Ford Ecosport vs Nissan Qashqai

What's the difference?

We live in a strange time, where cars are going the way of the dinosaur and SUVs will take their place as the primary offerings of the worlds oldest and biggest car companies.

Look at Ford, the brand that literally wrote the book on automotive mass-production will soon no longer sell cars in its home market of America (apart from the Mustang, of course…) There’s a story your grandpa won’t believe.

It makes SUVs, especially small ones like the EcoSport all the more important. Customers who once would have considered the Fiesta small hatch (on which the EcoSport is based) would now rather hop into one of these. At least, that’s what the data says.

So, is the EcoSport a worthy successor to the hatchback mantle? Is it even economical or sporty? And what happened to the spare wheel on the rear door? Read on to find out.

If you think you know Nissan and haven’t driven one of its impressive e-Power models, you might be in for a surprise.

Be it the latest-generation X-Trail from Japan or the related smaller Qashqai out of the UK, this plugless petrol-electric hybrid powertrain is one of the best crossovers at any price point.

Now, barely a year after the facelift appeared in Australia, the Qashqai scores another round of changes.

We take a close look at the up-spec Ti-L to see if they make one of the best small SUVs even better (or worse).