The mid-life facelift for the Nissan X-Trail has been launched in Australia, a little over three years since the current generation went on sale. With almost 19,000 sold in 2016, the X-Trail is actually Nissan Australia’s highest selling car, and is currently placed fourth in the medium SUV segment – behind the Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4.
As such, Nissan has introduced some important safety equipment and given the car a fresh new look, upgrading the diesel variant to a 2.0-litre engine and keeping pricing mostly steady, though all-wheel drive variants drop between $990 and $1,490.
“The X-TRAIL is one of Nissan’s best-selling models in Australia and, with more than 193,000 sold locally, its long-standing popularity proves it is the ideal SUV solution for families and adventurers,” said Richard Emery, Managing Director and CEO of Nissan in Australia.
“For 2017 we have applied a variety of enhancements, including many of our latest Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies and our latest exterior and interior styling, all of them designed to further broaden the appeal of this already-popular model.”
At the forefront of changes to the X-Trail is autonomous emergency braking, which is now standard across the range, joining only the Mazda CX-5 and Volkswagen Tiguan as offering the potentially life-saving technology as standard equipment in the medium SUV segment. The X-Trail’s interior has also had some work, with revised trims and a new steering wheel featuring, as well as added equipment – heated cupholders and heated rear seats are now available.
The exterior sees the most changes, with restyled headlamps, new boomerang-shaped LED taillights, new wheel designs and revised front and rear bumpers the biggest identifiers to the update. There are also three new colours; Marine Blue, Copper Blaze and Ruby Red.
Nissan has also revised the facelifted X-Trail’s lineup for 2017, with a new TL diesel sitting atop the range. The diesel itself has been upgraded from the previous 1.6-litre to a gruntier new 2.0-litre, with 130kW of power and 380Nm of torque, matched to a CVT automatic transmission and all-wheel drive – a combination previously unavailable. Those figures represent improvements of 34kW and 60Nm respectively. The TS diesel isn’t available until late June however, and the TL diesel isn’t available until September.
The X-Trail’s petrol variants – a 106kW/200Nm 2.0-litre with a six-speed manual and 126kW/226Nm 2.5-litre with a CVT automatic – remain unchanged however, and as before the core models remain the ST base model, ST-L mid-range and Ti top-spec. The ST and ST-L are available with seven seats but all other models are five-seaters. Diesels are available in the TS base model and TL top-spec model, and are AWD and five seats only.
The facelifted X-Trail range opens with the entry-level ST and TS, available in manual and automatic, with front- and all-wheel drive, and five or seven seats. Key features for the ST include autonomous emergency braking, 17-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, electric-folding mirrors, a five-inch infotainment screen with a reversing camera, cruise control, push-button start and 40/20/40-split rear seats. All-wheel drive STs also get hill descent control and TS diesels get auto stop/start technology.
The petrol-only ST-L starts at $36,590 before on-road costs, and adds a leather steering wheel and seats, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, powered front seats (six way driver/four-way passenger), roof rails, a larger seven-inch infotainment screen with inbuilt satellite navigation, a DAB+ digital radio, blind-spot monitoring, rear traffic alert and a 360-degree parking camera to the ST.
The Ti and TL sit atop the local X-Trail range, and start from $44,290. They add 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, an eight-speaker Bose sound system, a hands-free electric tailgate, heated outer rear seats, a heated steering wheel, an electric sunroof, lane departure warning, pedestrian detection for the AEB, and for Ti petrol models, adaptive cruise control and intelligent lane intervention. Ti and TL models have the option of tan leather interior trim.
The facelifted 2017 Nissan X-Trail is on sale now and is in Nissan dealerships. Stay tuned to Chasing Cars for any update regarding the X-Trail or any other Nissan product.
2017 Nissan X-Trail range pricing (plus on-road costs):
ST five seat 2.0 2WD six-speed manual: $27,990
ST five seat 2.5 2WD CVT: $30,490
ST seven seat 2.5 2WD CVT: $31,990
ST five seat 2.5 CVT AWD: $32,490
TS five seat 2.0 diesel CVT AWD: $35,490
ST-L five seat 2.5 CVT 2WD: $36,590
ST-L seven seat 2.5 CVT 2WD: $38,090
ST-L five seat 2.5 CVT AWD: $38,590
Ti five seat 2.5 AWD CVT: $44,290
TL five seat 2.0 diesel CVT AWD: $47,290
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