Nissan Qashqai - Reliability and safety

The Nissan Qashqai finished in a rather disappointing 42nd place out of 50 cars in the 2024 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey. While that is ahead of the Volkswagen Tiguan (45th), it is behind the Ford Kuga (37th), Skoda Karoq (19th), and Kia Sportage (11th). 

There’s more positive news for the Nissan brand, which moved up the rankings from 19th position (out of 32 car brands) in our 2023 Driver Power manufacturer ratings, to 15th place out of 32 manufacturers in the 2024 survey. The brand did well for child-friendly features, but was criticised for overall quality and road handling.

Family buyers, in particular, will be impressed by the Qashqai's five-star safety rating from industry body Euro NCAP in 2021. Both adult and child occupant safety are rated at 91 per cent, with Safety Assist systems scoring an outstanding 95 per cent.

The standard kit is comprehensive, with Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility tech including a blind spot warning to alert you to cars approaching beside you on the motorway, a rear cross traffic system to alert to cars crossing from behind when reversing, traffic sign recognition to let you know of the speed limit, an automatic emergency braking system with pedestrian and cyclist recognition to prevent collisions with vulnerable road users, a forward collision warning to alert you if it thinks you’re about to collide with something, Intelligent cruise control to keep you a safe distance from the car in front, and a high beam assist function to automatically put the main beam on when there’s no oncoming traffic to dazzle.

Many drivers will be disappointed to learn that, to meet EU rules and appease the Euro NCAP crash testing body, safety assist features like the speed limit and lane departure warning systems now reactivate every time you start the Qashqai. Nissan has addressed this by adding a new Driver Assist Custom Mode that lets you choose your preferred settings for these aids and activate them at the touch of one button on the steering wheel.

Warranty

Nissan offers a standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty for the Qashqai, although if you pay an extra £340 you can extend your Qashqai's warranty for an additional 12 months, but the 60,000-mile limit still applies. You also get three years of free roadside assistance with the Qashqai.

Servicing

Service intervals for petrol versions of the Qashqai are annually or every 18,000 miles, whichever comes first, while fixed-price service plans are available from your local Nissan dealer.

The hybrid e-Power requires more regular maintenance, needing a service every 9,000 miles or annually, whichever comes first.