When Nissan’s Navara range was launched last year in 4×2 form, it was generally accepted as the best-looking bakkie on our roads, but journalists were concerned about the future of the Hardbody.
Nissan accepted that some cannibalisation would occur, but almost 12 months later sales of the Hardbody haven’t decreased and the Navara has managed to capture its own slice of the SUV pie.
With the addition of 4×4 petrol and diesel models to the range, the Navara is well on its way to becoming a very respectable creation.
At the recent launch in KwaZulu-Natal, the Navara proved its worth both on and off road. It cruises comfortably on the highway and is, of course, a consummate bundu-basher. While the 4×4 track required a mix of skilful driving and good off-road ability, it wasn’t any serious test of the Navara’s off-road capability, but it nonetheless gave us the general impression that the 4×4 Navara could pretty much handle whatever terrain it was on.
A nice feature of the Navara is that you can lock the differential and change from Lo range to Hi range driving at the flick of a dial.
While the Navara is an attractive vehicle, it doesn’t lack the rugged sort of look that categorises 4x4s — in other words, it has got just the right mix of elements to make it look good to a variety of people.
Inside, the Navara is spacious enough for four adults and the build quality is of a high standard and it comes equipped with ABS, ESP and such.
With the launch of the Navara 4x4s Nissan South Africa announced that all new Nissans would be sprayed with microdots from October. Microdots are imperceptible to the naked eye, but carry individual numbers for each vehicle and are used as a means of making it difficult for chop-shops to use parts from vehicles that have been sprayed with microdots.
Nissan hopes that in the not too distant future microdot technology could be used at border posts and other checkpoints so that border officials and police could easily identify cars with stolen parts.
Obviously the new Navaras will benefit from this technology.
The Navara ranges in price from R277 450 for the 4×2 4,0-litre manual to R308 600 for the 2,5-litre dCi 4×4 manual