Real life snowboarder verifies the functionality of the X-Trail.

We are now heading straight into the winter sports season! For those of you that enjoy skiing, snowboarding and other winter sports activities, choosing the correct car is very important. Therefore we decided to take a look at the Nissan X-Trail which has been one of the driving forces behind the recent SUV boom.

We had a real snowboarder gives us his well informed impressions of the top 5 reliable function so the Nissan X-Trail.

Mr Narumi Yoshimura (NUT BUTTER Rep / BURTON Product Co-ordinator) After working as a team rider for Burton he started his own original brand, Nut Butter. He is still deeply involved with Burton however, including being involved with their board development.

Mr Yoshimura is a veteran snowboarder and is often enjoying the outdoors around snowy mountains so he is the perfect person to test out the X-Trail for us. Until now he has ridden many vintage cars as well as large 4WD vehicles but this is his first time in an X-Trail.

“I thought this was a really stylish care from a long time ago so I’m really looking forward to this opportunity to drive it in the snowy mountains”.

Your snowboard can be stored smartly thanks to a large capacity, waterproof luggage space.

The gear required for winter sports is often bulky such as boards and boots. It will also become wet and dirty after use so the large capacity waterproof luggage space is a main strength of the X-Trail to emphasize. The overall capacity of the X-Trail is 565L (two-row seat / gasoline engine) and the waterproofing extends to the seating.  

“Because of the size, it’s convenient for storing long boards straight up. The rear seats can also be knocked down from 6 to 4 to allow for extra storage and lying multiple boards down side by side”.

Steering is super smooth! Leave the highway driving to the pro pilot!

Many people will use the highways on route to snowy mountain ranges, so we wanted to test out the Pro Pilot 1 automatic driving technology. Not only the accelerator work and brakes, but also the steering can be automatically controlled so you can enjoy stress free driving even when the highways are crowded.

It only takes 2 actions to set to Pro Pilot. First just press the Pro Pilot switch built into the steering wheel and then the set switch. The monitor will display the distance between the vehicle and the car in front and the settings can be changed easily based upon the situation.

“I’m often tired when returning from snowboarding in the mountains so the automatic driving technology is very convenient. It almost feels like an extension of my own senses and the accelerator work is surprisingly smooth haha”!

Extra safety with the intelligent emergency brakes.

“Emergency Brake” *2*3, which automatically detects front vehicles and pedestrians via the front camera is one of the advanced technologies adopted to improve safety. In the unpredictable snowy tracks and mountains, this level of collision prevention assistance is very reliable. 

“When I travel to the mountains I’m often travelling at night and I’m quite tired from the journey so these extra safety features are quite comforting.

Intelligent Around View monitors are useful in crowded parking lots.

An “Intelligent Aroung View Monitor” *2*4*5*6 is installed that displays an image of the entire car from a top down skyward view when parking. It also has the ability to detect moving objects which makes it ideal for parking on slopes during the busy on-season. 

“Slope parking lots are often really narrow and crowded during the busy seasons, as well as often having low visibility. So this function is very useful for anyone hitting the slopes during winter. The camera gives you more accuracy than just your own instincts”.

Driving comfortably in the city and the snowy mountains with intelligent 4×4.

The X-Trail comes equipped with intelligent 4×4 that responds to different varying road surfaces by distributing torque via the “Intelligent Ride Control”, the worlds first body vibration suppression system. This lets you drive comfortably and practically on anything from snowy mountain slopes to narrow city streets. 

“The powerful acceleration and fast response lets you enjoy comfortable and sporty driving. The Auto setting is good but the 2WD has the best fuel economy for driving in the city while the 4WD should be a fixed setting for snowy mountain trails.

This is the X-Trail running across a slippery snowy road. If you use the intelligent 4WD system then you can drive smartly from the city to the mountains with almost the same feeling. 

Of course, the affinity between the X-Trail and mountain winter sports is outstanding!

Mr Yohsimura, who couldn’t actually take the X-Trail to the snowy mountain ranges this time, still enjoyed a long drive with all his snowboard gear loaded. The tried out the “Nissan Intelligent Mobility” which embodies Nissan’s highly advanced technology and the high affinity between the X-Trail and winter sports adventures was easy to understand.

“It usually takes a little while to get used to a new car, but the X-Trail was easy to drive right from the beginning. The driver’s seat is very comfortable and overall a stress free experience. Snowboarders often travel long distances so a car that can provide a relaxing experience is essential. The 4WD functionality that can also adapt to city driving is also very handy, it seems a really reliable outdoor ride”.

NISSAN X-TRAIL　¥2272600～ 

This is the current third generation model. It is a high performance unit that combines all-round running performance with a state of the art safety support system, as well as boasting the highest performance in terms of 4WD SUV’s sold in 2018.