CUSTOM ORDER
Kiwi aftermarket specialist RVE has gone to town on the Nissan Navara
Here in New Zealand, we seem to love our utes more than anywhere else in the world. For as long as I can remember, the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux have done battle at the top of local sales charts.
This love for practical vehicles is likely rooted in the Kiwi “cando” attitude, which is something that also contributes to our love for modifying them. These days, finding a stock-standard doublecab ute on the road is easier said than done, with upgraded tyres, flares and sports bars so readily available. When it comes to fitting these utes out, few seem to do it better than RVE.
For RVE’s latest project, it has turned to Nissan’s facelifted Navara, fitting it out with all manner of upgrades to increase both everyday practicality and off-road ability. As a starting point, this new Navara is one of the best, given that the SL double-cab 4x4 only costs $49,990; when paired with the RVE
Pack V2, you’re left with a bottom line of $64,538. The
$14,593 RVE pack turns this Navara into an incredibly useful machine.
The modifications can be broken down into four categories: interior, aesthetic, driving, and practicality. Let’s start on the inside.
The Monza sports seats are RVE’s bread and butter. For the most part, these bolstered sports seats are comfortable, but the plastic inserts that sit behind the driver’s shoulders can get a little annoying on long drives. The second row of seating gets the same diamondstitched treatment, as does the steering wheel to bring everything together.
The exterior of this Navara follows suit with blue accents. These are part of the RVE Decal Package and work well with the blacked-out features. The twotone fenders are done by RVE, and do wonders to the Navara’s on-road presence.
Lastly, while the daytime running lights mounted in the mesh grille can be used as driving lights at night, the X pattern that displays during regular use is entirely aesthetic, giving the ute an aggressive look.
When it comes to driving dynamics, not a lot is changed by this RVE package.
The Maxxis Razor all-terrain tyres wrapped around the 20-inch alloys certainly affect how the Navara drives, but I’d say for the better.
The 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel engine still makes 140kW and
450Nm, but thanks to a nifty little device, it has the ability to sound significantly different. It’s called an Exhaust Enhancer and works in conjunction with the engine’s computer to produce a sound based on what the engine is doing. In this case, four different artificial engine sounds are available, and can be controlled using either a button on the steering wheel, or from a phone app.
On top of this V2 pack, RVE also offers a raft of extras, some of which were fitted to the test vehicle we had.
These included the sports bar, the rear tray roof racks, the electric roller tray shutter lid, and RVE’s tough liner tray protection system, which comes with a raft of uses.
The Maxxis tyres work well on
the road with little noise, and while they lift the fuel consumption slightly above Nissan’s quoted figure, it’s a worthy sacrifice for their ability off-road. In the soft sand of Muriwai Beach these tyres excelled and never felt out of their depth. It’s also worth noting that the LED lights mounted on the sports bar do wonders for driving off-road at night.
RVE does a great job of implementing the DRLs in with the standard lighting system, meaning drivers don’t have to worry about them being left on and draining the battery.
The main benefit of the RVE extras is the practicality that’s added to this Navara.
While the upgrade package gives it a tougher aesthetic, if it were up to me, I’d be diving headfirst into the extras catalogue, and fitting a ute out with almost everything that is present here.
From the tray-mounted roof racks to the tough liner accessory kit, and the tailgate workbench, you’d be hardpressed to find a vehicle with more practical uses than this Navara.