Nissan X-Trail gets cheaper thanks to new 1.6 litre DIG-T 163PS engine

Photo Nissan X-Trail with 1.6 litre DIG-T 163PS engine

The Nissan X-Trail SUV has been given a new engine option, with the 1.6 litre DIG-T 163PS petrol engine from the Qashqai cutting the X-Trail’s entry price to £21,995.

Nissan took the rather boxy X-Trail SUV off to meet the Qashqai design brief in 2013 and delivered a new, more rounded X-Trail, which looked more appealing, but also came with a less powerful diesel engine than before.

That 1.6 litre diesel – with just 129bhp it is a lot less powerful than the 171bhp 2.0 litre the X-Trail previously had – has been Hobson’s choice in the X-Trail ever since, but now Nissan has decided the X-trail should get a petrol engine option with a bit more power.

They’ve chosen to take the 1.6 litre DIG-T 163PS petrol engine from the Qashqai and bolt it in to the X-Trail – which they really should have done from the start – and in the process delivered an X-Trail that performs better – 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds – still manages official consumption of 45.6mpg (a bit less in n-tec and Tekna spec) and is £1,460 cheaper than the diesel option at £21,995 for the entry-level model.

Buyers believe the diesel option is the way to go for a compact SUV, but the new petrol engine in the X-Trail is by far the better choice unless you’re doing silly mileage, and with a lower price point than the diesel, better performance and nicer to drive, the petrol-engined X-Trail should be the default buy.

The Nissan X-Trail with the new petrol engine is now on sale at Nissan’s UK dealers – across all the X-Trail’s model grades including seven-seat option for the Acenta, n-tec and Tekna models.