NISSAN QASHQAI

Does our car have any off-road DNA? We take it to the Jurassic X Prix to find out

- JAMES ATTWOOD

MILEAGE 5476

WHY WE’RE RUNNING

IT To find out if the third generation of the best-selling SUV is still a cut above the growing ranks of Qashqai rivals on a really awkward slope.

The Extreme E electric SUV championship was designed to take place in some of the most remote, isolated and challenging locations on the planet. And a trip to the 2021 season finale late last year also proved an ideal chance to put the Nissan Qashqai to the test in the sort of terrain it was designed for.

No, I didn’t drive into the deserts of Saudi Arabia, across the shifting sand dunes of Senegal or past the fjords of Greenland. Instead, I braved the wilds of… the M27 and Poole town centre. Extreme? Well, the traffic was occasionally hairy, there were some narrow bumpy lanes to traverse in the Dorset countryside.