Thread: Nissan X Trail

Hi all


I may have to give up the work Ute soon and buy me own car, I've narrowed it down to this for me hunting and family hauling requirements

Approx 10K budget
5 star Ncap
Big enough to sleep in with seats folded down (Currently sleep in the back of the ute at the roadends)
needs to have some 4wd capability, just for farm tracks etc not proper offroad so AWD will be OK no need for low range.

This has narrowed it down to a 2010ish Nissan X Trail

Now my questions are, does anyone know if the 2.5L engine is better or worse for whatever reason than the more common 2.0L engine? Bigger seems better to me. And also, i realise they are just AWD or 4 High, but how is their 4x4 capability? Would be OK for a bit of muddy farm tracks? Most doc land i go has metal roads and then i take the quad form there so thats no worry.

Also, any other suggestions for that may fit the above criteria that i may have overlooked?

Cheers

Hey mate we had an older model (2001 2.5 4cyl petrol), required a rebuild just shy of 200k, which was covered under warranty. Drove fine, reasonable amount of space for the family gear and dogs, power wise it wasn't anything special but towed ok within reason. Its off-road ability is sufficient for what you need, I wouldn't be going up or down farm tracks when they are wet through, being auto, there is no engine braking when doing ascents and descents. Apart from that if used within its capabilities they're fine. I have heard a lot of people complain about electrical faults but we never had such issues.

I just purchased a 2007 one, first job was to change the crank angle sensor! And it was in a horrible spot. it's 2.5 4wd as you say but remember they are CVT trans so heavy towing will probably lead to early re-builds ect. The bigger motor is definitely better in my opinion (a mate has a 2 litre one).

The CVT has an electronic manual shift (there are no gears as such) which should make it ok for downhill. What's better though is the 4wd lockup which even my Mu didn't have. So 4wd should be fine for what you want.

Oh btw yes definitely heaps of space for the family and gear.

I like them. Had a couple, enough 4wd to get about on the farm races with a bit of weahter/ mud etc but not serious enough to go proper 4wd ing. They do have the 4wd lock which will keeps the wheels driving

We had a 2.5l 2008 when we lived in Oz (NSW & WA) - not many muddy farm tracks but drove around WA on plenty of rutted dirt tracks for thousands of KM's and everything held together.

We didn't really tow with it but loaded it up plenty of times with gear and kayaks on top no problems.

We didn't strike any electrical issues , but had to change out the radiator on one trip which saw us stuck in Margaret River wine country for a few days :-)

We loved it and would own another if they hadn't turned the newer models into a car look-alike with less space inside!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

Originally Posted by RHSoldboy

A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

Unfortunately they are quite a lot smaller inside if that's important. For me that was a deal breaker. Also they are CVT now anyway, apparently it's where everything is going

I had a 2006 Kia Sportage that you could fold the back seat and front passenger seat down and lie flat in it, did that many times.
Definitely a softroader though but did have a centre diff lock, the tires make all the difference, cheap as chips to run, heaps of spare parts now if you need them too.

Don't touch an xtrail

Originally Posted by Tommy

Don't touch an xtrail

Why is that?

Originally Posted by RHSoldboy

A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

Yeah they are good cars, but they are a bit too small and im pretty sure they dont have a decent crash test rating at that age.

X trail is a Primera on steroids. Pretty sure 4wd Rav is better. Have you considered a Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4 petrol? Bit thirsty as awd, but has centre diff lock, hi/Lo and are awesome off-road. One I had matched my sons Prado and being narrower was great for navigating thru boulder fields under Mt Ruapehu.

Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

Yeah they are good cars, but they are a bit too small and im pretty sure they dont have a decent crash test rating at that age.

Failed the moose test IIRC, and that's up to and including the latest models.

All I can add is that they were marketed as a ‘cross’ Trail but everybody referred the cross on the badge as an ‘ex’ and here we are!

Heeps of space for your kills too.....