It's Qashqai, baba!

Last Thursday I popped round to our local Nissan dealer to take a look at the rumored new Nissan Crossover of sorts. The Nissan Qashqai.
I said "of sorts" because the Qashqai looks like an SUV. A small one, but it does look it. Only thing is, it isn't. A 2.0 Litre 4 Cylinder Engine powers only the front wheels to turn. There IS a 4WD option in other markets, but I am not sure if it will reach here in the Middle East. Jermy Clarkson has his own points to state in his review:

Brilliant. You can’t drive it across a field or through a puddle but it looks like an SUV, which means you must bathe in a sea of hate from the world’s liberal democrats every time you go anywhere. That sounds like lose lose.

Qashqai sound like an odd name, But Nissan took a page out of VolksWagen's book and named their car after a tribe. Qashqai is the name of an Iranian tribe. That should do well in the middle east then, shouldn't it?
It comes in two trims: Boring and Less Boring.
The boring trim (or as we locally say "emgashirah") comes with tiny steel wheels, and no buttons on a boring steering wheel.
The less boring one (I will not call this full option, no way) comes with tiny alloy wheels, and some fancy buttons on the steering wheel. And from the looks of it, a Bluetooth built in function for calls.
It is however, unforgivable in my opinion that the less boring trim comes with NO FOG LIGHTS. I mean, it's 2008, you're charging more already, just put them in!
The basic trim costs BD 6995 and the not so full option costs BD 7750. I expect a 4WD option (if ever released) to be around BD 8800.
The car actually doesn't look bad, its a much better contender than the aging and notorious RAV4. It could be better but it is still a good deal I think.
Almoayyed is to have a launching ceremony for the car on the 25th. I really do not understand why do you start selling something and then, you "launch" it. Isn't a launching ceremony the start of something? pheh... businesses these days.