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A crossover to remember: the Nissan Qashqai+2

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Feb 232011

The Nissan Qashqai is a fun, little mini-SUV that is designed as a city-slicker. It leaves the off-road, mucky stuff to its older brother, the Murano. The Qashqai+2 is an elongated Qashqai, and has jumped on the seven-seater bandwagon.

When car manufacturers started adding a few extra seats to cars to hold seven people, it made the whole industry stand up and take notice. No longer do you need a mini-bus to carry your family and a few friends when an SUV can do it nicely.

There are two engine choices for the Qashqaui+2; a 1.5 litre diesel and a 2.0 litre petrol engine. Unfortunately, the petrol engine does not deliver enough power or torque and can feel lifeless, especially with six passengers. It is keen to rev, but gutless all the same. The 1.5 is slow but it has more zest about it, as long as you keep the revs above 1,500rpm. A 1.6 petrol and a 2.0 litre turbo diesel engine, which are penned to be available, should see more oomph where it’s needed most.

The regular Qashqai offers a keen turn in and ample performance, but the quasqai +2, with its longer wheelbase and weak engines, seems to be a little lifeless. The chassis is good and it is composed through corners, but it lacks that ‘peppiness’ that the five-seat Qashqai has.

Nissan Quasqai +2 - 7 Seater Cars

In terms of practicality, the Qashqai+2 is perfect for carrying four adults and three children. The rearmost seats are tiny and adults would be hard pushed to not need a chiropractor after a trip in them. Although the headroom has been raised and the middle seats slide forward, there is simply not enough space for anyone taller than a child.

The boot space is more than ample with the rear seats folded out of the way, adding a further 55 litres to the total capacity of 915 litres. This is how the Qashqai should be seen; a car that has the option to take seven people, but it would prefer not to.

The optional four-wheel drive system needs to be mulled over when ticking the options box. Do you really need all four wheels to sap the energy created by the slightly tame engines? Are you actually going to take it off road? The extra cost, weight and power-sapping ability of the four-by-four system is only needed if you live out in the sticks and you need the extra traction. The Qashqai’s chassis is far from poor and can handle similarly to a regular car in normal circumstances.

The Qashqai+2 also has the largest panoramic glass roof of any car on sale. This adds more light to the slightly dark cabin, especially with the extra seats in place. With fold-down seats that have cup holders in them and sliding chairs that add more boot space, and still keeping that modern-look of the regular Qashqai, the +2 is certainly worth a look.

At only £17,199 for the 2.0 litre engine model, it’s very competitive, and although the Ford S-Max does trump the little Nissan in many ways, it lacks that flair that Nissan has being instilling in its cars over the past decade.

A Uk List of 7 Seater Cars is available from our main website: www.7-seater-cars.co.uk

The ultra versatile Toyota Avensis Verso

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Jan 272011

The Toyota Avensis Verso is managing to keep up with newer rivals despite being a few years older. Sometimes forgotten about, this Toyota seven-seater remains an excellent choice for those who need plenty of space in their vehicles.

This model isn’t built on the same chassis as the Avensis saloon, despite sharing a similar name; it has its own unique chassis that is specifically designed to cope with ‘extra bodies’. In the UK, most Toyotas are built at the Derbyshire factory, but the Avensis Verso (or Ipsum/Picnic in other countries) is built in Japan and shipped over.

Originally bridging the gap in 1997 against the Ford Galaxy, the Renault Espace and the estate car category, the previously named Picnic managed to fit more space into a tighter, more compact package to please car buyers who wanted just this without a huge bus-like MPV or a low-headroom estate.

Toyota Verso - 7 Seater Car MPV

The Picnic soon turned into the Avensis Verso, and gained an extra two seats. The Avensis was a great achievement for Toyota, turning around the dull and lacklustre Carina E into a smart, luxury saloon. The Verso copies this yet adds versatility to the name, and being classed as a sports van, it keeps the practicality of a larger MPV but in a cooler, more easy-on-the-eye shape.

Three engines are available; a 2.0 and a 2.4 petrol engine or a 2.0 116bhp turbo-diesel. The latter is the preferred choice of most buyers, as Toyota’s D-4D oil-burner is frugal yet packs a punch in terms of torque. It delivers 191.7 ft-lbs of torque as low as 1,600rpm, which is enough to feel sprightly even with all seven seats full.

The petrol engines are great, too, but for load-lugging journeys, a diesel makes more sense as it will still return 40mpg-plus, while the petrol engines will barely bring home more than half of that figure.

The main pull to the Verso is the fact that it acts like three different cars. On one hand, you have a seven-seater car that can take the extended family on drives. On the other hand, you can remove the two rear seats and have a chasm-like boot space and five seats. Lastly, all of the seats can be folded away neatly to reveal a competitor to a transit van.

The rear of the Verso is simply huge without seats in the way, and this makes this underrated seven-seater perfect for those who need this type of space capacity.

With the competing Mazda 6, Vauxhall Zafira, Peugeot 4007 and Ford Focus C-Max all having new models on the market, it’s about time the Verso was given a ‘new face’ more in line with the existing Avensis. Toyota is always pushing the limits of its cars in terms of power, technology and economy, so we might even see a seven-seater hybrid technology car soon.

The new ‘Wave’ Mazda 5 seven-seater

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Jan 142011

Mazda’s compact MPV gets an aerodynamic wave on its flanks to help fuel efficiency and bring the company’s latest design features to the model. New Mazda 5’s are available from £18,951.25 on the road and that includes the VAT fixed at 2010 rate.

Mazda has come along in leaps and bounds in the last five years, particularly as most of the models share similar platforms with Ford. The latest Mazda 5 sits on the same floor plan as the Ford Focus C-Max, which is arguably one of the best MPVs for sale today, and the Mazda 5′s direct rival.

The new ’5′ has stepped up in taking typical ‘van’ characteristics and making them look more car-like. The new ‘Wave’ side panels are said to reduce the aerodynamic drag co-efficient, the air-swirl and to help the MPV pierce the air more cleanly, reducing fuel consumption in the process. Mazda’s latest design ‘language’ is called Nagare and could well be seen across other models.

New Mazda 5 - 7 Seater Car

It’s debatable whether the creases in the side doors actually help with fuel economy, but if you choose the gutsy 2.5 petrol engine, you’ll want to recoup some of the fuel costs. There is a 1.8 petrol engine and Ford’s dynamic 1.9TDi diesel, which is the pick of the bunch. There is a 1.4, but you would need to wring its neck to get up hills, especially if you have seven adults on-board.

The latest 2.0 petrol engine is said to reduce CO2 emissions by 15 per cent compared to the previous 2.0, and it comes with the latest ‘stop & start’ technology called i-stop, which shuts the engine off when waiting at traffic lights.

There is a Sport model which comes with a six-speed, slick manual gearbox that is a delight, and for the upper models there is a smooth-shifting five-speed automatic. There are safety features galore, such as a tyre-pressure monitoring system, electronic stability control, ABS, traction control and no less than six airbags.

Whether you choose the Sport, the Touring or the Grand Touring trim levels, there’s enough standard kit to please most people. The top of the range Grand Touring model gets leather seats, satellite navigation, a power sunroof and an MP3-compatible CD player.

There are 50/50 split-folding seats which are laid out in three rows and are ultra versatile. The interior is solid and hard-wearing, and most importantly, long-lasting, meaning that it can take the wear and tear that comes with carrying push-chairs, kids and more.

As with previous Mazda 5 models, there are sliding rear doors, which are great for tight car-parking spaces, and a car-like driving position. Being based on the C-Max chassis, the driver can feel connected to the road and with this brings driver confidence. Having electronic leash of traction control and stability control helps to bolster the ‘safe’ feeling of driving the ’5′.

We’ll be seeing more of the ‘Wave’ exterior design with the new Mazda ’6′, which will be launched at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. So if you’re interested in the latest design from Mazda and a 7-seater people carrier, the Mazda 5 could be just the ticket.

To read more about 7 Seater Cars visit the main website: www.7-seater-cars.co.uk