Production of the new Qashqai equipped with the two-litre dCi engine starts this week at Nissan’s Sunderland factory in north-east England.
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The new engine –code M1D – produces 110kW (150hp) at 4,000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2,000rpm, while returning 42.8 mpg on the EC combined test cycle and CO2 emissions of 174g/km when fitted with manual transmission and 2WD. A six-speed automatic transmission is also available.
Nissan engineers in the UK and 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.
The automaker expects over 25% of models sold to be equipped with this diesel engine making it the most popular engine choice among buyers.
The engine was developed jointly with Nissan’s Alliance-partner Renault and has a particulate filter as standard and twin balancer shafts.
The 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 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.
Claimed 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 oxidises 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.
Since the model line’s launch two months ago, Nissan has found that most buyers opted for the 2WD version and previously drove a C-segment car. Fifteen percent of all orders already received are for the new diesel version.
From the end of this month, Nissan will make 700 Qashqais daily in Sunderland.
As well as sales Europe-wide, some production is exported to Japan, Australia, South Africa, South America and the Middle East.
