Nissan goes beast with Navara
THE Nissan l oad t ub can hold 100kg, which takes the load capacity over onetonne. More features and connectivity are now available, but the Navara’s cabin lacks luxury softtouch points. The new 2.5- litre turbodiesel is surprisingly quiet and seems more re ined than the old 2.3- l i tre unit . The updated Navara could be the best- riding bakkie on mixed road surfaces.
The Nissan Navara has ‘ come h o me’. I t ’ s n o w a S o u t h A f r i - can- built bakkie – tuned for our conditions and speci ied to suit the needs of local bakkie buyers. Is the facelifted model good enough to help Nissan secure a bigger share of the leisure double- cab segment? I brie ly drove the newcomer in Manzini this week.
What’s new on the Navara?: Nissan admittedly attempted to make its leisure double- cab more attractive to l uxury- family- car buyers ( who would ostensibly use their bakkies to pursue outdoor activities on weekends) by itting t he Navara with a coil - s prung – rather than a traditional leafsprung – rear suspension.
The thinking behind that was to make the bakkie more stable at speed and that it would deliver a comfortable ride quality when travelling over rougher road surfaces.
Nissan Navara tracking:
Following a substantial investment in its Rosslyn production facility, Nissan i s now assembling t he facelifted version of the Navara on local soil.
Moreover, the bakkie has undergone extensive local testing and tuning to suit Southern African conditions. Among a plethora of updates, the Navara features a more distinctive ( and bold) design – especially at the front, new tyres, suspension i mprovements, reduced vibration and motion from the body, a recalibrated steering, a l arger c apacity s i ngle- t urbo engine, a deeper load tub, plus there’s more in the way of connectivity options and safety features.
New Nissan Navara engine: It seems that consumers’ appetite for stronger engines has oficially spilt over from the car to the bakkie segment, where Ford, Toyota and especially Volkswagen have extracted rather lofty peak outputs from their pick- up motors. Suf i ce to say t hat i f a brand wants to offer a bakkie at the high- end of the double- cab market, that model is unlikely to get much of a look in if it cannot produce 450Nm!
To t h a t e n d , t h e p r e - f a c e l i f t Navara’s 2. 3- l i t re t urbodiesel has been superseded by a new 2.5- litre single- turbo diesel unit that produces 140kW and 450Nm of torque in the LE and PRO ( 2X or 4X) spec derivatives… and the latter output is just enough for Nissan’s newcomer to stay in the hunt with the Hilux and Ranger.
Out on the road, the engine felt re ined and pulled eagerly without sounding laboured at the upper end of its rev range.
The Nissan’s motor certainly doesn’t lack overtaking oomph and quickly got up t o f reeway speeds. The 7- speed automatic transmission seems to be quite adept at selecting the right gear for the situation; it didn’t hang onto gears needlessly.
Fuel consumption for the new engine is claimed at 8.1 L/ 100km, which seems entirely achievable, considering that we saw an indicated return of 9.6 L/ 100km after completing the launch route.
Summary: The updated, locally- produced Nissan Navara stands out as a bakkie that rides, especially well and feels stable over all road surfaces. The new engine seems punchy enough to compete with t hose of t he competition and is frugal enough when driven fairly. The interior connectivity and safety options are certainly a step up.