Do the motoring journalists who review cars only ever test them when they’re brand new? I ask because I bought my spanking new Nissan Qashqai just sixteen months ago largely on the recommendation of such reviews. One year and four months later I wish I hadn’t bothered. Here’s why…

Sudden failure

Stranded for more than three and a half hours in a car park in November I had time to reflect on that important purchase last year. It seemed like the perfect car for me. It was not to be. My Qashqai had suffered sudden clutch failure but what kept my spirits up was that I had a three year warranty with roadside assistance. Annoyingly the ‘assistance’ (provided through the RAC) proved slow and nowhere near as efficient as I have found the AA. But worse was to come. Much worse.

Dangerous

Over a period of forty years I have driven Vauxhalls, Audis, Volvos, Fords and Volkswagens. I have never been stranded by clutch failure. In fact I’ve NEVER experienced clutch failure. And my other cars had a much higher mileage than the 25,000 I’d driven in the Quashqai.

Smoke

Luckily the normally busy dual carriageway where the Qashqai engine started to smoke was relatively quiet. With the sudden fall in acceleration it could have been far more dangerous.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough Nissan are now charging me £1,800 to repair the car. “No Mr. McCarthy,” the Nissan dealer explained, “the warranty doesn’t cover your clutch.

‘It’s not component failure. It’s the way the car has been driven,” he continued.

It seems to me now that those words were to lead into the long, dark, one-way tunnel that is the Nissan complaints department. I won’t inflict on you dear reader the depressing details of the endless phone calls.

Needless to say, my forty year long driving record with experience of numerous makes and models was clearly not enough for Nissan. The fact that my Qashqai had been serviced (by Nissan) just a few months before the catastrophic clutch failure was not enough for Nissan. The fact that I had a three year warranty was not enough for Nissan. The manufacturer took no responsibility deciding instead to put the blame on me. Nissan? Never again!