Nissan X Trail

Hi all


I may have to give up the work Ute soon and buy me own car, I've narrowed it down to this for me hunting and family hauling requirements

Approx 10K budget
5 star Ncap
Big enough to sleep in with seats folded down (Currently sleep in the back of the ute at the roadends)
needs to have some 4wd capability, just for farm tracks etc not proper offroad so AWD will be OK no need for low range.

This has narrowed it down to a 2010ish Nissan X Trail

Now my questions are, does anyone know if the 2.5L engine is better or worse for whatever reason than the more common 2.0L engine? Bigger seems better to me. And also, i realise they are just AWD or 4 High, but how is their 4x4 capability? Would be OK for a bit of muddy farm tracks? Most doc land i go has metal roads and then i take the quad form there so thats no worry.

Also, any other suggestions for that may fit the above criteria that i may have overlooked?

Cheers

Hey mate we had an older model (2001 2.5 4cyl petrol), required a rebuild just shy of 200k, which was covered under warranty. Drove fine, reasonable amount of space for the family gear and dogs, power wise it wasn't anything special but towed ok within reason. Its off-road ability is sufficient for what you need, I wouldn't be going up or down farm tracks when they are wet through, being auto, there is no engine braking when doing ascents and descents. Apart from that if used within its capabilities they're fine. I have heard a lot of people complain about electrical faults but we never had such issues.

I just purchased a 2007 one, first job was to change the crank angle sensor! And it was in a horrible spot. it's 2.5 4wd as you say but remember they are CVT trans so heavy towing will probably lead to early re-builds ect. The bigger motor is definitely better in my opinion (a mate has a 2 litre one).

The CVT has an electronic manual shift (there are no gears as such) which should make it ok for downhill. What's better though is the 4wd lockup which even my Mu didn't have. So 4wd should be fine for what you want.

Oh btw yes definitely heaps of space for the family and gear.

I like them. Had a couple, enough 4wd to get about on the farm races with a bit of weahter/ mud etc but not serious enough to go proper 4wd ing. They do have the 4wd lock which will keeps the wheels driving

We had a 2.5l 2008 when we lived in Oz (NSW & WA) - not many muddy farm tracks but drove around WA on plenty of rutted dirt tracks for thousands of KM's and everything held together.

We didn't really tow with it but loaded it up plenty of times with gear and kayaks on top no problems.

We didn't strike any electrical issues , but had to change out the radiator on one trip which saw us stuck in Margaret River wine country for a few days :-)

We loved it and would own another if they hadn't turned the newer models into a car look-alike with less space inside!

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A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

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Originally Posted by RHSoldboy

A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

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Unfortunately they are quite a lot smaller inside if that's important. For me that was a deal breaker. Also they are CVT now anyway, apparently it's where everything is going :(

I had a 2006 Kia Sportage that you could fold the back seat and front passenger seat down and lie flat in it, did that many times.
Definitely a softroader though but did have a centre diff lock, the tires make all the difference, cheap as chips to run, heaps of spare parts now if you need them too.

Don't touch an xtrail

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Originally Posted by Tommy

Don't touch an xtrail

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Why is that?

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Originally Posted by RHSoldboy

A Rav4 2.4Litre of similar year will give you a 5 speed auto which is a proper auto, not the significantly inferior CVT with compromised towing ability and reliability.

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Yeah they are good cars, but they are a bit too small and im pretty sure they dont have a decent crash test rating at that age.

X trail is a Primera on steroids. Pretty sure 4wd Rav is better. Have you considered a Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4 petrol? Bit thirsty as awd, but has centre diff lock, hi/Lo and are awesome off-road. One I had matched my sons Prado and being narrower was great for navigating thru boulder fields under Mt Ruapehu.

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Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

Yeah they are good cars, but they are a bit too small and im pretty sure they dont have a decent crash test rating at that age.

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Failed the moose test IIRC, and that's up to and including the latest models.

All I can add is that they were marketed as a ‘cross’ Trail but everybody referred the cross on the badge as an ‘ex’ and here we are!

Heeps of space for your kills too.....

Attachment 183194

Try late 10k delica 4x4,sleep in it.Good average track 4x4.Plenty of room in them.

nissan cvt's are awful and unreliable.
we owned an x-trail (x-fail) and had electrical issues abound, just little things but plenty of them.
also they can develop a small crack on the paper thin exhaust manifold that causes air to get sucked in between pulses. the 02 sensor then thinks its running lean and pours more fuel in so it wont idle under 1200.
but that damn cvt is just too unreliable to consider buying one

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Originally Posted by Tommy

Don't touch an xtrail

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definitely touch a crash damaged Xtrail GT tho ;) Good donor vehicle for a VET pulsar

I have had an x japan 2L xtrail for about 2 years ( petrol ) It ticks a lot of boxes for me, can sleep in it without bending ya knees. It is capable of some off raod ability ( I have taken it through some badly washed out tracks, but they are tracks ) It will get over a lot of farm terrain... (wet paddocks, steep down hill and muddy gateways).
It is a CVT auto. I dont tow F/A so thats not an issue for me, it does have a recurring electrical ( fly by wire throttle) issue where it will hunt badly when idling... after spending 3 visits to the DR and the associated cash it is still unresolved but I have learnt to do the throttle reset and this cures the problem for a couple of months.
Apart from this issue it is still a good fit for me, you can hose out the back and the interior and not wet any carpet. you can drive across a farm, up a ski field, go hunting in the forestryand spend the night in it.
Shit it is a reletively old vehicle with not much money invested, you could do a lot worse it depends what you need / want and can / can not spend.

They are a bit more off roady than AWD, mine has low and high and diff locks, the hill descent works well, i have put it to the test a few times and been surprised. Hey it wont climb much but it doesnt have $4000 of off raod aggressive traction tyres either. As they say, it is what it is.

I bought a 2014 one, last model of the box shape, 92k km, sight unseen, one owner for a very good price and mint condition from a wholesale dealer so guessing would have an undisclosed mechanical problem,fseparately I bought a $800 3yr unlimited miles aftermarket warranty that paid $5k per claim. The problem turned out to be a noisy transmission bearing. $4,500 fix. I bought it for exact same reason as OP is looking for. Its perfect for me with the 2.5 motor but around 10.5l per 100km real mileage. Lots of load space, a third more than the horrible new melted shape. Plenty of boogy It likes the tip shift on steep windy stuff- and its a good shift to use. I now have 128k km on it. There are an awful lot of them out there, most popular SUV in the world by numbers apparently. There are a certain % that will have issues and those owners are not shy of dissing them. Mechanic said same as other posters here. Good vehicle, not made for heavy work especially heavy towing. I cringe when I see one with a big boat or van behind it. I run mine between Auckland and Taranaki, Auckland and Tauranga a lot. Excellent to drive...on paddocks and reasonable formed farm tracks it is fine. Does not have clearance for heavy ruts or angle approaches. Has hill descent control which is a great way to destroy brake rotors. Has shift lock.

Best thing I did was put Cooper AT tires on it. With 25k on them they still look new, have a great open road ride and do the biz in the mud and on wet paddocks. But it ain't no Landrover or Landcruiser. I wish I had been able to find .a diesel 2 litre one. Plenty of power and, I believe, traditional manual transmission with a good rep. Mine is NZ new with controls on steering wheel.

They don't like missing a service.

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

definitely touch a crash damaged Xtrail GT tho ;) Good donor vehicle for a VET pulsar

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You are a sick man

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Originally Posted by Tommy

Don't touch an xtrail

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He knows, ask him what NOT to buy (the list very very long) ask him what to buy the list is very very short :D and nearly always ends in ota

i spent 12 hours in the back of one recently..... painfully loud and zero headroom....

i had hoped for better but its off my list.

nissan cvt is still the week point, the subaru and toyota ones are more reliable but still a disgusting transmission

Had a 2004 which went through our family. One sensor fault (crank timing) which scarily just cut the engine off altogether. Luckily were in town at the time and not on the open road. Finally transmission crapped itself at 300k on it. Great room inside and nice and flat space. Was a bit thirsty in the end ( prob due to exhaust issue pointed out up thread). Overall thought it was decent enough.

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The storage drawers in the boot are very handy, wish this was a more common feature for the vehicle type.

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

definitely touch a crash damaged Xtrail GT tho ;) Good donor vehicle for a VET pulsar

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Maybe I could get you to put a 3.0 Isuzu diesel in the Xtrail when the 2.5 dies.

I drove a Nissan xtrail 2.0 for some years, never let me down. Her acceleration is good will give you about 3 seconds push when you using override. Two locks, and dift can fit for most family occasions. fuel cost on road is about 8.5, off road 12 -14. tires is matter if you use alots off road. But still xtrail is not a true truck, it `s a combined solution and cheap. 2.0L is my recommendation. old Aussie 2.5 try avoid.
btw, are you in SI? Canterbury maybe?

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

Even the mighty fall though, some of the Toyota offerings are no better than the xtrails. Current and recent production Hilux's are an good example

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Biggest load of bollocks I’ve read for months outside of the Off Topic section!

This ozzie guy does some decent off roading in his!
https://youtu.be/5wrLO_vClS8

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

Father in law just replaced a D22 ute (the thing was like a pogo stick, needed the shocks done probably but the single cab/chassis D22's ride quite harsh when empty and it was just too rough for the poor old fella). He had the choice of a xtrail and a rav4, went with the rav4 and it drives ok but has been back twice for a list of fix's that probably shouldn't have got off the dealer's lot. Completely missing a stalk off the steering column so no cruise control or dash mode switch, plus several internal bits only along for the ride and not contributing. Now that those are fixed it will be interesting to see how it goes for him.

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D22
Is that Isuzu ??

In the 1990s companies like toyota, nissan, honda, mitsubishi were trying to prove they could manufacture reliable quality vehicles. And prove it they did.

In 2020 those same companies want to prove to the chief financial officer that they can shave another 5 cents off every component - and please the greenies to boot.

I know a head mechanic that works for a Honda franchise. He's tearing his hair out over the quantity of warrentee work he's having to do on brand new-ish quads and side x sides. As the sayiong goes...They just don't build them like they used to.