Can anyone give me a good reason why anyone would buy a 2WD version of the X-Trail? I appreciate that Nissan in common with other manufacturers offer the 2WD version so that they can simply sell more cars, but why do people buy them? Surely the USP of the X-Trail is its ability to go most places in conditions that "normal" 2WD vehicles can't?
So what's the attraction............other than wanting to buy a psuedo 4x4?
I can see buying one down south where they don't get much snow, especially in the flatlands. Even without the traction of AWD, an X-Trail is a great runabout, with decent fuel economy, high seating for visibility, a compact footprint for parking and negotiating traffic, a roomy and comfortable passenger area, and lots of cargo capacity for heavy, bulky cargo, pets etc. More utility than a sedan or wagon, a little more style than a minivan. I need the AWD, but maybe not everyone does.
Many people who buy cute-utes or soft-roaders like the X-Trail do so simply because they're perceived to be cooler than wagons or vans (which have as much or more storage space). Most wagons and mini-vans are FWD.
Unless you really do go off-roading, FWD w/ traction control and the proper tires is fine for most conditions depending upon where you live.
And it's cheaper to get and maintain to boot!
Well as somebody who bought a 2wd XTrail I can tell you why. First off we bought ours for many of the same reasons as others as Avery listed in his post (space, fuel usage, style, etc).
Now why we didn't get the AWD version:
1) don't see the need for AWD, even with the snow we see in southern Ontario
2) price (I think the difference on the SE from 2wd auto to awd auto is something like $2500 or thereabouts plus taxes of course)
The vehicle that our XTrail replaced was a Jeep YJ (manual trans that the wife couldn't drive). With a kid on the way and a big dog to haul around the YJ just wasn't going to cut it, not to mention it was 13 years old and falling apart. Last year I think I needed to use the 4wd on it twice and that was mostly because of its really short wheelbase and rwd... if not for that I think it would have done fine in 2wd. The rest of the winter we drove our Honda Civic with all-seasons.
As for going places most other vehicles won't, been there, done that with the Jeep and no offense to the few people here who have taken their XTrails off-road I don't really expect many people who buy them will be doing that and the fire road into your cottage doesn't really count. If you want a Nissan to off-road in maybe an XTerra would be a better choice... me I'm sticking to pavement and maybe the occasional gravel road.
Last friday, we received in Montreal over 43 cm of snow in less than 4 hours. On my way to work, in my 4 wheel drive X-Trail, I had no problems going through the worst snow storm in 34 years!!! I stoped to help push cars that had buried themselves in the snow. They were all subcompacts, compacts, intermediate cars, wagons, mini vans with only 2 wheels for traction (actually only one cause as soon as you start to slip only one wheel spins) ect... At one place on about a 200 metre stretch of road there were no less than 8 cars jammed in the snow. In the Xtrail though it was like any other day on the road. Some places the snow plow had created a 1 metre high snow bank. Drove over/through it without a problem. It was actuallt too easy. At stop lights, every 2 wheel drive car would slip and slide and move forward extremely slowly through the intersection (when they could move forward). In my 4 wheel drive XTrail I just pushed the gas and in two seconds I was going 50 km/h leaving behind everybody else still imobile at the light. On one hill, cars weren't even able to go up because it was to slippery. Cars were actually slipping backwards (ouch!). It was a mess. I just went to the side and plowed through over 50 cm of snow like it was summer and went to work. A friend of mine who has a 2 wheel drive SUV (saturn) had to go down the hill backwards and then he acclerated as much as he could at the bottom of the hill to get some momentum. At the top of the hill he ran through a red light cause if he had stopped, he would have just slipped back down that hill. I swear, I'm never buying anything else but a 4 wheel drive car. I had the most fun you can legally have with a car that day while it was hell for 95% of the rest of the people. BRING ON THE SNOW, MUD, GRAVEL, RAIN AND WHATEVER ELSE MOTHER NATURE HAS IN MIND!!!
P.s. Please drive responsibly with a 4x4. While they are superior at accelerating, they don't brake or handle any better. So go slow while everybody else is slow to go!
I can see buying one down south where they don't get much snow, especially in the flatlands. Even without the traction of AWD, an X-Trail is a great runabout, with decent fuel economy, high seating for visibility, a compact footprint for parking and negotiating traffic, a roomy and comfortable passenger area, and lots of cargo capacity for heavy, bulky cargo, pets etc. More utility than a sedan or wagon, a little more style than a minivan. I need the AWD, but maybe not everyone does.
Avery Slickride wrote the reason I got my X-Ty, here is maybe the most popular SUV & we got just a few AWD's.
I got 'em for an extra reason: I live in a Colonial Town, most of the streets are stone paved so a regular suspension Car, StationWagon, Minivan & even many SUV's don't handle the situation so well as the Xty.
I'm always amazed how I can drive them at 80kmph at stone paved streets some of them curvy.
Last edited by manuelga : Dec 22nd, 2005 at 01:53 PM.
Can anyone give me a good reason why anyone would buy a 2WD version of the X-Trail?
Ron,
You've probably had your question answered but here's my two-pence worth. The reason you may not understand why anyone would want a 2WD X-Trail is probably because of your perception or image of the X-Trail and that depends on your demographic and your culture. I suspect that in the UK (and probably EC in general) the X-Trail is considered a "real" if not substantial SUV.
For the most part, that's probably not the image of the vehicle in Canada where it is seen as an economical compact family wagon, all be it a beefy one. That's why I (and maybe others) are so amazed at the pictures of X-Trails being used off-road in Australia. From our perspective we might ask, why would someone put all those "spotties" and crash bars etc. on the family car and drive it through sand and salt water? From an "Ozian" point-of-view they probably think using such a capable, well-equipped, tough truck as the X-Trail for such mundane tasks as commuting and getting the kids to the hockey rink or the dog to the Vet as a waste.
No question, winter driving is better with AWD but most of the time a snowtire-equipped FWD vehicle is adequate. The generous road clearance of the X-Trail, even an FWD version, is an extra advantage.
This difference of perspective of what the X-Trail is supposed to be has shown up elsewhere on this international forum in the recent and heated discussion of performance-enhancing modifications. It seems that there are very different points of view on this issue depending on whether you are from Panama or Canada.
The beauty of the X-Trail is that its image is adaptable to different people in different places. I'm dreading what will happen when the Yanks get their mitts on it.
That is a very impressive story. What kind of snow tires do you have on your X-Trail? Did you use the LOCK function at all, or just AUTO all the way?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan_U
Hello,
Last friday, we received in Montreal over 43 cm of snow in less than 4 hours. On my way to work, in my 4 wheel drive X-Trail, I had no problems going through the worst snow storm in 34 years!!! I stoped to help push cars that had buried themselves in the snow. They were all subcompacts, compacts, intermediate cars, wagons, mini vans with only 2 wheels for traction (actually only one cause as soon as you start to slip only one wheel spins) ect... At one place on about a 200 metre stretch of road there were no less than 8 cars jammed in the snow. In the Xtrail though it was like any other day on the road. Some places the snow plow had created a 1 metre high snow bank. Drove over/through it without a problem. It was actuallt too easy. At stop lights, every 2 wheel drive car would slip and slide and move forward extremely slowly through the intersection (when they could move forward). In my 4 wheel drive XTrail I just pushed the gas and in two seconds I was going 50 km/h leaving behind everybody else still imobile at the light. On one hill, cars weren't even able to go up because it was to slippery. Cars were actually slipping backwards (ouch!). It was a mess. I just went to the side and plowed through over 50 cm of snow like it was summer and went to work. A friend of mine who has a 2 wheel drive SUV (saturn) had to go down the hill backwards and then he acclerated as much as he could at the bottom of the hill to get some momentum. At the top of the hill he ran through a red light cause if he had stopped, he would have just slipped back down that hill. I swear, I'm never buying anything else but a 4 wheel drive car. I had the most fun you can legally have with a car that day while it was hell for 95% of the rest of the people. BRING ON THE SNOW, MUD, GRAVEL, RAIN AND WHATEVER ELSE MOTHER NATURE HAS IN MIND!!!
P.s. Please drive responsibly with a 4x4. While they are superior at accelerating, they don't brake or handle any better. So go slow while everybody else is slow to go!
As Barrie pointed out, I think attitudes are very much determined by the prevailing culture in whatever part of the world you live, and I think for the purposes of discussing the X-Trail, underlines the differences between Canada (or should that be North America?) and the rest of the world.
I think its fair to say that as far as European drivers are concerned (and I would guess this holds true for X-Trailers “down-under” too) there are many more orthodox vehicles that do the same job as a 2WD X-Trail, only better. That is to say, they are more fuel efficient, have better driving characteristics, and are just as (or equally) space-efficient. After all the X-Trail is based on the Almera Tino platform, which is a “minivan” and there are many European “minivans” or station wagons which share the Tino’s traits but are more stylish (the Tino is a bit of a dullard).
It was interesting to read in one post that the X-Trail is ideal for driving along stone-paved roads with curves!! My, my! That describes the roads in many European cities to a tee and a standard European 2WD car is designed for just that environment.
A further cultural difference is that while I’ve no doubt the 2WD version of the X-Trail will sell because its cheap, it won’t sell in huge numbers on this side of the Atlantic because it’s regarded as a cop-out. It’s a 4WD car which has been emasculated, deprived of its raison d’être and as such is the subject of some derision in common with examples from other manufacturers.
For me, the USP of the X-Trail is its 4WD capability and that together with its torquey diesel engine for towing, fuel economy and handling meant that I chose it over its competitors including station wagons with 4WD capability from the likes of Subaru, Volvo, VW, Skoda and Audi . It’s not a full-blooded, full-time 4WD like the original Land Rover and its like but it has more than adequate off-road capabilities for me. Take those away, and it turns into a 2WD car that is probably a bit of an also-ran.
It was interesting to read in one post that the X-Trail is ideal for driving along stone-paved roads with curves!! My, my! That describes the roads in many European cities to a tee and a standard European 2WD car is designed for just that environment.
I posted that thing, but guess what? Many European cars sold here (Euro made Peugeot's, Renault's, VW's, Seat's, Opel's, not to mention BMW, MB & Audi's) can't handle as well as my Xty the stone paved that we got here.
Specifically, I got a Renault's Scenic & I rather prefer to use my Xty while I've to drive at those roads.
I guess my next step/post will be some photos of some streets here.
By the way, this is a too small town, just a few people in my country lives in places like this, most of them lives at large cities & honestly if I live there I had bought a minivan, don't know wich one. (There are no Nissan compact minivans at NorthAmerica).
Notes
* In a near future I'll change my FWD to an AWD Xty, I've needed full traction a couple times.
* We have "decent" gasoline prices & the diesel we got is low quality.
* The other day I needed to cross a railroad (wild place) with an aprox. 30% of inclination, of course I don't have traction, I need badly to cross that railroad so I used Reverse Shift to do it succesfully
Last edited by manuelga : Dec 30th, 2005 at 10:26 PM.
That is a very impressive story. What kind of snow tires do you have on your X-Trail? Did you use the LOCK function at all, or just AUTO all the way?
I used the AUTO mode. The cars reaction time is so short that I didn't need to use LOCK. I have Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice tires on all four wheels. The only thing I find very different with a 4 wheel drive is when accelerating in an icy corner, the rear has a tendency to come out a little. Since I've been driving a FWD car for the last 16 years, I was used to the front of the car slipping. With a the X-Trail I have to dose the gas in a corner and wait for traction before really pressing the gas. I went to a parking lot and practiced drifting the car with the throttle. Lots of fun.
Linear Mode
