Driving a car that recharges itself without needing to hunt for a plug sounds like a magician’s trick from someone who despises cables. But Nissan has had this nailed for years with their e-Power system, and now, in the revamped Qashqai, they’ve served up a masterpiece from engineers who’ve finally learned to love silence. Forget the old rumble of a petrol engine growling like a cat in heat; this version whispers, sips fuel like a sponge, and spits out emissions with the modesty of a librarian. I’ve dug through the specs and test reports, and trust me, this isn’t some half-hearted facelift – this is a car that’s reinvented itself as a cunning fox in a world full of clumsy wolves.
Let’s cut to the chase: the e-Power drivetrain, a series hybrid that sounds like sci-fi but drives like a dream. The 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine does nothing but generate electricity for the electric motor that powers the wheels – no fussing with clutches or gearboxes that give you nightmares. In this new version, Nissan has beefed things up with a modular drive unit that’s more compact and lighter, as if they tossed the whole thing in a blender and kept only what mattered. The electric motor now pumps out 151 kilowatts – that’s 205 horsepower – up eleven from before, and the torque hits instantly, no messing about. Zero to sixty takes just 7.6 seconds, and on the motorway, the engine revs drop by two hundred, so you’re not sounding like a runaway vacuum cleaner.
But the real fireworks are in the efficiency, because who wants a thirsty SUV when you can have this? Official fuel consumption dives to 4.5 litres per hundred kilometres, down 0.7 litres from the old model, and CO2 emissions melt to 102 grams per kilometre – twelve percent less, for the eco-warriors among us. In real-world tests around Barcelona or through the Algarve mountains, it manages about 5.1 litres, still better than the previous 5.7 and miles ahead of rivals like the Kia Sportage or Peugeot 3008. On a full tank, you can easily cover a thousand kilometres in practice, and officially up to twelve hundred – enough to zip from here to Timbuktu without the petrol station clerk knowing your name. And maintenance? Service intervals stretch from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand kilometres, thanks to smarter oil (that OW16 stuff that tames friction like a circus lion).
Silence is the other big win. Nissan has shaved 5.6 decibels off the cabin noise, meaning you can now hear your passengers breathing instead of the engine wheezing. Better door insulation, a thicker windscreen, and a redesigned petrol engine with a bigger turbo and none of that fiddly variable compression – it’s like a recipe for a party where nobody’s allowed to shout. In tests, there’s still a slight rattle at cold starts (for emissions, of course, you don’t save the planet in a day), and under full throttle, it grumbles like an annoyed neighbour, but overall, this thing glides like an electric car. The e-Pedal function recovers energy when you ease off the throttle, saving your brakes, and the whole package feels like an EV without the range anxiety.
Inside, it’s an upgrade extravaganza: a dashboard that no longer looks like an eighties cockpit, with Google Maps and Assistant built in for when you need navigation to find your own house. The seats are supportive, the ergonomics make sense with physical buttons for lazy fingers, and there’s even a see-through-the-hood camera for parking moves that make you look like you’ve got superpowers. The N-Design trim throws in twenty-inch alloys and alcantara for the posers, and pricing starts at around €42,450 for the base e-Power – not cheap, but in Belgium, likely steady at about €43,340 for the N-Connecta, with deliveries from the last quarter of next year.
In short, this Qashqai e-Power is the hybrid that slaps Toyota’s Corolla Cross with its low consumption and EV-like finesse, while charming diesel-haters with its hush. It’s not perfect – that cold-start rattle reminds you it’s not a full EV, and in a country packed with charging stations, you wonder if we need all this – but for anyone wanting a versatile, frugal, quiet SUV that’s not dull, this is a winner. A car that proves hybrids don’t have to plod along; they can be downright brilliant.
And if you’re now itching for a pure electric ride without all the hybrid fuss, check out our marketplace where you can search and buy 100% electric cars: https://volty.be/nl/buy/cars/overview/.
