link to this post Send Private Message MSN Blog
 
vivre Profile
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X-TRAIL NEWBIE
 


Date Registered: 03-2014
Location: Perth, WA
TOTAL POSTS: 35
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Re:


I placed an order for the T-32 ST-L 2WD version on Saturday.

Apparently I am the first private buyer for this model in Western Australia emoticon

ETA given by the dealer is 10 working days, plus minus 2 days.

*excited*



By the way, I agree with jalalski on many of his observations from his test drive.

The T-32 is more of a 'City Car' aka 'Soccer Mom' car than the T-32.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the power of the new CVT, with the sales person telling me to rev up to 4500RPM before lifting the pedal and maintaining speed, as that's the way Nissan has taught them to drive the new Altima and X-Trail vehicles.

That is very different from the usual way I normally drive, but having test-driven as told, I find that on the T-32 even such high revs at 4500-5000RPM provided nice comfortable acceleration without detecting any strain on the engine or transmission.

The thing that ultimately sealed the deal for me was the luxurious interior. nothing like the cheap plastics used in the RAV4s and CRVs......





 

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Member Number X-3613
2014 T-32 ST-L 2WD Pearl White
24/Mar/2014, 6:15 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message Blog
 
jalalski Profile
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Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: SUTHERLAND, SYDNEY
TOTAL POSTS: 29100
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Re:


Congrats mate, what colour did you choose?

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24/Mar/2014, 7:00 pm Link to this post Send Private Message MSN Blog
 
vivre Profile
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X-TRAIL NEWBIE
 


Date Registered: 03-2014
Location: Perth, WA
TOTAL POSTS: 35
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Re: Re:


I've always owned white cars....... So I chose the pearl white for my new X-Trail....

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Member Number X-3613
2014 T-32 ST-L 2WD Pearl White
24/Mar/2014, 10:37 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message Blog
 
kennygwood Profile
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Date Registered: 03-2014
Location: Heywood nr Manchester UK
TOTAL POSTS: 8
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Re: T32 X-TRAIL ST-L First Test Drive Report


Hi, good review Jalal!


Uk T30/T31 owners are (generally) underwhelmed by the T32 as well....

Here's a link to the Diesel engine that we are expecting.....which is less powerful than the M9R but the consumption is improved :-)

http://www.carscoops.com/2014/02/renault-unveils-160ps-twin-turbocharged.html

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2008 173 T31 Aventura Explorer Extreme unmodded
26/Mar/2014, 11:00 pm Link to this post Send Email PM   Send Private Message Blog
 


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