Nissan X Trail 2004 Review

When there's a Nissan X Trail on offer, you just have to take the bumpy road. You know, the bumper-deep-in-water, climbing 45-degree hills type of roughing it.

This compact 4WD, with his admiringly robust shape and similar rugged looks to his bigger brother, the Patrol, was urging me to take him off road.

Yorke Peninsula was our destination and this was my chance to test out his capabilities. We got off to a good start. His 2.5-litre engine seemed more than generous and the five speed manual, with cruise control, let me know he was a low-maintenance kind of guy. Just my type, smooth and easy to handle.

My sister and I had never been to the peninsula before, so when our male navigator refused to take a road map "because he knows the way", it wasn¿t a surprise when we found ourselves lost on a gravel road. Now was our chance to 4WD. A quick flick of the All Mode 4x4 system dial put us into four-wheeldrive and off we went. Whether it gave us extra traction control I'm not sure, but perhaps that was just because my lad's suspension was so good the ride still seemed silky, even on gravel. Unfortunately, there was no way to properly test the X-Trail¿s skills since the road was as flat as a pancake without a hill in sight. Never mind, the X-Trail still got dirty enough to look as if we had being roughing it.

The downside of that was I had to wash him before this picture was taken, and for future reference girls, the roof on a 4WD isn¿t the easiest to DIY clean. I recommend opting for the automatic car wash. And although he¿s quite tall, the X-Trail is easy to step in and out of, so there¿s no need to worry about twisting your ankle as you hop out. My six-year-old jack russell got in the back seat in one easy move and considering she¿s been having trouble jumping on the bed lately, that impressed me. Easier to clean is the interior. Luckily, the seats are covered in a durable, dog-hair repelling fabric, and the doors, dash and luggage space have dirt and water resistant surfaces. The X-Trail comes with little luxuries too, the leather steering wheel, keyless entry, power windows, air-con and CD player, all of which make you feel special. There¿s also loads of storage, including hidden compartments on top of the dash in front of both the driver and passenger. But an unusual feature is having the speedo, tachometer and fuel gauge located above the CD/stereo. If there's one thing I could change about my new boy it is this. I couldn't read my speed accurately without leaning over to the left, and that meant having to take my eyes off the road.

Now some will say women aren't always the best drivers, but that makes it a bit rough on all of us.