Nissan Qashqai practicality and boot space

• Spacious and flexible interior
• Boot space easily expands
• Plenty of extra storage areas

Family cars need to be roomy and practical, which is a positive for the Qashqai as it's both of those things. It will easily ferry three kids in the back with ease - and three adults if they don't mind sitting close - while the extra height of the bodywork allows for easier entry and exit of the car, particularly useful when installing child seats or transporting less mobile passengers.

Interior storage space is taken care of by a large central storage box between the front seats, while there are numerous cubbies and compartments to store keys, wallets and mobile phones. To make room for this, the Qashqai uses an electronic parking brake switch rather than a conventional handbrake lever.

One slight niggle is that over-the-shoulder visibility is still restricted by the large rear pillars, making checking the blindspot tricky at times. Most models get a single or 360-degree surround-vision parking camera, but they're not the highest-resolution displays on that central multimedia screen.

Enlarge1videoEnlarge170photo

Qashqai boot space

The tailgate opens higher than with its predecessor – with special provision so that you don’t bash your head on the tailgate (a fundamental problem on the Mk1 Qashqai) – and boot volume is now 430 litres with the seats up - 20 litres more than previously. On all trims the rear seats fold in a 60:40 split, but they don't lie completely flat.

The boot floor is made up of a pair of panels which can be positioned at two heights, either lower to increase boot space or higher to make for a flatter floor when the rear seats are folded.

Enlarge1videoEnlarge170photo

In their highest position there isn’t much of a lip between the boot space and tailgate, making it reasonably easy to slide heavy items out of the boot.

Both floor panels have a carpet surface on one side and a wipe-clean surface on the other, helpful when carrying wet or muddy items. The rearward panel can also be stood upright to divide the boot into two sections, to separate dry and wet items for example, or just to help stop your shopping rolling around.

Helpfully, the parcel shelf can be stored under the boot floor when required. A tyre repair kit in lieu of a spare wheel is standard – a proper spare wheel is available at extra cost. It’s worth noting that this option is not available if you spec the rich-sounding Bose stereo, as the woofer speakers are positioned in the spare wheel well.

Plastic hooks to hang shopping bags on are moulded into the boot sides, while inside the cabin there is more interior storage space than before, with a large central storage box between the front seats. This features an aux-in socket, USB port and 12v socket for charging electrics, with a space under the lid to run a cable through so devices can be still be plugged in when not stowed in the box itself.

How safe is the Qashqai?

• Rated five stars by Euro NCAP
• Raft of up-to-date safety kit
• Many items are optional

In the Euro NCAP test the Nissan Qashqai scored the full five stars, with particularly high scores for adult and child protection, as well as a strong score for pedestrian safety.

Various active safety technology systems are available under Nissan’s ‘Safety Shield’ banner. Depending on trim, some are standard and some are extras at extra cost – see the Equipment section for details.

Systems available include:

• Blind Spot Warning – this has been upgraded to use radar sensors to detect vehicles hidden in the Qashqai’s blindspot - it illuminates a light in the corresponding windscreen pillar to warn the driver
• Intelligent Driver Alertness – displays a warning on the instrument panel should steering inputs become erratic in a way that suggests the driver is drowsy
• Front Collision Avoidance and Forward Emergency Braking – scans the road ahead via radar and issues an audible warning if it detects an imminent collision, before applying the brakes automatically in an emergency. Can now spot pedestrians too
• High Beam Assist – automatically switches the headlamps from full beam to avoid dazzling other traffic
• Lane Departure Warning – alerts the driver if they drift out of lane without indicating. This is actually very irritating in practice – it’s hair-trigger sensitive and emits a harsh beeping noise if you touch a white line
• Moving Object Detection – should a moving object come within their range when manoeuvring, the Around View cameras trigger an audible warning and highlight the rough location of the object on the display screen
• Traffic Sign Recognition – front-facing camera reads speed limit signs and displays them on the instrument panel; function works abroad in Europe, too
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert - new in 2017's facelift is this system which will alert you if you're about to reverse into a road with a car approaching from the side

Watch: Nissan Qashqai Euro NCAP crash test video