One of the more impressive small SUVs on the market is Nissan’s Qashqai in four petrol grades and with the recent addition of an e-Power hybrid version, only available on the top spec Qashqai Ti grade, $4,200 more expensive to the petrol Ti at a rather hefty $56,000 drive-away. Disappointingly, Nissan, at this stage, are not introducing the hybrid technology to the lower more affordable grades. However, the Nissan Qashqai Ti e-Power is packed with premium features – leather seats with massage function, a panoramic glass roof, 10-speaker Bose sound, power tailgate and a most impressive digital dash and centre touch screen plus a suite of advanced active safety features. The 1.3-litre turbo in the petrol models replaced by a variable compression 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol turbo – and here the e-Power works differently to a conventional hybrid – the petrol engine has no connection to the front drive 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 – this hybrid system adds around 200 kilos in weight over a conventional petrol Qashqai’s but it offers nearly a 1000km driving range. Despite the e-Power’s exalted price tag the drive experience is rewarding – details next segment.

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