Nissan Navara 2015 review

A solar eclipse happens more often than when a completely new ute comes along, yet Australians are now spoiled for choice.

The first redesigned Mitsubishi Triton in a decade arrived last month and now we have a gleaming Nissan Navara, 10 years and two months almost to the day after the previous model went on sale.

Around the corner we have big updates to the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 and, landing in October, the replacement for the top-selling workhorse for more than three decades, the Toyota HiLux.

The calibre of vehicles is shifting up several gears to meet changing customer demands.

Utes have always been about work and play but, as buyers continue to migrate from cars and SUVs, these tools of trade are more than ever skewed towards comfort.

As with the newest rivals, the Navara has addressed its biggest customer concerns, payload and towing capacity.

The previous model could barely tote a toothbrush. The new Navara can tow 3500kg — the same as the class leaders and, by no coincidence, the maximum legally allowed for such vehicles.

The new four-door Navara has a payload of 1112kg in bare-bones rear-wheel-drive diesel spec (with the lesser version of the two diesels available) or 930kg if you buy the top-of-the-range 4WD with all the fruit, both figures on par for the segment. Payload means everything the vehicle carries including the driver, passengers, contents of your lunch box — and not the maximum you can put in the back.

Creature comforts include 10 cup holders (not bad for a five-seater), plenty of storage plus three 12V sockets in the cabin and one in the tray.

Nissan is calling it a clean-sheet design but...much of the chassis (including the main rails) carries over

The crew cab’s rear window slides open at the press of a button so you can yell at someone (or be yelled at) when reversing or let the mutt poke his head inside. There is an illuminated vanity mirror on each sun visor. Ooh-la-la.

From the outside, it’s a good-looking rig but it’s not perfect. Nissan is calling it a clean-sheet design but, as with the Mitsubishi Triton, much of the chassis (including the main rails) carries over.

That means the proportions are almost the same as the outgoing Navara (even though every panel is new) and there’s not much extra cabin room.

There is no digital speed display, only one USB port to charge gadgets (more please, Nissan), the steering wheel has no reach adjustment and only the driver gets an auto-up window.

The Navara also lacks the latest safety technology that is expected to roll out on the Ranger and Toyota HiLux, such as lane-keeping, blind spot warning and forward collision alert.

Conspicuous by its absence is a rear-view camera on most of the 27 Navara variants, a significant blemish given these relatively cheap devices are now standard on $14,990 hatchbacks and, increasingly, rival utes.

Another safety anomaly: the centre rear seat lacks a headrest. Despite this omission Nissan is confident of earning a five-star safety rating — after it fixes the defective child restraint anchor points that testing in Australia unearthed.

On the road

The new 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel donk is smaller in capacity than before but produces respectable power and torque (140kW/450Nm).

The smaller turbo gets you moving and the bigger turbo takes over once the engine’s on the boil. At least, that’s the technical explanation.

Nissan has fitted rear coil suspension, a rarity in the class

However, it’s noisy (even by ute standards) and even with the optional seven-speed auto it doesn’t feel as strong as, say, a Ford Ranger with similar outputs.

The steering could be better, also by ute standards. With roughly four turns from lock-to-lock (it varies between vehicles equipped with 16 and 18-inch wheels), it’s like trying to steer a bus.

It takes nearly half a turn to negotiate a gentle bend that would need a quarter-turn in a normal car or even another ute.

The steering is also unevenly weighted — hit a bump midway through a bend and the wheel wants to wriggle out of your hands.

Nissan has fitted rear coil suspension, a rarity in the class. The Navara doesn’t glide like a Mercedes-Benz over bumps (it still jiggles like a ute) but this is a worthwhile improvement, especially on corrugated roads.

Has Nissan gone far enough? First impressions are the Navara still lacks the roadholding of the benchmarks of the class, the Ranger and VW Amarok.

The class leaders have been around for up to three years for Nissan to benchmark, yet the Navara feels underwhelming.

Navara enthusiasts (there are more than 250,000 in driveways across Australia) will love the new model. Much like Toyota HiLux buyers, they would never consider anything else. But is this the best ute Nissan could have built? We don’t think so.