( Worldcarfans ) - Production of the new QASHQAI equipped with the state-of-the-art 2.0-litre dCi engine starts this week at Nissan's Sunderland factory.
The 2.0-litre dCi engine - engine code M1D - produces 110kW (150hp) at 4000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2000rpm, while returning a frugal fuel economy figure of 42.8 mpg and CO2 emissions of 174g/km when fitted with manual transmission and in 2WD configuration. Furthermore, unusual in this category of the market, a 6-speed automatic transmission is also available.
Nissan expects over 25% of all QASHQAIs sold to be equipped with this diesel engine making it the most popular engine choice among buyers.
Co-developed with Nissan's Alliance-partner Renault, the engine delivers fun-to-drive performance thanks to its powerful and torquey characteristics, but at the same time it's smooth, refined, and environmentally-friendly: it redefines diesel engine standards in the compact family and compact SUV segments. This engine also offers unique technologies such as standard DPF and twin balancer shafts. This level of performance was made possible by the latest generation of common-rail injection fuel system delivering 1600 bar of pressure. Piezoelectric technology supplied by Bosch gives fast, very precise control allowing a 'five squirt' injection cycle: two pre-squirts, one main squirt and two post-squirts. The pre-squirts improve engine acoustics by minimising the characteristic diesel clatter. The post-squirts sustain the main injection combustion, to burn off soot and thus bring down pollutant emissions before the exhaust gases have even left the combustion chamber.
Acoustics was one of the engineering priorities for the new engine. The bottom of the engine, with its aluminium bedplate, was designed for higher efficiency and improved vibration absorption. Twin counter rotating balancer shafts cancel crankshaft rotary vibration, making a major contribution to refinement, especially at higher speed. Together with the use of pre-injection, these solutions ensure a very high level of noise and vibration reduction. This engine is equipped with chain-driven camshafts for the sake of acoustic comfort, but also to the benefit of reliability and service life.
Unique in this class of engines, the 2.0 dCi is equipped as standard with a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) with a periodic regeneration system. When the particulates that have been collected from the engine emissions reach a specified level, the engine runs a process called thermal regeneration performing a second post-injection to overheat the exhaust gas. Above a certain temperature, the soot in the filter oxidizes off, and the filter can continue trapping particulates. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) produces a controlled temperature rise in the combustion chamber to reduce pollutant emission levels (NOx) and thus enhance the engine's overall environment performance.
The consumption and emissions figures for the other transmission configurations are as follows: 40.9mpg and 184g/km for the M/T 4WD version and 36.2mpg and 208 g/km for the A/T 4WD version. In the two months since sales began, Nissan has already taken an impressive number of orders for QASHQAI across Europe. Early customer analysis shows that the majority of QASHQAI's buyers opted for the 2WD version and previously drove a C-Segment car. This is in-line with Nissan's expectation that customers would recognise that it offers a true alternative to the traditional compact family car.
Customers are looking foward to receiving the first deliveries of the 2.0-litre diesel equipped QASHQAI - 15% of all QASHQAI orders already received are for this version.
Nissan's engineers at Nissan Technical Centre Europe, based both at Cranfield, in the UK and Barcelona, Spain, have specifically adapted the tune and engine mapping for the QASHQAI as it is the first ever application of this 2.0 dCi engine on a model with all-wheel drive transmission. Furthermore, this engine is offered for the first time with a 6-speed automatic transmission.
At the end of April 700 QASHQAIs will roll out of Nissan's manufacturing plant in Sunderland every day to satisfy demand for the vehicle across the world1.