Trips to Cornwall, the New Forest and Cheshire (twice), as well as the regular diet of city commuting, has seen the Nissan Qashqai+2 odometer close in on the 7000-mile mark, a figure it is soon to break through with a weekend round-trip to Northumberland.
The fact that by the time you read this it would have been to both the south-western and north-eastern ends of this green and pleasant land is testament to its popularity, with several drivers regularly haggling for the keys, keen to re-experience the high-up seating position, driver involvement that’s well above class average, and load-carrying flexibility.
Its popularity extends beyond the BusinessCar office. Judging from both my own anecdotal evidence and hard fact, combined fleet and retails sales for the Qashqai model range (18,000 in 2007, 20,800 in 2008 and 22,085 year-to-date for 2009) are going from strength to strength. While that’s great news for Nissan, I’m less ecstatic because it robs me of some individuality. It’s a bit like going to a party in your new, fashionable trainers, only find the exact same pair on the feet of several random strangers.
Average consumption, meanwhile, is climbing slowly, and is up 0.4 mpg over the past six weeks to 35.7mpg, which compares favourably with the manufacturer’s claimed combined figure of 40.4mpg.
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