Nissan has made a lot of noise about the new Qashqai’s virtues as a hot, trendy crossover with the latest gadgets and options. Now we get a chance to evaluate the new model as a car, studying its values in terms of performance, economy, and of course, safety.

As it turned out, the new 2014 Nissan Qashqai is a darn good vehicle in those aspects as well. Take safety, for example. The results of EuroNCAP’s latest series of crash tests are in, and as expected, the Qasha snatched all the available five stars.

The car scored maximum points, with good protection of all body regions, maximum points in barrier test, maximum points for its protection of an 18-month old infant, and maximum points for the protection provided to pedestrians’ legs. You can’t get much safer than this.

Nissan Qashqai owes its safety excellence not only to clever design and engineering, but also to what Nissan calls the Safety Shield. It includes Forward Emergency Braking, Driver Attention Alert, Lane Departure Warning, High Beam Assist and Traffic Sign Recognition. The Shield also features Blind Spot Warning and Moving Object Detection, systems made possible and accessible thanks to Nissan’s acclaimed Around View Monitor technology.