Great Nissans for Getting Around Alberta
The beautiful province of Alberta is not only home to Northside Nissan, your premier Nissan dealership. Alberta is also home to around one-tenth of Canada’s population, and it is known and appreciated for its dynamic culture. If you haven’t made it beyond the Edmonton city boundaries recently, Alberta is home to the Rocky Mountains and vast forests that offer outdoor adventures for all. In your search for your next Nissan, you need to keep in mind where you plan on travelling.
Roads are not created equally, and neither are vehicles. Many Nissans are available with advanced features, including Safety Shield 360 and ProPILOT Assist to help you prevent collisions by acting as an onboard co-pilot alerting you and manually steering the vehicle away from danger. However, every model is designed to look and even drive differently from other Nissans. From the body style and which powertrains are available to the chassis and suspension, one Nissan may be a fuel-efficient highway commuter car great for long road trips, while another may be an agile city or an off-road warrior. Here are some of the models that we find work best for the different kinds of roads you’ll find throughout Alberta.
Venturing Through the City for Work or Leisure
Most of Alberta’s population resides in either Calgary or the city that Northside Nissan calls home, Edmonton. Therefore, urban travel is unavoidable for many of Alberta’s residents, whether for work or leisure, to enjoy the shopping, cultural experiences, or the second largest festival in the world: the Edmonton Fringe Festival. No matter what your reasons are for maneuvering through the city streets, if that is where most of your driving will occur, you’re going to want to find a Nissan that’s sized for the city.
Although sedans are being phased out by many automotive brands, Nissan still has a line of cars to choose from, starting with the urban-friendly Versa. Built on a rigid chassis with a short wheelbase, the subcompact 2022 Nissan Versa can handle every corner of the city. Its 1.6L 4-cylinder powertrain can get you up to 7.4 L/100 km in the city when paired with the automatic CVT transmission or 8.6 L/100 km with the 5-speed manual transmission. As for the interior, the 2022 Nissan Versa offers plenty of room for the family, seating up to five people with ample cargo space for all of the essentials you need for work or your weekend visit. With the flexibility of the 60/40-split fold-down rear seats, you have up to 425 L of space for your stuff.
While the Versa offers a spacious interior for both passengers and cargo, nothing quite compares to the interior storage space of a crossover or SUV. Nissan’s subcompact SUV, the 2022 Qashqai, can carry up to 1,730 L of cargo inside the cabin when you do not need to utilize all five seats or 648 L behind the back seat in the designated cargo area. The Nissan Qashqai also has an optional split-folding rear seat, making its interior adaptable to your needs with every drive. With the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine, you can expect to get up to 8.6 L/100 km in the city with FWD or 9.0 L/100 km with AWD.
If you are looking for the most fuel-efficient city driver, the all-electric Nissan LEAF is a great choice. It is a compact hatch with two battery options to choose from for the 2022 model: either the 40 kWh battery for a range of 240 km or a 62 kWh PLUS version with a range of 363 km on a full charge. The LEAF is fun to drive, agile, and handles like a champion. Plus, with the 60/40-split fold-down rear seats, there’s room for up to five passengers or up to 3,284 L of cargo space.
Cruising Down the Highway
Driving through the narrow streets of the city requires smaller vehicles that can handle the tight corners and the small parking spaces. However, highway travel increases your options. Not only will the city commuters perform well on the highway also, but there are larger Nissan models you can consider when you drive primarily on the province’s longest and busiest highway, the Alberta Highway 2, which stretches from British Columbia to the United States.
The 2022 Nissan Altima is our sedan of choice for the highway, delivering an impressive performance all around on the open road. This midsize sedan is large enough for the family, seating up to five and with room for up to 437 L of trunk space for everything you might need to bring with you. Yet it is also responsive enough for your inner racecar driver and efficient enough to make it a reasonable distance between fuelings in any weather. The standard AWD powertrain and 2.5L 4-cylinder engine can get 6.5 L/100 km on the highway. Plus, with standard premium features for comfort, like heated front seats, even winter drives can be more enjoyable.
If an SUV is more your style, then the 2022 Nissan Rogue, and the even larger 2022 Nissan Armada, are great models for cruising the highway. Due to its 5.6L 8-cylinder engine, the full-size Armada’s fuel economy doesn’t come close to that of the smaller compact Rogue. The Armada can get, at most, 12.9 L/100km on the highway with 4WD—its only drivetrain option. The Rogue, on the other hand, is available with FWD or AWD for better driving in inclement weather and unfavourable road conditions, with two powertrain options. For a fair comparison to its larger sibling, the most fuel-efficient Rogue engine, the 1.5L Turbo 3-cylinder engine, is estimated to get up to 6.7 L/100km on the highway with AWD.
We chose the 2022 Nissan Armada as a great option for the highway, not for its fuel economy but for its size and premium interior. The Armada is perfect for long rides with the family due to its spacious, comfortable, standard leather-appointed interior seats, with enough room for up to eight passengers and road trip gear with plenty of flexible cargo space if needed. Did we mention it comes standard with front heated seats and a heated steering wheel with the option for cooled front seats and heated second-row seats? Or how about a Tri-Zone Entertainment system to keep the kids busy while your 2022 Nissan Armada racks up the kilometres down the highway. The Armada’s accommodating interior alone makes up for its fuel economy, which truly is not bad considering what’s under the hood.
Off-Road Adventures
Beyond the city boundaries, off-road trail systems are hidden all around Alberta. There are plenty of great trail systems for any skill level in the Edmonton area, with varied terrain from mud to hill climbs to wooded trails. However, to enjoy these lesser-travelled areas of Alberta, you’re going to need a vehicle that can be your daily driver but be equipped and rugged enough for you to take you to these wonderful parts of our province. Luckily, Nissan has a few great options.
The Armada is a great SUV to take to the trail with its Intelligent 4x4 system and 8-cylinder engine, but only if you’re okay with taking luxury into the woods or the mud. The 2022 Nissan Pathfinder and the 2022 Nissan Frontier are models which are better equipped to take you farther off-road. It just depends on how many passengers you want to bring along and what type of trails you want to try out.
If you plan on bringing the family out on the trail with you, the three-row Pathfinder has room to seat up to eight in first-class comfort and style. It also has an impressive 2,280 L of cargo space with the seats folded down or 470 L in the designated cargo area behind the third row for all of the gear you need to bring along. But what makes the Pathfinder an off-road warrior is its performance on the trail. It’s powered by the 3.5L 6-cylinder paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission, producing 284 hp and 259 lb-ft of torque. It gets enhanced traction from the Intelligent 4x4 system, and the seven Drive and Terrain Modes allow for optimal performance on the pavement, while towing, on sand, in the mud, and even in snow.
The midsize 2022 Nissan Frontier is not only a great pickup, but it’s our number one pick for taking to the trails. It offers more power for conquering the trail with a 3.8L 6-cylinder paired with the 9-speed automatic, which can produce 310 hp and 281 lb-ft of torque, and it’s even available in a trail-ready model for the ultimate off-roading experience right off our dealership lot. The 2022 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X comes with standard skid plates for body protection, Bilstein shocks for an enjoyable ride even on the most rugged terrain, off-road gauges so you can monitor your trail performance, and an available Intelligent Around View Monitor with Off-Road Mode so you can see the trail from all angles.
How Will You Be Exploring the Roads in Alberta?
Alberta’s diversity is beautiful, both in its culture and its landscape. While Alberta houses large cities with millions of people, there’s also plenty of adventure waiting beyond the city and everyday noise. Here at Northside Nissan, we hope that you can find the Nissan model that is best for getting you around Alberta based on your lifestyle and driving requirements. Whether you need a city commuter, highway cruiser, or off-road explorer, we have the perfect vehicle waiting for you.