Navara lands, softly
Nissan’s all-new doublecab comes with a big USP - coil spring suspension
WITH South Africa’s leisure bakkie market already chock-a-block with choice - Hilux, Ranger, Amarok, KB, Triton, Fullback and BT-50 just to mention a few - Nissan’s all-new Navara has softly landed into this battlefield offering a unique selling point: five-link coil spring rear suspension.
The rear wheels are still connected by a solid rear axle instead of SUV-like independent suspension, but coils are designed to deliver a more comfortable ride than the bouncy leaf springs used in bakkies since Noah was a lad.
Does it work? Yes, quite effectively. On this week’s media launch in the Cape I drove Nissan’s new doublecab on rutted gravel roads, smooth highways, sand dunes and almost everything in between; and compared to leaf-sprung bakkies the Navara’s ride rocks the Richter scale to a lesser degree.
The load bay will probably require some weight to bring the ride quite up to SUV levels, but even with an empty cargo box this Nissan is less kidney-shaking than the average bakkie.
Arriving initially in a trio of premium doublecab 4x4 models, the Navara range will by the end of this year be expanded with 4x2 versions, and next year with singlecab and cab-and-a-half derivatives. The long running, locally built NP 300 Hardbody will continue to sell alongside the Navara for the time being as a budget focussed offering, but there’s a good chance the imported Navara will also start being assembled at Nissan’s Rosslyn plant in the near future.
The new 2.3-litre turbodiesel engine powering this smoother-cruising Navara has plenty of hustle, with 140kW and 450Nm of easygoing grunt that made it equally adept at climbing steep sand dunes or whipping past long trucks.
In the battle of the muscles the twin-turbo engine stacks up well against turbodiesel competitors like the 2.8-litre Hilux (130kW/450Nm), 3.2-litre Ford Ranger (147kW/470Nm), and 2.4-litre Triton (133kW/430Nm), while the new Navara’s 176kg lighter than its predecessor which gives it added spring in its step.
Nissan claims a fuel consumption of 6.5 and 7.0 litres for respectively the manual and auto; the vehicles I drove at the launch returned figures of 9.6 and 9.9.
It’s a rather gruff-sounding engine when the revs rise, but wind and road noise are well suppressed and Nissan has done a good job with this vehicle’s overall refinement.
The cabin moves closer to the SUV realms with its upmarket trimmings, even more so with the heated and power operated leather seats optionally available with the flagship LE model of the Navara (cloth seats come standard).
The cabin’s impressively roomy and both the SE and LE derivatives are packed with modern features like navigation, cruise control, a touchscreen infotainment system, front and rear air vents, and a unique feature in the market segment: an electrically operated sliding window between the rear cabin and the load bay.
Seven airbags, ABS brakes and stability control are also common to both versions. The LE in addition comes with climate control instead of regular aircon, along with push-button engine start, roof rails, and 18” alloy wheels vs the SE’s 16” versions, amongst a hand-
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