Driving Nissan’s small new Qashqai e-Power hybrid SUV today – only available on the top-spec Ti grade – $4,200 dearer to the conventional petrol-only Ti at a rather hefty $56,000 drive-away. Unlike the 1.3-litre turbo petrol models the e- Power hybrid utilises a variable compression 1.5-litre turbo petrol three-cylinder engine and it works differently to a conventional hybrid – the petrol engine does not drive the front wheels – it purely powers a generator connected to an invertor and a 2,1kWh lithium-ion battery pack – only the e-motor drives the front wheels through a single speed reduction drive – the drive experience quiet, smooth and rewarding offering nearly a 1000 km driving range and a stated economy figures of just 5.2L/100km on the combined city/country cycle – however, I managed 5.9L/100km with mainly city driving. It does however need dearer 95 grade petrol. Whilst the Nissan Qashqai Ti e-Power offers around a 1L/100km saving over a conventional petrol model its price penalty is a real dampener to its purchase. When and if Nissan introduce the e-Power technology onto lower Qashqai grades it will make more sense. It’s a really nice driver but at the moment, for my money, the 1.3-litre four-cylinder pure petrol variants are hard to pass.

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