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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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Mini test: 2011 Nissan Navara 2.5 dCi XE King Cab

For daily loads and weekend getaways

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday October 19, 2011

The engine: This is the medium powered version of Nissan’s YD25DDTi DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder commonrail diesel. It uses the waste-gated and intercooled IHI RHF4 turbocharger to produce 128 kW/403 Nm in this 4x4 application. Two-wheel drivers have to make do with only 106 kW and 356 Nm – so sorry, guys. Pleasant side effects of the added power and torque are that it uses about eight percent less fuel and it sprints up to 100 km/h seven-tenths of a second more quickly. Of greater interest to business users and outdoorsy people is that allowable braked trailer mass goes up 50 percent to 3000 kg.

The body:  While other Navaras sell you on the idea of “an SUV with a bin,” King- or extended cab versions are working pickups with added space for personal stuff you would rather keep locked up. This makes them ideal for almost any kind of businessperson who needs to carry expensive, but not too bulky, equipment around from job to job. Getting at it is easy – rearward opening half-doors provide ready access to the carpeted storage area. Various slots, two cubbies, an armrest box, a pair of cup holders and bottle-friendly door bins provide space for the loose flotsam of daily living. It also works as a weekend getaway vehicle for couples without kids.

Being primarily commercial, it comes only in entry-level XE trim, but that’s actually not too shabby. You still get a pair of airbags, ABS with EBD, side impact beams, seatbelt pretensioners, remote central locking, electric windows and mirrors, single channel aircon, a radio with CD player and auxiliary socket, rear window demister, front and rear courtesy lights, a driver’s seat adjustable for height and fog lamps front and rear.

The experience: Being extended- rather than twin-cab, the bin is longer than on ‘SUV’ versions, making it more practical as a day-to-day workhorse. Some even find the shorter cabin, longer bin version handsomer than double-cabs. Nissan says the load box is wider than those of its competitors and more useful because of minimal wheel arch intrusion. Four tiedown hooks are provided on the load bed.

Navaras are “proper” four-wheel drivers with electrically selectable 2WD, 4Hi and 4Lo modes and switchable differential lock. Ground clearance and approach-departure numbers are pretty respectable too. See the box at the end of this report. Suspension is by means of double wishbones in front and a solid axle with semi-elliptic springs at the back. This provides a good mix of firmness, for carrying loads up to 905 kg, and flexibility for unloaded dirt road comfort and directional stability.  Tyres are usably sized at 255/70 R16, so there is no need to detour via the local wheel and tyre store for more practical rubber before venturing off-road.

The combination of turbodiesel engine and six-speed manual transmission provides very useful road performance quite capable of attracting the attentions of Officer Aggro. The benchmark 100 km/h comes up in a shade over twelve seconds before going on to a maximum of 173 km/h.  The payoff is on the hills though – it just keeps on pulling.

There is no universal vehicle, but if most of your needs can be met with a user-friendly, off-roading pickup that looks good too, the Navara 4x4 King Cab comes close.


The numbers:
Price: R340 000
Engine: 2488 cc, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 128 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 403 Nm at 2000 rpm
Zero to 100: 12,2 seconds
Maximum speed: 173 km/h
Fuel index: 10,3 l/100 km
CO2 emissions: 210 gm/km
Emissions standard: Euro3
Tank: 80 litres
Payload: 905 kg
Ground clearance: 233 mm
Approach and departure angles: 29/22 degrees
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 3 years/100 000 km
Intervals: 15 000 km




What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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