Nissan Qashqai boot space, practicality and safety

• Good interior space for four – cramped for five
• Large and adaptable boot space
• Ample places to store your nicknacks

How much space is there?

The Qashqai has been designed to be practical. Starting with passenger space, it’s 32mm longer and 35mm wider on the outside than the old model, which means there’s more room for the driver and passengers. You get ample stowage areas in the passenger compartment as well as a generous complement of USB charging points.

Up front, there’s enough head and legroom for six-footers, as you’d expect for a car with a high roofline like this. There’s now 28mm more shoulder space between the front passengers, 20mm more kneeroom for rear seat passengers, bigger cupholders, and larger storage space for phones compared with the old model.

In the back, there’s an acceptable amount of room for a car in this class, but we’d feel happier with two, rather than three, people back there. It’s a great car for parents, especially those with child seats because the doors open to 85 degrees, making getting in and out really simple. We’ve tested it with six-footers in the rear, and we heard no complaints – but if you want the best room in this type of family car, we’d recommend the Skoda Karoq, SEAT Ateca and Volkswagen Tiguan.

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Boot space and storage

The boot has 504 litres’ worth of space. It comes with the highly-configurable Flexible Luggage Board System, which offers a variety of depths as well as an in-built divider. It’s good for fitting in tall objects, while the parcel shelf can fit underneath the boot floor.

A powered tailgate is available, with the increasingly common option of being able to ‘kick’ it open, hands-free, with a wave of your foot under the rear bumper.

In the cabin, you get a generously-sized glovebox, a spacious cubbyhole under armrest in the centre console between the seats and the pair of obligatory cupholders.

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Is it easy to park?

The Qashqai isn’t much longer and wider than a typical hatchback such as a Volkswagen Golf, so that makes it easier to park than you might imagine. It’s easy to manoeuvre in and out of parking spaces thanks to a tight turning circle and ample visibility, as well as front and rear parking sensors and cameras available on all but the entry-level Visia model.

Once you’re out of town, the Qashqai is easy to place, and squeeze through gaps thanks to its responsive steering and upright driving position.

Safety

• Five star rating from Euro NCAP
• Scores particularly well in safety tech
• State-of-the art adaptive cruise control system

The Nissan Qashqai scored a full five out of five from Euro NCAP. The test organisation said it performed particularly well in its safety assist tests.

This is because as standard, the Qashqai comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), blindspot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, and a driver attention alert system that reminds you to take a break if the car detects your driver is dropping off, or you’ve been driving too long. 

The brilliant ProPilot+ system with head-up display is reserved as part of the Tech packs available on the Tekna and N-Connects models, and it’s well worth the outlay. This system helps with motorway driving by assisting steering function at speed, as long as you keep your hands on the wheel. Don’t think that it’s an autonomous system – you need to keep watching the road. If you don’t want to go all the way, lane-keeping assistance is available too.