2025 Nissan Qashqai review: Australian first drive

A previous Drive Car of the Year Best Small SUV category winner, the Qashqai has received fresh styling, new technology, and a reshuffled model range with a new flagship N-Design grade.

Nissan has added more equipment across the range, alongside cuts to servicing prices, and a longer warranty – yet prices are effectively unchanged.

More than 140,000 examples of the Nissan Qashqai (and Dualis, as it was once known) have been sold in Australia over the past 18 years, but last year’s 6500 sales of the current model sit at less than half of the model’s record of nearly 14,000 deliveries in 2018.

Should the 2025 changes to the Nissan Qashqai push it back into the spotlight for more small SUV buyers? Let’s find out.

The Qashqai range has been reshuffled for 2025, as part of the mid-life upgrade for the current, third-generation model launched locally two years ago.

The ST remains the entry-level model, but the former ST+ has become the ST-L, the old ST-L has become the Ti, and the previous Ti has become the Ti-L, to align with other models in the Nissan range. A new N-Design grade sits at the top of the range.

Hybrid power is standard on the N-Design, and optional on the Ti-L, with a 1.3-litre petrol engine standard on the rest of the range.

Prices start from an unchanged $34,665 plus on-road costs for the ST, but until April 30, 2025, the Japanese brand is offering the entry-level grade for $32,665 plus on-roads.

A $1000 launch discount is also being offered for the ST-L – which otherwise retains the ST+ grade’s previous RRP of $38,665 plus on-roads – while prices for higher-grade variants are largely unchanged.

The Hyundai Kona range starts from $32,500 before on-roads, but unlike the Qashqai offers hybrid power as an option on every grade for $4000 extra. Meanwhile, every Toyota Corolla Cross is now a hybrid, priced from $36,480 plus on-roads.

New features on the ST include a 12.3-inch touchscreen (previously exclusive to the ST+ and up), wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-zone climate control, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, rain-sensing wipers, and support for a new Nissan Connect phone app.

It joins carryover features including 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a rear-view camera, rear parking sensors, and advanced safety features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring.

More expensive models add 18, 19 or 20-inch wheels, wireless phone charging, satellite navigation, a 12.3-inch instrument display, heated power-adjustable front seats, leather upholstery, a 360-degree camera, front parking sensors, lane-centring assist, a head-up display, and Bose premium audio.

The N-Design is differentiated by unique 20-inch wheels, gloss black and body-coloured exterior trim, Alcantara accents on the seats, scrolling LED indicators, and more.

For a full breakdown of standard equipment across the Qashqai range, click here to read our pricing and specifications story.

The Qashqai is one of the larger models in the small SUV class – at 4425mm long, 1835mm wide, 1625mm tall and 2665mm in wheelbase – making for a spacious and comfortable cabin.

Fit and finish have always been the latest Qashqai’s strong suits, with good perceived build quality, clicky switchgear, and soft-touch materials in places rivals would use hard plastics, like kneepads on the centre console, or the tops of the doors.

New for 2025 is a smattering of genuine Alcantara – a high-quality Italian suede-look material common in exotic cars – on the doors, dashboard, and armrests in the top two grades, with the same material used as accents on the N-Design. We’ve never seen so much of it in a car at this price, and it makes the cabin feel more expensive than it is.

Interior design changes for 2025 are limited to a new bend in the dashboard on the passenger side.

The front seats are comfortable on long journeys, with decent support in tight corners, as well as under your thighs in higher-grade models with eight-way power adjustment and four-way power driver lumbar.

They offer a mix of heating, massaging and either cloth, synthetic leather-look, genuine leather-accented, and Alcantara upholstery depending on the model grade, while drivers are afforded a good view of the road ahead.

A leather-look or leather-accented steering wheel is finally standard across the range – cheaper Qashqais used to come with a nasty and unpleasant-feeling ‘urethane’ wheel – with clicky, easy to use buttons, and paddle shifters on petrol versions.

Nissan has kept physical controls for key functions, including traditional buttons and dials for the air conditioning – a refreshing change from the direction many modern cars are headed.

There’s space for storing small items in the deep centre console box, modestly sized door pockets, and in cars without a sunroof, an overhead sunglasses tray. But the dual cupholders are shallow, and the glovebox is small due to what may be a fuse box or similar vehicle components robbing space.

Amenities on different variants include dual-zone climate control, a panoramic glass roof, colour ambient lighting (new for 2025), heated steering wheel, keyless entry and start, two USB-C ports, a 12-volt socket, and a wireless phone charger.

Space in the rear seats is respectable by small-SUV standards, with room for my 186cm (6ft 1in) tall frame to fit behind my driving position with ample knee room, plenty of toe room and excellent head room.

Middle-seat passengers will need to contend with a small tunnel in the floor, but the cabin is wide enough to carry three abreast on shorter journeys, and amenities are well catered for, with front seatback map pockets, bottle holders in the doors, two USB-C ports, rear air vents, and a fold-down armrest with two (very shallow) cupholders.

Child seats can be installed via the ISOFIX anchors on the outboard seats, and three top-tether points, helped by a wide door opening and good visibility out the front and side.

Boot space varies significantly by model. The N-Design has the smallest cargo area at 404 litres, due to a spare wheel pushing the floor up, and a box poking into the load space for the hybrid components. It’s still a roomy space, but it’s only average for the compact SUV class.

Meanwhile the two cheapest petrol models quote 504L of boot space, which is big for the class – but their lower boot floor means there is a load lip, as well as a step along the back edge of the cargo area that gets in the way when the seats are folded down.

The cargo area in all models is wide and rectangular in its footprint, and there is a 12-volt socket, lights on either side, and a power tailgate with kick sensor on the Ti-L and N-Design. All but the puncture repair kit-equipped Ti-L e-Power have a temporary spare wheel.

Now standard in every new Qashqai is a 12.3-inch touchscreen, offering wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto – the latter previously wired-only – plus AM, FM and DAB+ digital radio, voice control, Bluetooth and on all but the ST, in-built satellite navigation.

It’s not the most feature-rich infotainment system, but it’s easy to use, quick to respond, its graphics look contemporary, and the wireless CarPlay connection worked well in our testing.

Australian models miss out on Google services added to European cars, which have Google Maps, Google Assistant and the Google Play Store built into their touchscreens. Nissan says they were not available for our market.

Ahead of the driver is a part-digital instrument cluster on cheaper models, with analogue dials and a 7.0-inch display, or a 12.3-inch widescreen in the Ti, Ti-L and N-Design.

We only drove cars with the latter, and found it contemporary and easy to read, though it took us a while to figure out how to switch it between its three layouts.

Ti-L and N-Design grades also offer a 10.8-inch head-up display projected onto the windscreen, showing key driving and navigation data.

The six-speaker audio system in the models we drove is average, but won’t blow away audiophiles. Oddly, the 10-speaker Bose premium system – a Ti-L exclusive, so we didn’t get a chance to test it on this preview drive – is not offered on the more expensive N-Design.

Nissan has introduced Connected Car Services technology with the 2025 Qashqai, run through a Nissan Connect phone app that enables tracking of the vehicle, remote control of the locks, lights and horn, service reminders, driving history data, and the ability to set curfews or speed thresholds for young drivers.

Three years of free access are included from purchase, with a subscription to be charged thereafter.

The Nissan Qashqai carries a five-star safety rating from ANCAP, based on testing conducted by sister organisation Euro NCAP in 2021 under less stringent protocols than those in force today.

It earned category scores of 91 per cent for adult occupant protection, 93 per cent for child occupant protection, 74 per cent for vulnerable road user protection, and 97 per cent for safety assist technology.

This rating is due to expire after 31 December 2027.

The Nissan Qashqai is well equipped on the safety technology front, though a few missing items – such as no lane centring on cheaper models – count against it.

What matters just as much is that the features on offer are well calibrated.

Unlike many other new small SUVs, the lane-keep assist is not too pushy, there’s no overbearing driver attention monitor beeping at you for glancing away from the road, and the traffic sign recognition does not bong at you if the car exceeds the speed limit it has detected.

That said, the speed-sign recognition system is prone to misreading signs or detecting lower limits in school zones and on offramps it shouldn’t.

The adaptive cruise control and lane-centring assist systems also worked smartly in our testing.

The Nissan Qashqai is covered by the company’s 10-year/300,000km warranty, whichever comes first.

However, it requires the vehicle to be serviced at Nissan dealers throughout the entire warranty period.

Should the Qashqai be taken to an independent mechanic at any point in its first decade on the road, the extension is voided, and warranty coverage reverts to five years/unlimited kilometres.

Buyers who manage to cover more than 300,000km in the first five years of ownership – who Nissan says account for less than 0.1 per cent of its customers – will also not have access to the 10-year term, as they have already exceeded its kilometre limit.

Up to 10 years/300,000km of roadside assistance is also available under a similar caveat – valid for the first year of ownership, then extended for another year each time the car is serviced.

Nissan has listened to feedback its servicing costs were too high compared to rivals, and has rolled out a ‘flat price’ program that sees the first five dealer visits cost the same, rather than fluctuating between service. Service prices between years six and 10 are not capped.

In the Qashqai’s case, it’s $399 per service – which are set at 12-month/15,000km intervals for the petrol, and 12 months/10,000km for the e-Power – adding up to $1995 over five visits.

It amounts to savings over the period of up to $871 for the 1.3-litre petrol and $2235 for the e-Power compared to the previous prices.

Despite the price cuts, it’s still not the cheapest car in the class to service. A Hyundai Kona Hybrid is more expensive, at $2575 over five years/75,000km, but a Honda HR-V costs $995 over five years/50,000km, and a Toyota Corolla Cross costs $1275 over five years/75,000km.

The updated Qashqai is too new to appear on our go-to car insurance quote calculator, but it’s unlikely to differ too much from the outgoing version, which is quoted at $1619 for a petrol Ti.

It is based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Nissan quotes lab-tested fuel consumption in mixed conditions of 6.1 litres per 100 kilometres for the petrol ST and ST-L, 5.8L/100km for the petrol Ti and Ti-L, and 4.8L/100km for the hybrid Ti-L and N-Design e-Power.

Interestingly, a recertification of the model range for 2025 has seen fuel-use claims reduce for most models – the petrol Ti and Ti-L’s predecessors claimed 6.1L/100km, and the hybrid previously quoted 5.2L/100km.

Over a mix of country-road and some highway driving, we observed fuel consumption of 5.3L/100km in the e-Power, which is close to the claim, but not as efficient as rival Hyundai and Toyota rivals that can consume less than 5L/100km in the real world.

Meanwhile, a shorter test of the petrol Qashqai Ti in suburban and country driving returned an indicated 7.8L/100km, which is respectable for a small non-hybrid SUV, but far from the claim.

All models have a 55-litre fuel tank and can accept 91-octane regular unleaded petrol, though Nissan recommends 95-octane premium fuel.

With few changes for 2025 that alter the way it performs on the road, the Qashqai remains a refined and easygoing SUV to drive.

The 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine (110kW/250Nm) has enough punch for city driving and merging onto motorways, but it’s not a powerhouse – and there’s a moment of lag from a standstill as the turbo spins up.

It’s matched with a continuously variable automatic transmission that’s smooth and refined on the move, though demand hard acceleration of the car and the gearbox can ‘groan’ as it keeps the RPM steady to maximise the engine’s power, a common characteristic of a CVT.

If the regular petrol Qashqai is conventional, the e-Power is anything but.

Rather than a Toyota or Hyundai hybrid – where the wheels can be driven by petrol, electricity, or a mix of both at any time – the Nissan system uses a 115kW 1.5-litre turbo three-cylinder petrol engine solely as a generator to charge the battery and power the 140kW/330Nm electric motor driving the wheels.

It promises the instant throttle response of an electric car – as there’s no connection between the engine and the wheels, rather they’re electrically driven – with the convenience of filling up with petrol.

In reality, it’s an intriguing experience. It delivers the EV-like response Nissan promises, and the 140kW electric motor has plenty of punch for this size of car, but there’s little relation between the position of your right foot and the noise you hear.

It means your foot can be off the accelerator pedal, but the engine is thrumming away at high RPM charging the battery, while at other times you may be hard on the accelerator pedal during an overtake, but you can only hear a faint electric motor whine.

You could argue it delivers an unnecessarily weird driving experience without the fuel economy of rival hybrids, but we can see the appeal in the system for its uniqueness alone.

The Qashqai’s taut suspension has always delivered a firmer ride over bumps than many of its small SUV rivals, and that has not changed for 2025.

The N-Design’s large 20-inch wheels can translate to a busy ride on rough roads, transmitting little lumps you might expect the car to iron out into the cabin. On 19-inch wheels and chubbier tyres, the Ti we drove is slightly more supple.

But we did not find it uncomfortable, and the trade-off is a solid, sure-footed feel at higher speeds on country roads – or when the road gets smooth around town – with a body that remains flat over undulations.

A benefit of a sportier ride over bumps is confident handling. There’s surprisingly little body roll for an SUV, the Michelin and Continental tyres on different models offer good grip, and it’s more fun to drive than you might expect.

The steering is light and direct in all three drive modes – Sport, Standard and Eco, which also vary the throttle response – though it could be more linear, increasing the rate at which the wheels turn about an eighth of a turn off centre when you may not expect it.

The brake pedal’s weighting instills confidence in a hard stop, with drivers of the e-Power able to dial up the level of regenerative braking – the deceleration from the electric motor when the accelerator pedal is released, and the battery charges.

The stronger setting is badged e-Power, similar to Nissan’s electric cars, but it cannot bring the car to a full stop without touching the brake pedal like a Leaf EV – a feature known as ‘one-pedal’ driving.

Nissan says it has worked on the sound deadening in the Qashqai to reduce noise, but there was still plenty of tyre roar from the N-Design’s Michelin tyres on the country roads we tested it on.

The Nissan Qashqai can tow up to 1500kg braked in petrol form, or 750kg as an e-Power, with all models quoting a 750kg unbraked tow rating.

Payloads – the maximum weight of passengers and cargo a vehicle can carry before it is deemed legally overloaded and illegal to drive on the road – range from 448kg to 531kg, depending on model, which are easily enough for four passengers and luggage, or five passengers in lighter model grades with more than 500kg to use.

The Nissan Qashqai was already one of our favourite small SUVs on the market, and the updates for 2025 have made it even better.

The most important changes have arguably taken place on paper. It’s better value to buy, much cheaper to service – a big drawback of the old model – and can be had with a class-leading warranty, provided it is serviced at Nissan dealers.

In the metal, the interior is high-quality, there’s plenty of space for passengers and cargo, its technology is easy to use, it delivers a good blend of comfort and handling, and offers a choice of petrol or hybrid power.

It’s not quite as supple over bumps as some rivals, the e-Power system can’t match competitors for fuel efficiency, and while it is better value, it’s not quite as sharply priced in the ownership stakes as some others on the market.

It is especially frustrating that Nissan continues to make hybrid power exclusive to the flagship grade. The company says 45 per cent of the old models bought were a Ti trim – 30 per cent petrol, 15 per cent hybrid – but we think the Qashqai would have broader appeal with more affordable petrol-electric grades.

Even so, no matter how far up the range your budget stretches, the Nissan Qashqai is a commendable small SUV that deserves to sell better than it does.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner

Read more about Alex Misoyannis