Engineering determines the favourite son
DRIVING IMPRESSION/ Mark Smyth puts two children of the Nissan Navara to the test to see which sibling has the better offering
The bakkie market is in waiting. We might even say it is in limbo. It is rather like Formula One fans who know the new season will start in March but can it just start already.
What is everyone waiting for? The answer for many is the new Nissan Navara. The wait is nearly over as it will arrive in SA in March, hopefully together with the long-anticipated announcement that it will be manufactured in SA.
In the meantime, the Navara’s children are already living in SA and the family is growing with the Navara set to be the parent of the Mercedes XClass and Renault Alaskan when they arrive in 2018. Now, though, there are two Navara kids on the block: the Fiat Fullback and the Mitsubishi Triton. We recently drove both.
They are good-looking bakkies, differentiated by their front and rear styling, although even here the differences are minimal. Essentially, the choice will come down to personal taste and brand preference, perhaps even as simple as which manufacturer is represented closest to you.
The same is true of the interiors, which are almost identical with the exception of steering wheels and some minor items as well as standard equipment. So it is easy for us to discuss the interior as if they are the same model, which, let’s face it, they basically are. And to be honest, the interiors are rather good.
You get clear instrumentation, genuine design effort on the dashboard and a decent level of equipment. This includes climate control, cruise control, a multifunction steering wheel with remote controls for the audio system and a touchscreen infotainment screen. The latter is a little tricky compared with those in rivals such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux but it will fit the bill for many.
The seats are comfortable, the driving position excellent and there is a surprising amount of space for those occupying the rear seats. There are plenty of storage spaces, too, although our usual gripe with bakkies occurs here too: there is nowhere to hide a laptop bag.
Once we get past all the similar cosmetics, things start to get a little different. The Fullback features an older-generation 2.5l turbodiesel motor. It has a respectable 131kW and 400Nm but it sounds agricultural and lacks good response even when you play around with the fivespeed manual gearbox. We are told that Fiat opted for this engine and transmission setup in order to keep the cost of the vehicle down — and it undercuts the Triton, even the manual version, by quite some margin.
Where the Fiat might be cheaper, the Mitsubishi is definitely superior, especially when it comes to the engineering beneath the skin.
The main thing here is the engine. Mitsubishi has used a new 2.4l turbodiesel motor. On paper the differences are not that big, with the Triton providing 133kW and 430Nm, but in the real world the differences are immense.
The Triton’s engine is smooth and responsive at lower revs. It pulls effortlessly and quietly compared with the Fullback.
The automatic gearbox is possibly the best in the segment, responding perfectly to the demands of the driver and ensuring the power is delivered without winding the engine up too high.
Ride comfort is another area where the Triton wins hands down. Most bakkies suffer from the dreaded bounce when they are unladen, but the Triton shows almost no sign of this.
Many bakkie manufacturers claim it, but the Triton is the closest I have experienced to genuine car-like ride comfort. It will be fascinating to see how the Navara behaves and even more fascinating to see how Mercedes trumps it.
Both models we tested were the 4x4 versions, although we did not get the chance to go roughing it anywhere so will have to reserve judgment on their abilities there.
Then there are the other rivals. Our pick of the bakkie market at the moment is the Ford Ranger but in terms of power, both the Fullback and the Triton sit between the Ranger 2.2 and 3.2. The same is true of the Toyota Hilux, where you get substantially less power in the 2.4 for the price of the Fullback and would have to look further up the model hierarchy.
By now you have probably realised that we have concluded the Triton is a much better offering than the Fullback. There is nothing to differentiate the two in terms of design but it is the engineering of the Triton that not only ensures it beats the Fiat, but beats it by a country mile.
In fact, the Triton even beats the Hilux and Ranger in terms of ride comfort and that is something we were not expecting.