Nissan upgrades Qashqai e-Power hybrid - and we've driven it

“Thermal efficiency is the most important factor for a combustion engine, so we can increase fuel efficiency by making it run at a a lower RPM more constantly,” Shibuya noted.

Essentially, the engine is mapped to maintain the speed that most efficiently allows it to generate energy, which Shibuya said also reduces vibrations and noise.

Meanwhile, the motor has been more extensively reworked with learnings from Nissan’s EVs. It’s actually a new 'five-in-one unit' featuring the motor, generator, inverter, increaser and reverter. That reduces the size, which improves the packaging, and aids efficiency by making the system more unified and responsive.

The most notable impact of the new system is that output has risen from 188bhp to 201bhp, with torque remaining unchanged at 243lb ft. But more substantially, Nissan claims a 15% increase in fuel efficiency – which would push the official fuel economy close to 60mpg – and a significant reduction in both cabin noise (up to 5.6dB) and vibrations.

What is the new Qashqai e-Power like to drive?

Autocar had an early taste in a late prototype of a Qashqai e-Power fitted with the new third-generation system at Nissan’s Grandrive test facility in Yokosuka, Japan. We were given the chance to test the new model back-to-back with a current-spec Qashqai e-Power, allowing for a direct comparison of the upgrades.

The Grandrive facility features a reasonable mix of high-speed straights and bends, along with some sections emulating bumpy and uneven road surfaces, but a few laps of a test track offered no chance to judge that promised fuel economy improvement – likely to be the key selling point of the upgraded hybrid to potential Qashqai buyers.

Still, the test did hint at the increased refinement the upgrades powertrain offered. It’s a small step, rather than a giant leap, but one that is discernible.

The extra power is hard to detect, although given this is a Qashqai, you’re hardly likely to be calling upon the far extremes of the torque or output very often anyway. 

But the car does run notably quieter, with the engine a bit smoother. In the current car, hard acceleration can cause the engine to whine as it pushes to deliver the energy the motor is calling for. In the new one, it seems notably more chilled, running at a more constant speed, with the power more freely available when called upon. That said, it does create a little bit of dissonance between your pedal inputs and the engine note.

It's a little smoother too, although claims of offering an EV-like driving experience are relative. With Nissan’s e-Pedal system applied, you can drive it somewhat like an EV, and at slow speeds it's very calm, but ultimately all the energy being deployed still comes from burning petrol.