Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £17,199 to £22,699
Fine drive, added space.
Seats only useful for occasional use, hefty premium over already pricey five-seat.
Worth considering for those who occasionally carry more than five and are thoroughly bored with the MPV way of thinking.
Nissan has struck gold with its alternative to a 'normal' hatchback. In the 18 months the weirdly named Qashqai has been on the market the Japanese company has racked up an incredible 250,000 sales.
Now demand is beginning to tail off so the brand has decided to broaden even further the appeal of its SUV-cum-hatchback by providing an extra couple of seats.
If it were Ford or Vauxhall you might have expected an estate version, but Nissan has once again been thinking outside of the box and decided the best way forward was to extend the standard Qashqai... a bit.
Quite simply it has created an MPV without actually comforming to an MPV 'standard'. Only a dyed-in-the-wool car geek could tell it apart from the regular car.
Instead of slapping a larger greenhouse-style appendage on the back of its hatch Nissan has undergone a substantial re-engineering job to mask the bigger dimensions on the Qashqai+2. It's so substantial that from the wing mirrors back it's all new but it doesn't look it. Look closely and the only dead giveaway is the pair of lengthened rear doors.
Like the five-seat Qashqai there is the option of two- or four-wheel drive and the full range of the engines (the smaller engines join later) carry over with the range kicking off around £14,600 and stretching to £23,799 - a not insubstantial £1,850 (depending on model) - more than the five-seater.
So is it worth the extra outlay, and is it just a marketing gimmick designed to keep the MPV naysayers happy?
