NISSAN NAVARA 2,5 DDTI PRO-4X 4X4
The Navara takes to the sands of Namibia to prove its durability and long-distance comfort
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comfortable ride thanks to coilover rear suspension lack of on-board tyre-pressure monitor
Colleague Peter Frost faced a trip to Namibia and, at the time, nothing in the CAR long-term fleet was a match for the terrain, with the exception of the Navara. We handed over the keys and waved to the happy travellers as they set off for the vast open spaces of Namibia.
Spoiler alert: It did great. No question Nissan’s latest Navara is up for whatever the southern African continent can throw at it, and then some.
About that “then some” ... Namibia’s dirt roads, once the envy of a continent, are now something of a lucky packet.
Happen upon one of the billiard-smooth salt roads into and around Swakopmund and you might wonder what all the moaning is about. However, if you track through the southern Namib-naukluft National Park near the popular Sossusvlei dunes – specifically the satanic C27 – your appreciation for a yellow grader will increase considerably. Tôle ondulée, as the North African French troops used to say during the Algerian conflict.
It means “corrugated sheet” and that’s about right. It is hard, vicious and unpredictable enough to loosen teeth, coarsen speech and destroy all but the toughest transport … and tyres, which is where this tale is headed.
Minutes out from the evening’s accommodation, the left rear
Dunlop Grandtrek AT25 popped like a balloon. It is a testament to modern tyre and car technology that a blowout today is not the catastrophe it once was: a slight sway, a lightness in the steering and all was quiet in the Namibian sun. Less successful was the jacking. The Navara’s impressive suspension travel means the standard scissor jack is unable to lift the car high enough to accommodate a fully inflated spare (the destroyed tyre came off easily, its profile by then considerably reduced). Note to overlanders: Take along a hydraulic jack. Predictably, the damage was to the tyre wall rather than the tread pattern, typical of dirt-road blowouts.
The rest of the 3 500-km journey was without incident and served to highlight a number of details. First, the Navara is screwed together admirably well. There were no rattles save for the cubby-hole door over the roughest of the rough. Secondly, the air conditioning is top drawer, cooling the cabin in seconds. Finally, it would have been useful to have a mobile-phone charging tray, as they have become as handy as the distance-to-empty gauge, and its absence highlighted the pace of broader development in the automotive industry.
Two weeks later, the big Nissan rolled into Cape Town, recording a satisfactory 8,7 L/100km for the trip. The Navara may not have the Ranger’s cornering chuck-ability or the Hilux’s comfort on dirt, but as an all-rounder, it scores highly.
Rather, its natural enemy is Isuzu’s new D-max. It is just as good-looking and tough, and it’s a local hero with similar on-road character. It is physically more imposing, which may sway some prospective owners, in one way or another. Ultimately, the abiding memory will be the serenity of its long-distance character. Few cars, much less double cabs, are as quiet and refined at speed, dirt or tar. Good memories.