Nissan's city slicker

Paul Carter and Jamie Trounce found the Nissan Qashqai well equipped for a summertime urban adventure

I’m sure you’ve seen the adverts on television for the Nissan Qashqai: it’s the one in which the car is used by giant feet as a skateboard and flipped off the walls of buildings and the like.

In reality, the car is not quite as exuberant as the ads suggest but its design, while not necessarily groundbreaking, is certainly adventurous.

The Qashqai is a rather odd yet unexpectedly appealing hybrid between a Chelsea tractor-style four-wheel drive and a family hatchback, retaining the exterior presence of the former but with the compact, driver-friendly features of the latter.

With the car billed by the manufacturers as “urbanproof”, it should come as no surprise that the Qashqai is very much a car designed for city driving.

In fact, in terms of ride quality, the Qashqai is easily the best we’ve driven so far.

The seats are extremely ergonomical and, combined with the smooth suspension and nippy handling, provide for a comfortable yet responsive drive experience.

We did find the brakes to be a little too snappy when driving in traffic and the clutch a little long, but these issues lessened as we got used to the character of the car.

The interior is initially rather bewildering with a multitude of controls and buttons on the wheel, door and dash but all are placed in a position that can be accessed easily without moving the hands too far from the wheel.

The best feature of the lot is accessible through one press of a button above the driver’s head. This retracts a huge sunscreen to reveal a full-length glass roof covering driver and passengers.

As mentioned previously, the Qashqai is noticeably bigger than vehicles such as the Focus and requires climbing up rather than stepping down to get in.

Because of this, it should be noted that it most certainly won’t suit everyone and those regularly travelling with a wheelchair may want to check out a model in more detail.

For those looking for that very rare thing these days – a genuinely inventive car design in a category not spoilt for exciting choice – the Qashqai could most definitely be the vehicle for you.

The Nissan Qashqai is available on the Motability scheme in more than 40 different combinations of engine sizes and specifications. Prices range from a £1,199 advance for the 1.6 Acenta, up to £4,799 for the top-spec Tekna