Countless nights flying trans-oceanic, you discover no amount of aircraft lighting can make a dent in the darkness eight miles in the sky. I can stare out the cockpit window all night and never see anything reflective. As if leaving the light on at the front door of the space station makes any difference, such is the case when driving night roads in Ghana. The road from Accra to Kumasi, is renowned as being one of the most dangerous roads in Africa, at least by Ghanaians. I looked it up. Didn’t find the road listed on several semi-qualified world’s worse lists, but no matter, taking a bio-break can’t be blamed on liquid consumption alone.
It’s my turn to drive the Nissan X-Trial just as the sun sets. Somewhat refreshed after a mysterious dinner in Nkawkaw, my extreme sports participant Scott and I depart our somewhat unsavory Hungarian gold miner dinner guests. This is the first time I’ve driven in Ghana and my first experience with a diesel. Right away I’m off on the wrong foot by starting the X-Trail without the clutch (what happened to the auxiliary setting?) and finding 6th gear instead of reverse. Pull-up on the shift boot and swing it way over to right field is how it works. Hopefully won’t need that gear again. Scott smiles and says, “Happens to everyone.”
The X-Trail isn’t sold in the U.S. A true crossover based on something in the Nissan-Renault chassis closet, this version includes a 2.2 direct injection diesel with a six-speed manual. As is the case with many crossovers, you won’t find robust transfer cases but you do get a FWD, Auto AWD and Locked all-wheel drive system with just the rotation of a knob. Ground clearance and ride height is on par with many SUV offerings without the added weight of the ladder-frame construction and rock crushing skid plates. With a 3300 curb weight and 136hp, there isn’t much to look forward to, but I quickly find full throttle in 2nd gear brings on a 232 lb ft torque rush that will be welcome many times during the drive. 
Getting out of Nkawkaw is challenging. The power company is holding electricity for ransom until the town’s people help pay for an on-going funeral for an apparently, powerful person. This tactic is Africa norm. The dark city streets are filled with people, cars and tro-tro’s, the Ghanaian equivalent of inter-city transportation. Traffic patterns are non-existent and I’m not helping the situation by playing crowd control with the front bumpers of the X-Trail. Fortunately the X-Trail offers great visibility off the forward planks. The stop and slow situation is aided by a light clutch with easy engagement. I’m not fond of the long throws required for changing gears and I find later the shift gate accuracy isn’t all that forgiving.
The X-Trail has served us well over the long day. We spent the daylight hours mountain biking around Aburi, with some friends from the U.S. Embassy and finished it off with an attempt at paragliding from the cliffs of Mpraeso. The winds never worked out for us and the first take-off attempt ended up with a five foot face slide into Ghana’s finest dirt. I only hope my health plan takes care of those parasites. The X-Trail accommodates two mountain bikes (front wheels removed) and kit for a tandem paraglide inside the truck, with one of the sides of the split fold back seat still in the upright position for passenger use. It’s nice being able to fit everything inside so you don’t have to worry too much about grabby hands while driving or leaving the car parked.
Once clear of Nkawkaw and heading south to Accra, the road starts with a shoulder, markings and two lanes. Further on, the markings disappear, then the shoulder and then the road all together in some places. Street lights and light in general is non-existent with the headlights providing your only source of visibility. The on-coming traffic blinds what’s left of a visual and many of the trucks (lorries) have Dakar Rally style driving lights.
I wish the X-Trail had the same lighting (perhaps a huge light bar on the roof a la Jeep Liberty?) just to throw back some of the same retina pain. I could adjust the fog lights upward but I really need them where they are to see what carnage I’m about to hit, like coal bags. Or people. Villagers are all over the road and at any speed you can’t see pedestrians. Some are smart carrying torches or flashlights, but otherwise you rely on your horn to warn the looming darkness.
Logic would have that you shouldn’t blind the other driver so at least one of you can see. The lorrie drivers apparently feel the same but that they should be the ones to see. And see they do, right as the trucks head for your lane, nearly running you off the road. The X-Trail breaks do very well indeed with smooth modulation so as not to wake up my traveling partner, at ease taking a nap in the comfortable front seats. This is certainly a trip where sleeping would be preferable to driving, but either option is far better than being an alert passenger. That would lead to a backseat driver gone mad!
Many trucks and tro-tro’s don’t have rear lights and the conditions make the situation even more daring when driving. You come up quick on them as you are traveling at highway speeds but they are doing maybe 20mph. Maybe I should too, but that’s not the point. I’ve yet to come to terms with the gear shift in the X-Trail, finding sixth to be dame near unreachable and the fifth much the same. First gear is too high making second too low for slow passing situations. Perhaps it’s just me trying to drive the X-Trail like a truck, with a quick first to second shift with low RPM’s and even quicker shifts up to the 16th gear. But this is not a Mac, it’s a crossover. Once I started driving it like a car we got along much better.
The engine is amazing. Quiet, smooth, and a palm tree-puller making pant wetting uphill passes in pitch dark far less soaking. I kept running out of revs. I’m used to my rev happy hot hatches such as my Honda Civic with a 7800rpm limit(less). The X-Trail runs out at 5000rpm but the engine lets you feel none of that overrun. The power doesn’t drop off like I expect a diesel to do forcing me to keep my eye on the tachometer.
Unfortunately, my eye is on the uphill passing maneuver and I have no idea where the hill crests as it blends in with the horizon. The tach is in the gauge pod located in the fashionable but useless center of the dash. I hate center gauge pods. I really do. The only benefit I see is it allowed Nissan to place an air vent directly in front of the driver. That’s it. I can always lower dash lights or even turn them off in every other vehicle. Nissan, and others, may find the design convenient for vehicles sold in left and right hand markets but I don’t see the reverse dash design being much simpler to manufacture.
I just forget about it and learn to shift to third halfway past the length of a lorrie. From about 20mph, a full throttle pass in 2nd is very assuring. In fact, I don’t know of any four cylinder SUV/crossover that could match this engine and there are some six cylinder versions of the same SUV/crossovers that would pale in comparison. Multiple launches from second underscore what I truly believe is a remarkable engine for such a vehicle. Surprisingly, on the few stretches of docile road and traffic conditions, I’d ring out sixth gear as much as courage allowed and find 80 mph to ring at 3000 rpm’s. I just thought a diesel would turn lower. Yes, my heart rate went up at such speed. Who knew 80 would feel like the speed of light, or at least the length of light.
All day long I’ve appreciated the suspension. Nissan may not admit it, but Renault has done wonders for Nissan’s suspension development. In nearly 300 miles of various Ghana road jolts, not one threw off the X-Trail’s pace or awakened sleeping passengers, if they had ear plugs. The U.N. sized holes filtered through with an awful clink. At the first fuel stop, I checked around for something loose, kicked the tires, wheels, got underneath and couldn’t find a thing out of norm. The clink continued and I can’t blame anything but maybe noisy brake calipers. That said, nothing broke for the trip and maybe Nissan needs to learn to speak a little more French in order to get the suspension to parlez to the passengers as well. Granted, this clink was heard doing 70 mph over roads of questionable character.
The love-hate-relationship with the gearbox also goes for the steering. On-center feel is out there in the bush somewhere. Maybe it’s in the center of the dash where everything else is. The few turns on the road let you know this vehicle is built for city or highway cruising and as nice as the suspension is (non-orally) the steering will let you down. I say this but then think after a few hard hits with Ghana terrain that maybe, less feel is the name of the game. With the suspension /calipers screaming, maybe I don’t want to feel the road.
The game plan is to follow those-in-the-know to Accra. I thought this would be the lorries of various nature moving everything out of the way, but their 20mph pace is far off of my heavy foot. Instead, some local SUV drivers lead the way in the form of a big brother Nissan Patrol and an obscure Ford Explorer. They know the traffic patterns, the big holes and the way of the road. The X-Trail let me stay on their ass and pass with confidence, at least behind them. I figure, if they hit something, I won’t. Two hints for driving in Ghana: Honk twice politely when passing anything from people to villages and when the driver in front uses the left blinker, DO NOT PASS!
Trans-oceanic night crossings will seem less daunting after this nights drive. The X-Trail performed admirably during the day’s x-tream adventures and survives high-speed African drives with nary a scratch but continues with the troublesome clink through large bumps. Nissan would do well to tighten up the steering (but just so) and work on the shift pattern. I hope they leave the engine alone. With mid-30’s fuel economy and power to throw one’s self around trucks uphill, I look forward to their future U.S. diesel engine options and maybe the X-Trail to boot.
