Perhaps most importantly of all, however, is that the new powertrain is able to deliver impressive fuel consumption, too. Our week behind the wheel – which covered all types of roads, including plenty of motorway miles and acceleration testing – liberated an average fuel consumption of roughly 53mpg. Sure, that doesn’t quite match the N-Connecta’s official 61.4mpg claim, but for a car in this class, it’s still very impressive. Further financial savings come at service time, because this new e-Power has 12,000-mile intervals – up from the previous 9,000 miles.
The updated e-Power looks pretty much identical to before, but some small changes, including tweaked door mirrors, front tyre deflectors to channel air around the sides of the car more cleanly, and a larger undertray, all contribute to 1g/km of that overall reduction in CO2 emissions.
Elsewhere, the Qashqai retains all of its previous strong points. It’s towards the comfier side of the class when it comes to ride and handling, although it still feels a little more responsive than many of its rivals through turns, too.
The interior isn’t the most exciting to look at, but ergonomically it’s hard to fault. Big, physical controls for the air-conditioning are a huge plus, and a Google-based infotainment system, introduced during last year’s mid-life facelift, is miles better than the tech that the Qashqai launched with. More recent software updates have refined this system further.
