Nissan Navara Road Test

Nissan Navara

Anyway, the engine choices are restricted to one; a proven 2.5-litre, turbo diesel, which sounds a little agricultural but I find that comforting because it suggests that the engine is capable of dealing with anything. The figures tend to back that up with 171PS produced at 4,000rpm and a whopping, 403Nm of torque at 2,000rpm. Not only will it pull the skin off of several rice puddings but a 2.6 tonne trailer, to boot.

When mated to the 6-speed manual transmission, as in the test car, the 0-62mph time is 11.8 seconds, which varies just tenths of seconds across the range. The top speed, on the other hand, is the same 105mph no matter whether it is a Double or King Cab, manual or the 5-speed automatic the transmission which is available with the Aventura trim.

The body configuration makes little difference to the fuel consumption and there is only a 1.1mpg penalty for choosing the auto ‘box. The official figures are not exceptional at 23.9mpg for the urban cycle, 32.8mpg for the extra-urban and the combined is 28.8 but then it is a big, solid lump of car to move around and all the better for it.

The economy figures, of course, do not apply when off-roading, where the Navara is right at home. To this end the vehicle is fitted with a part time 4WD system. On the centre console is a rotary dial, which allows activation of the different settings. In 2WD mode only the rear wheels are driven; in 4H, the torque is split in a 50:50 ratio but what sets the Navara apart from so-called ‘soft-roaders’ is the low ratio transfer box (4L), making it capable of traversing the rough stuff.

For those who take their off-road adventures seriously, here are some vital statistics; ground clearance is 234mm allowing a wading depth of up to 450mm and the approach, departure and ramp over angles are 29-, 22- and 18 degrees, respectively. Clearly capable but for me the most impressive feature is that the Navara can lean over sideways to almost 60 degrees but most people (me included) will have backed off long before that point.

The Navara’s airbag problem has been well publicised. All Navaras come with a driver and front passenger airbag and it is only the Aventura that has side and curtain airbags as standard. However, that was not the hitch that caused the Euro NCAP tested to give the car a strikethrough score; the reason was that the front airbags were deploying a little too late to cushion the occupants in the event of a collision.

Although the mistiming was restricted to 2008 Navaras built between May and December 2007, Nissan not only took steps to rectify, what amounted to a software problem in these effected cars but went further and rolled out the repair to cover all Navaras produced since its launch in 2005, just to put customers’ minds at rest.

The resultant re-testing produced scores of 3 stars for adult protection, a maximum, 5-stars for side impact, 5-stars for child safety and two stars for pedestrian protection, out of a possible four.

Some people like sleek coupes but the Navara’s ruggedness and go-anywhere attitude is more to my taste. Luxury is forgotten; it is well appointed but not so expensive that you would baulk at getting it dirty. After all, that is what it is for and it can always be hosed down for a night out on the town.