Long-term car review: Nissan X-Trail Tekna 4WD

It may have slipped down the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) new car registrations rankings but Nissan's X-Trail flagship SUV still delivers.

In 2019 Nissan had 45,133 registrations for its SUVs, the Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail. This exceeds the SUV brand de jour, Land Rover by 3,167 units, despite the latter having 300 more derivatives to choose from.

Nissan has led the pack since taking the top spot from Land Rover in 2009 when annual sales exceeded 30,000 units for the first time for the Japanese brand, reaching a peak in 2017 of around 121,000 in 2017*.

The X-Trail has slipped in its impact on SUV sales – and in the Nissan range. It now sits fifth behind the Qashqai, Juke, Micra and Navara.

Numbers may have diminished, but when buyers choose it, they’re going for maximum luxury. Nissan revealed the top seller in the X-Trail range is the 1.3 DIG-T Tekna DCT Automatic 7-seat 2WD. Half of X-trail buyers go for the top spec Tekna version, “as they want the luxury and equipment of a fully-equipped family SUV”, Nissan said.

X-Trail is available with up to £3,250 deposit contribution (£2,750 petrol/£3,250 diesel) across the range (excluding the Visia) across a three- or four-year PCP with no minimum deposit (6.03% APR). This also applies to the new N-TEC range.

N-TEC is a new for 2020, across-the-Nissan-range special version designed to enrich the product line up and provide the “ultimate combination of tech and design at fantastic value”, with prices starting at £30,820.

*Thanks to Lookers for supplying this information in a video called ‘Vehicle vendetta: The rise of the SUV’.