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  Externally the Aussie-bound ute and wagon get a touch up with a new bonnet, grille and bumper

It's only a mid-life facelift but Nissan is pointing clearly to its conservative future with its new Navara and Pathfinder.

Though virtually identical to the outgoing model, the 2010 pair will retain the same petrol V6 and a more muscular four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine range.  ESC becomes standard, taking the ute into safer territory.

That’s bad news for Australian performance-seekers, as the European-spec Navara and Pathfinder comes with an optional 170kW/550Nm 3-litre V6 turbodiesel sourced from Renault.  Nissan Australia corporate communications boss Jeff Fisher says that engine won’t be in the new line-up when the refreshed wagon and ute arrive in May.

"It's not for our market - at least, not yet," he says. "There may be a trickle down through the markets in the future.  "It's an expensive engine and we have to be careful that it doesn't push the Navara and Pathfinder into price segments where it won't be justified.

"I understand that the V6 is more for a sports-oriented vehicle in Europe.”  Nissan's Navara is Europe's best-selling ute and its covered twin, the Pathfinder, is also up their on the sales charts. It's not the same story in Australia where Pathfinder has a 1.9 per cent segment share compared with Holden Captiva at 21.7 per cent and Toyota Prado at 17.5 per cent.  The Navara 4WD models, however, are second only to the Toyota Hilux.

Engines

Australia gets the new models in May with the 2.5 turbodiesel and 4-litre petrol V6.  For 2010, the 2.5-litre turbodiesel four gets an 11 per cent rise in both power and torque to 140kW and 450Nm respectively.

Nissan claims the engine tweaks have better fuel economy, now 8.5 litres/100kms - an improvement of 1.3 l/100kms - for the manual transmission model. Emissions have slipped 40g/km CO2 to 224g/km CO2.  The Euro-option is a new direct-injection V6 turbodiesel from the Renault Nissan Alliance.

This narrow-vee engine - its angle is a mere 65-degrees - has a 16:1 compression ratio that has been lowered to improve fuel economy, emissions and noise, vibration and harshness.  It has a large single turbocharger, mounted within the vee of the engine, an intercooler, and the latest generation Bosch 1800-bar common-rail fuel injection with piezo injectors.

Power is 170kW and torque is 550Nm, the latter from 1700rpm and flat through to 2500rpm. It has 500Nm from 1500rpm.  Nissan says the engine in the Pathfinder will pull a 3500kg load, while the Navara is good for 3000kg.

Appearance

Externally the Aussie-bound ute and wagon get a touch up with a new bonnet, grille and bumper - the latter adding 80mm to the length - with xenon headlights for the Pathfinder and optional 18-inch alloys. 

New equipment includes the Nissan Connect Premium touch-screen satellite navigation system, a premium Bose sound system and a rear view camera. There is also a speed limiter incorporated into the existing cruise control system.  Electronic stability control, already standard on the Pathfinder, gets added to the Navara specifications.