My watch has just announced six o’clock in the morning and my day has just finished, or maybe started, for a full 24 hours without a wink of sleep. It’s cold and drizzling outside and I am waiting to be handed over the keys to a Nissan X-Trail while my colleague waits elsewhere in similar conditions for the Mitsubishi Montero. The ed had warned us about being all fagged out but we politely ignored his concern. After all, not everyday do you get a chance to slip into the soft leather confines of such mammoths and simply go bonkers – on and off the road.
For all those who are wondering why we picked on these two almost creature-of-the-darkness kind of vehicles – the Montero has gone the soft-roader way and now comes with a more sophisticated car-like monocoque construction, and the X-Trail has to be the best of this generation of soft-roaders that roam our roads. Rules of the game laid down, let the battles begin.
After a brief wait, both of us have control of our chariots for the day and are on our way to the land beyond yore. I decided to treat the Nissan with a lot of respect as I’ve heard many stories about its mind-boggling capabilities, at least on tarmac. So I begin looking around the cabin marvelling at the number of cubbyholes Nissan has squeezed in to the dash and of course that centrally-mounted instrument cluster screaming out all the essential information. Even the aircon vents are placed a bit unorthodoxly with my personal blower mounted just above the steering column. But then again, containing my anxiety quickly became a problem with the wide open road mocking the way I was sedately gathering the miles. Caution thrown to the wind (not really), downshift and floor the right pedal – the following response from a one-and-a-half-ton car was not only unexpected but also bordered on the boundaries of insanity. Squeezed back into the leather seat with the needle climbing the rev counter quicker than I could comprehend what’s happening, I raced down the highway with my mouth wide open and my right foot almost unconsciously stuck to the floor. It took a lot of breathing and some meditation to harness my excitement and return to sanity.
A little further down the road I pulled over and decided to wait for the Montero, I also desperately needed to share my recently acquired experience, and to make a switch to the bigger, bolder SUV before the spirit of the Nissan’s 2.2-litre common-rail motor possessed me. After a quick conversation I climbed into the Montero, it is physically impossible to ‘step into’ the Mitsubishi unless you are maybe seven-feet tall. Settling in and the first thing that catches your eye has to be the multi-information display high on the centre console giving out the direction of your journey via an electronic compass, your height above sea level via an altimeter and atmospheric pressure (!) apart from the ambient temperature and some other things. The vast dash with its wood-finish and not so flattering plastics can substitute for a wall cabinet with ease. The instrument console gives you the necessary data with a little dial showing how power is being delivered to the wheels. Otherwise equipment is quite basic with electric mirrors and a single CD-MP3 player. However, there is a separate aircon for the second row and there are vents for the third row too. Both front seats are electrically adjustable and the second row reclines for comfort. However, the third row needs a bit of education to find, stowed away under the loading bay, an incredibly space efficient concept though, leaving a boot big enough to carry your house and move, in case you feel like spending a few days in the middle of the Himalayas or something of the sort. The steering wheel too adjusts for height and reach making for a very comfortable driving position. But turn the ignition on and the Montero shakes off slumber in crude fashion and the familiar diesel rattle is unavoidable. The 3.2-litre turbocharged direct injection unit, making all of 165bhp, keeps the Montero moving smartly but there is no overwhelming excitement despite the 372Nm of torque available at 2000rpm. But then again, if you buy a Montero you are more concerned with plonking it off-road more than earth shattering behaviour on tarmac.
Time for another swap of ride – this time passenger in the X-Trail, to keep from going overboard with my right foot. Only now are all the other sweet novelties of the Nissan savoured. The silent and efficient engine, the huge sun-roof, the 6-CD changer, the firm and supportive seats all are just calling out to be touched. Like the Montero, both front seats are electrically adjustable and the second row backrest reclines too. But there is no second row aircon or vents, and the steering wheel adjusts only for reach and not height. It is also a strict five-seater and there is nothing stowed away under the loading bay… well not that we were expecting anything, but it does have a washable loading bay cover that can be taken off and cleaned after a long weekend in the dirt.
Enough of looking around, I feel that irresistible itch in my right foot getting uncontrollable again and the need to satisfy it gets the better of my judgement. And so I oblige the devil under the hood planting my right foot one more time and letting her rip through the streets. That feeling of sheer exhilaration is just too good to resist. But then, these are two brute SUVs and soft-roader or not they can plough fields alright. So we amble along, finally holding my exuberance back, and look for the untilled field. Rolling off onto the muck, the X-Trail does not disappoint. But then we got more adventurous and decided to climb hills; the slick rotary style four-wheel-drive switch came in handy here. The 314Nm of torque does not really have much trouble pulling the X-Trail’s bulk around although the absence of a differential lock kept us on leash.
So, here is where we leave the X-Trail and jump into the Montero, after all it is ‘biting the dust’ that made this species famous. So we soldier on, being thrown from side to side as we climb the hill and wade through water. Although the Montero managed to get through most of the ordeal, we weren’t particularly pleased with the way it did it. Given the fact that it has an array of four-wheel drive options, which includes a low-range with a diff lock, the Montero did not really pick through the sticky situations like we would have liked.
So with a bit of disappointment we come off the dirt track and go onto more manageable surfaces where we can confidently potter along with theX-Trail without really bothering about bottoming out or spinning free wheels in the mud. Posing for a few more shots and giving us a chance to admire the brute ness exuding from the duo, the Montero certainly looks the meaner of the two. At almost five metres long and about two-metres wide, the Montero has loads of presence, whether you plonk it in front of a five star hotel or in the middle of a valley. The X-Trail on the other hand looks a bit more petite and offers more elegance rather than brutality.
So how do you go about choosing one? Quite contrary to our intuition the best soft-roader on Indian roads has enough potential to up its game when the fight gets dirty. Interiors and equipment are very comparable on both these cars with ABS and airbags being standard features on both although the X-Trail, comes with an additional pair, and costs nearly five-lakhs less. However, the single biggest attraction of owning the X-Trail has to be the refinement and raw power although the Montero’s off-road prowess does earn it a few points to make it a closer fight. However, at this stage of the game it is all about the image, and the X-Trail with all itssmartness is not much more than a suave crossover while the Montero despite the switch away from traditional SUV norms remains a hulk in every sense.