Curiously, though perhaps appropriately, the Nissan Qashqai impressed me most when I was folding down the rear seats, an action that might be performed many times by an owner wishing to increase the luggage capacity from 430 to 1585 litres.It's an easy enough process. Pull a lever on one side and down that seat goes. Repeat on the other side. The headrests don't foul against the front seats. The reverse process is easy because although the backs are spring-loaded in favour of downness, as they should be, this has not been done to such an extent that it's difficult to get them up again.At no stage did the belts get tangled up with the seat backs. There may be a way of making this happen, but I haven't found it yet.Nissan avoided several design traps here and therefore made this Qashqai more easily practical than it might have been. I can only hope that when the its successor is being planned (a process that may already have started) Nissan goes a step further and provides proper rear-end visibility, which it certainly hasn't done here.There's plenty of room for four adults up to about six feet in height plus one child. Larger fellows like myself will find their head and knees touching the roof and front seats respectively, but foot room is okay and I could travel a reasonably distance while sitting back there without complaint.Nowadays, though, there is no seven-passenger option. Nissan has abandoned the idea of the Qashqai+2, so if you want three rows of seats without switching to another manufacturer you're going to have to upgrade to an X-Trail.The friendly, wide-eyed grin of the original, pre-2014 Qashqai has been replaced by a more sultry look which I think gives the new car a greater sense of quality. To some extent that's justified, though the test car's gearchange was slightly wobbly (more so than that of other Qashqais I've driven, so perhaps there are quality control issues) and its old-school 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine seemed quite rattly until speeds rose and road noise (there's a lot of that) started to dominate.I've said before that the 1.5 dCi is my least favourite engine in the Qashqai range. The much more modern 1.6 dCi is stronger and quieter, and although the 1.2-litre turbo petrol can be a bit breathless in a car of this size its light weight makes a big contribution to the car's handling.But Nissan expects the 1.5 to have the greatest appeal to fleet buyers and to private customers who rack up large mileages each year, and I can see why. Aided by having front-wheel drive and manual transmission (the 1.6 can be specified with 4x4 or a CVT automatic but the 1.5 can't) it has official CO2 emissions of 99g/km, so you don't have to pay any Vehicle Excise Duty. And, on the EU test, it can average 74.3mpg, though you'll be doing well to get within 20mpg of that in real life.The Acenta Premium is satisfactorily equipped for a £22,000-ish car, being supplied as standard with DAB digital radio, keyless start, privacy glass, a panoramic sunroof, front and rear parking sensors and various safety aids on top of the dual-zone air-conditioning, automatic headlights and wipers, front foglights, rear armrest and leather-trimmed steering wheel and gearknob also found of the £1850 cheaper Acenta.The standard wheel size is 17", and that's enough. The 19s available on the top-of-the-range Tekna have a wretched effect on the ride, and should not be considered. Engine 1461cc, 4 cylinders Power 109bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 74.3mpg / 99g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 11.9 seconds Top speed 113mph Price £22,690 Details correct at publication date
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