Faults:

Drive chain breakage.

High oil consumption; requires frequent checking of levels.

Lambda sensor faults result in rich fuel mixtures, causing a spike in fuel consumption and leading to engine hesitation or power loss, as well as carbon buildup on the injectors.

The clutch broke completely.

The front shock absorber support bearings accumulate dirt and generate creaking and abrasive wear.

The rear shock absorbers often require frequent replacement (every 30,000 to 50,000 km).

General Comments:

This Nissan is an exceptionally comfortable car, and comfort is precisely its standout feature.

It excels above all due to its agility and its excellent balance between comfort and stability. Its road manners are exemplary.

That said, its off-road capabilities are virtually non-existent; while it can handle minor obstacles and slight challenges on unpaved surfaces, as soon as the terrain becomes even slightly difficult, it quickly becomes apparent that it is far from the most suitable vehicle for such tasks. Thus, the natural habitat of this car is undoubtedly the open road, where it is completely in its element.

Mechanically, it is pleasant, smooth, and delivers magnificent performance. It has plenty of power from the low end of the rev range, builds revs easily, and can reach 4,500 rpm without any drop-off in the feeling of thrust. Given the vehicle's characteristics, fuel consumption is low. Overall, with "responsible" driving, it is easy to achieve a combined average of under 7.3 liters (the manufacturer’s official figure is 6.4). Considering the power and responsiveness the Qashqai delivers with this engine, these are undoubtedly very good figures.

In short, it is a comfortable, fuel-efficient SUV that is pleasant to drive. On the downside, it consumes more oil than it should, and the brakes, besides being somewhat poor, require very frequent servicing. It isn't the worst in its class, but certainly not the best, either.

Faults:

The handbrake cables failed - one side at a time. Note that aftermarket ones do not work well at the current time; genuine Nissan are the way to go.

The air conditioning unit began to make strange noises. This was traced to a leaking condenser. Once replaced, with a new receiver/dryer, we have had no further problems.

General Comments:

After 80,000 miles in four years (taking the mileage to over 200,000), our 2002 Toyota Avensis was getting tired and in need of expenditure in excess of its value, so it was time for a replacement.

My wife wanted a dark-coloured Qashqai with the reversing camera and sat-nav, so that narrowed it down to a Tekna or N-Tec. I preferred the look of the facelifted 2010-on model and did not want a diesel nor an automatic. The 2-litre petrol seems quite rare, so a 1.6 petrol was the optimum choice. I found this car and paid £8000. The price was affected by the high mileage, but this does not put me off and as it was ex-lease, it had a full service history.

After a year and putting nearly 20k on it, we remain very pleased. Aside from the issues noted above, it has had 4 oil changes, two air filter changes, two pollen filter changes and a new set of spark plugs. I have done all of this myself. It is fairly easy to work on, although you need to take the undertray off to get at the sump plug, and the spark plugs require the inlet manifold to come off, which is a bit of a pain (but prevalent on a lot of modern cars).

There is quite a lot of surface rust on the front crossmember, which will be sorted out in due course - but I would have expected Nissan to learn their lesson in this regard with the Micra and Almera.

The car drives very well and is practical and spacious for our family of three. I removed the 18" wheels with their 55-profile tyres and fitted 16" wheels with 65-profile tyres - much better ride quality (so useful on our potholed roads) and cheaper replacement costs with little loss of ultimate grip.

The 1.6 engine is a little undergeared (3500 RPM = 70mph) and could do with a sixth gear. Economy is pretty good - we have averaged 38 MPG over the last 20,000 miles, with two-thirds of the driving being in town.

The top-line Tekna specification has all the fruit - leather seats (heated in front), a Bose stereo, Xenon headlights, cruise control, a full-colour satnav (the 2010 maps are fine) and reversing camera, plus a glass panoramic roof.

We aim to keep the car as long as possible, at least until 200,000 miles ideally.