Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the suv segment and utilize the same 5-door suv body style and the 4 x 4 wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Jaguar-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 300hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 269hp engine designed by Nissan.

Safety

The fact that the Nissan got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, offers a slight advantage, as the 4-star rating is better than none. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the suv segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the British car offers a considerable difference of 14% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Nissan is significantly less fault-prone, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Land Rover with an average rating of 3.8, and models under the Nissan badge with 4.3 out of 5. The same official information place Range Rover Sport 50% below average, and Pathfinder 16% above the first one. That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the British car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Both of the cars accelerate exactly the same, so we couldn't put one above the other. Car No. 1 reaches top speed of 190 kilometers per hour, 19km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Japanese car, averaging around 13.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (21 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 10% difference compared to the British car.

Verdict

Nissan is apparently more reliable, not too much, but just enough. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Japanese car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Land Rover being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Nissan. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.