NISSAN QASHQAI 1.6 Acenta 5dr (2007)

Super cool mum

I suppose we were after a slightly more cool looking kind of people carrier. We found the Nissan Qashqai after looking round for ages and not being impressed by the big bubble sort of people carriers like Voyagers etc., they just seem so bulky. I suppose the Qashqai isn't really designed as a people carrier as such, and it's not got quite the huge number of pockets and cubby holes we found in some of the others out there. But it makes up for it in just feeling a lot bouncier and more energetic.

We got the 1.6 as we wanted to stay above 40mpg. Not sure if it's getting that, haven't really tested it properly, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was, it seems fine really. It is a good family car though. We've got three little ones, two needing child seats, and the isofix kiddy seat attachments are really helpful, much easier than trying to get them into our old Fiesta.

The Qashqai is nice and easy to drive as it's really high up, and feels safe for that reason too. That's another reason we had been shopping for a people carrier. Having said that, it's not so good for seeing out the back. The rear window is quite high up and the pillars are pretty big too. The parking sensors are helpful, but sometimes you really just want to be able to see with your eyes what's going on.

We've had a few things need sorting out under the warranty. The biggest thing was a problem with the suspension, which apparently was a common problem so probably not something to worry about in terms of other things going wrong. Apart from that, the satnav sometimes doesn't want to work, which is really tricky sometimes, but it's mostly ok.