Well I did buy that Qashqai and I went up to Aberdeen to collect it last weekend! Yes, 633 miles each way just to pick up a car!

Well, apart from giving me an excuse for a road trip it also gave me a great opportunity to try out the features on the way back and as I had driven my previous car (Kia Sportage KX-5) it also gave me the change to compare the two… so here goes!

Size Isn’t Everything

That may not be the case universally but with regard to these two cars it is. The Sportage is significant bigger and it feels it. The boot is way bigger and there is more leg room in the back. It also feels heavier and more of a “brute” than the Qashqai which feels smaller, more nimble and more responsive.

The Sportage is clearly the better car for towing and as a long-distance cruiser it is quieter and more stable but as an everyday car I much prefer the Qashqai.

Techno-babble

Both cars are technologically at the top of their game. The Sportage KX-5 version has almost everything that Kia has to offer and the Qashqai Pilot One is again, at the top of the range. So how do they compare:

Lane Keeping Assistance

Both cars have the ability to actively help keep the car in lane when on motorways. They both require your hands to be kept on the steering when and they both steer pro-actively to keep the car in the middle of the lane. As far as performance goes there is very little to choose between them. The time you can remove your hand from the wheel is about the same and the auto-steering is smooth. They both occasionally lost contact with the road markings and disengaged but they both quickly re-acquired quickly too.

Where they differ is what happens if you do take your hands off the wheel and don’t replace them when the warnings start. With the Kia it will eventually just disconnect the lane assist leaving the car to continue without anyone controlling the steering! The Qashqai will treat the ignored warnings by slowing the car down, eventually putting on the hazard warning lights and coming to a stop. OK, you don’t want a car stopped on the highway but that surely is way safer than a car continuing uncontrolled.

The Nissan wins this one hands down.

Cruise Control

The Kia has a standard cruise control system. It works pretty well and is easy to operate. The Qashqai cruise is an active system where it will slow down automatically if the car in fronts slows.

The Qashqai system is superb and active cruise control will make long-distance easier and safer. I will do a separate post on the Qashqai Active Cruise system in a future blog but for now all I was to say is that I love it!

It is worth pointing out that the lane keeping asistance and cruise control are considered separate systems on the Kia and are activated and deactivated separately but on the Qashqai they are combined together to create the ProPilot system. ProPilot isn’t really any revolutionary in what it is (lane keeping assistance and active cruise control) but they are both activated and deactivated with a single button on the wheel so it makes them easy to use. As I say… more on this in a future post.

Anciliary Tech

Parking Sensors/Cameras

The Kia has standard front and rear parking sensors. They work very effectively as each corner will create a tone in that corner of the sound system. I like the Kia system. The Qashqai has these normal sensors but also has a 4-camera all-round vision system. It has a camera front and rear and also one on each of the wing-mirrors and the images are combined to give an all-round view from the top as if there was a single camera above the car looking down. I had this system on my previous Nissan cars and once you are used to it and have confidence in it then it adds a whole new dimension to parking.

The Nissan camera system winds hands down.