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Nissan has made some tweaks to its popular Qashqai crossover in a bid to improve its CO2 emissions, which means road tax for private buyers and company car BIK costs have been lowered.
Nissan has achieved this by fitting the Qashqai with new low-rolling resistance tyres straight from the factory.
The new tyres – fitted to higher-spec Qashqai models with 18-inch alloy wheels – bring running costs down and in line with those riding on smaller 17-inch wheels.
Updated figures for diesel models
Diesel Qashqais are likely to be more popular with business users. And as a result of this simple change, those fitted with the 1.5-litre dCi 110 diesel engine in Acenta (with Premium Pack), N-Connecta and N-Vision trims sees CO2 emissions fall from 103g/km to just 99g/km. That means road tax is now free for private users and BIK rates have fallen from 20 to 19 percent at 2016/17 rates.
Similarly, the 1.6-litre dCi 130 diesel fitted with a manual gearbox drops from 120g/km to 116g/km, meaning it now sits in the 23 percent BIK tax bracket – a one percent improvement from previous models. Meanwhile those dCi 130 engines fitted to an automatic gearbox have gone from 128g/km to 122g/km – again, enough to drop a BIK band down to 24 percent.
If you want four-wheel drive, CO2 emissions have fallen from 133g/km down to 129g/km, meaning a lower tax band and a drop into the 25 percent BIK bracket – down one percent.
Petrol versions also improve
Petrol-powered Qashqais reap the benefits of the new tyres, too, with CO2 emissions dropping from 133g/km down to 129g/km in DiG-T 115 models, bringing BIK down to 22 percent.
If you want the more powerful 1.6-litre DiG-T 163 petrol, CO2 emissions have dropped from 138g/km to 134g/km, with BIK rates down one percent again to 23 percent.
These changes have made the Qashqai comparable with its Renault Kadjar equivalent, and more competitive with the newly introduced SEAT Ateca.
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