The ride was more settled, and it seemed more confident. Like I noted earlier, the X-Trail Ti e-Power’s chubbier tyres and smaller wheels seem better suited to most conditions in terms of comfort and refinement, and it was a similar story on unsealed roads. Paul tackled a mild off-road course in the X-Trail e-Power on the international launch drive, which you can watch in the video embedded up top.

If you ever need to drive over some even rougher stuff – we doubt most customers will – there’s a dedicated off-road mode, as well as hill descent control. Sometimes in these road-focused SUVs you get a lot of chassis vibrations and you can hear every stone hit the underbody – the X-Trail’s cabin was pretty well insulated from it all. Insulation from the rougher stuff was good too. There was plenty of grip and the all-wheel drive system did a great job at making sure it sent torque to the wheel(s) with most traction. We tackled some gravel roads as well during our test route, and just like the sealed sections the X-Trail seemed pretty comfortable. Through the twistier bits the Ti felt more natural given the softer overall tuning of the driver controls, but the Ti-L had a keener, more planted feel thanks to its greater footprint. There’s an added layer of compliance in the Ti, which is that touch softer and more settled over sharper hits, though the Ti-L was impressively well sorted and grippy.

Those differences in wheel and tyre package make the Ti the pick for ride comfort as well, although both variants are surprisingly well sorted on pockmarked backroads and pimpled inner-city streets. Insulation from wind and road noise is likewise refined for the segment, in particular the Ti with its smaller 19-inch wheels and chubbier 235/55 tyres (versus 255/45 R20 for the Ti-L). There’s also no shift in power delivery as speeds rise as there’s no change in power source – you don’t feel any loss in torque like you do when rival hybrids shift from electric to petrol power. Nissan’s 0-100 claim of 7.0 seconds seems accurate by the seat of the pants, not that you’re going to be engaging in traffic light drag races with this thing.

Driver booster key 8.1