Nissan Qashqai review - Reliability and safety

The new Nissan Qashqai put in a strong performance in our 2018 Driver Power survey, coming 22nd out of 75 cars. With good ratings for the exterior style and build quality, together with decent scores for infotainment, practicality and running costs, Qashqai owners seemed to be happy.

In the 2019 Driver Power survey, the Qashqai slipped to 49th place out of 100 – owners praised fuel economy, interior space, and child-friendliness. The Qashqai got an average score for reliability, with 23.4% of owners reporting an issue with their cars. However, this didn’t stop the Qashqai from becoming the fourth-best-selling car of the year in 2018.

The apparent slide in customer satisfaction was more noticeable in our 2020 survey, when the Qashqai finished 56th out of 75 cars listed. This could well be down to the raft of new competitors on the market, rather than any wholesale issues with the Qashqai itself. In fact, Nissan placed a strong 11th out of 30 manufacturers in the best brands poll.

Safety experts at Euro NCAP awarded the Qashqai a full five stars, with the car scoring well in the adult and child occupant categories.

Nissan has improved things with its Safety Shield technology, which features heavily in the new Qashqai. It comprises clever features like front collision avoidance (autonomous braking), lane departure warning, drowsiness detection, blind spot warning and traffic sign recognition. There are even cameras to help you park and detect moving objects behind the car when you’re reversing – the Qashqai will park itself, too.

For 2017, Nissan added rear-cross traffic alert to the Qashqai's safety kit, which warns you if there's traffic behind you when reversing out of a space. The autonomous braking system was also upgraded with the addition of pedestrian detection.

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Warranty

All Nissans come with a three-year/60,000 mile warranty, which is about average for this class. If you want more cover, it’s worth remembering that the Hyundai ix35 comes with a five-year warranty and the Kia Sportage has a seven-year warranty.

Servicing

Nissan offers fixed-price servicing that starts from around £150 on petrol models and around £160 on diesel cars. The Qashqai service intervals are every 12,500 miles for petrol models and every 18,000 miles for diesels.