Like other long-running model nameplates before it – Range Rover, Toyota Corolla, VW Golf – the Nissan Qashqai has been constantly evolving, being honed to purpose over successive generations such that it has settled into a comfortable familiarity in the lives of millions of families. It’s had fewer faults than most, and there’s a reason why it is still trusted, sells so well and is such a common sight on the road.
It is, in fact, in danger of being rather taken for granted, albeit it still commands a substantial market share. Now cosily commonplace, once it was shockingly novel. The Qashqai did, after all, invent an entirely new market sector when the first iteration was launched back in 1997 – the “crossover”, a cross between a family hatch and an SUV, more versatile than a traditional family car and more compact and efficient than a true go-anywhere off-roader.
